Participation in Power
As a result of continuous agitation and intensive efforts of Mewar state democracy, Maharana formed a popular government in Mewar in 1947 and he was appointed as the Minister for food supplies to the state. Thereafter, on formation of joint Rajasthan, he was the Minister of Irrigation and Labour in the cabinet of Shri Maniklal Verma from 18th April 1948 to 30th March 1949. The present state of Rajasthan was constituted on 26th April, 1951 to 3rd March, 1952 and later Shri Jayanarayan Vyas again became the chief Minister, Mr. Sukhadia managed Departments of revenue, food supplies, agriculture and irrigation, etc., from 1st November, 1952 to 6th November, 1954. On November 6, 1954, Shri Jaynarayan Vyas resigned as chief minister for failing to gain the trust of the Legislature party. Congress party MLAs elected Shri Mohanlal Sukhadia as its leader by a majority against Shri Vyas and at the age of 38 years, he took oath as chief minister of the State on November 13, 1954. He remained on post till 8th July, 1971. He continued to be the chief Minister for 17 years and set up a record which is intact till today.
There is a confusion in the minds of some people that Mr. Sukhadia created a conspiracy against Shri Jaynarayan Vyas and removed him. In fact, this confusion is baseless. Shri Brij Sundar Sharma, a close aide of Shri Sukhadia, wrote in his article years ago that Shri Jaynarayan Vyas was the chief minister when he got angry with Mr. Mathurardar Mathur, Shri Kumbharam Arya and Shri Brij Sundar Sharma, and he announced that he will seek the confidence vote of the Legislature party.
In the words of Shri Bujsundar Sharma, " I, Sukhadia ji, Late Mr. Mathurdas Mathur and Late. Shri Kumbharam went to Shri Vyas and tried to persuade him. We told him that he is our leader. What is the necessity of acquiring trust? We wanted only one thing to be accepted by him but he discouraged us. At that time, the high command decided that the leader would be elected. Sukhadia Ji was not ready to contest the elections, but on insistence of all the colleagues, he prepared himself. There is a confusion in the minds of the people that Sukhadiaji has created a conspiracy against Vyas and removed him. It is a baseless point and should be cleared."
The famous historian of the freedom struggle of Rajasthan, Shri B. L. Panagaria even proves this. He had told Mr. Sukhaadia that the best of his long-term public life was on November 13, 1954 when he was sworn in as chief Minister of Rajasthan by defeating a veteran politician like Shri Jaynarayan Vyas. In his reply, Mr. Sukhadia said, "That day was of eternal anguish for him, he had to take a collision with a mentor like Vyas ji."
Mr. Sukhadia had the support of Shri Maniklal Verma and all the MLAs of Mewar Zone, and, in addition, he got the support of his pro-MLAs because of the neutrality of Shri Tikaram Paliwal from Jaipur section. Not only that, a large number of members from the home district Jodhpur of Shri Jaynarayan Vyas supported Mr. Sukhadia in the election of the leader of the Legislature party. In the words of Shri Sitaram Jhalani, senior journalist and fellow of the Politics of Rajasthan, the Congress high power directed Shri Vyas to gain the trust of the legislature party in view of the growing discontent in the Congress Legislature party against Shri Vyas. On November 6, 1954, the whole country was looking at Jaipur, where, a senior and distinguished leader of the state, and a relatively young and new leader, Mohanlal Sukhaadia were in competition.In this competition Mr. Sukhadia, who was the Revenue minister in Shri Vyas's cabinet, succeeded in defeating Shri Vyas in the margin of eight votes. As soon as he was declared as winner, Sukhadia received the blessings of Shri Jaynarayan Vyas. Mr. Sukhadia gave full respect to his family and to him till he was alive. In the year 1956, he elected Shri Vyas not only as PCC president but also in 1960 for his honour, recommended him to Rajya Sabha. He was a member of Rajya Sabha till his demise on 14th March, 1963.
Shri Jayanarayan Vyas faced protest in the Congress party that he had joined 22 outside MLAs in the Congress party after the 1952 elections. Most of them had come via council or independents and most of them were ex-landlords. Most of the Congress leaders, including Shri Maniklal Verma, were of the view these people should not be included in the Congress party.
It may be mentioned that at the time of the first general elections of Rajasthan Assembly in 1952, the number of MLAs was 160. In this election, the Congress party had won only 82 seats, only two more than half the number. In these elections, 24 of the Ramrajya parishad, 8 of the Bharatiya Janasangh, 2 of the Hindu Mahasabha, 7 of Krishak Lokparty, 1 of the krishak-majdoor Party and 35 independent were elected MLAs. In such a situation, Shri Jayanarayan Vyas would have included these 22 MLAs on the basis of their wisdom in the Congress party to establish a good majority in the Assembly but it was strongly opposed by the party's allies.
It may be mentioned that in the first assembly elections, Shri Jaynarayan Vyas had contested from Jodhpur-B and Jalore-A, two areas and he was defeated from both. Shri Tikaram Paliwal also contested the elections in Mahua and Malaranad, he was victorious from both the regions. Shri Paliwal took oath as Chief minister on 3rd March, 1952. Shri Sukhadia was included in his cabinet as a minister.
Thereafter, Shri Chandmal Mehta, an elected Congress MLA from Kishangarh area, resigned and vacated the place for Shri Vyas and he was elected in the bye-election from there, and on November 1952 he took oath as Chief minister. Shri Paliwal was also included as minister in the cabinet.
It is important to mention here that in the first assembly elections of 1952, the senior leaders Shri Hiralal Shastri, Maniklal Verma, Gokul Bhai Bhatt and Rajbahadur etc. didn’t contested the election. Shri Maniklal Verma, Gokul Bhai Bhatt and Rajbahadur fought the first Lok Sabha elections (1952) in which the three leaders were defeated. Later, Shri Verma and Shri Rajbahadur was elected to Lok Sabha in the bye-elections. Veteran leaders like Shri Vijaysinh Pathik, Gokullal Asawa, Yugalkishore Chaturvedi and Abhinn Hari had to see the defeat in the first general election of the assembly like Shri Jayanarayan Vyas. Some say that the absence of these veteran leaders in the Assembly was an indirect contribution to the young leader like Mr. Sukhadia reaching the top position of Rajasthan's power.
By July 1971, Mr. Sukhadia decided that he should now leave the post of Chief minister. At that time, all the members of the Congress Legislature party were loyal to Mr. Sukhadia and he also went to Delhi to demonstrate his support and allegiance to him. But on July 8, 1971, Mr. Sukhadia resigned as chief minister by giving resignation letter. He was the only chief minister of Rajasthan, who was greeted with a ceremonial farewell by the staff and officers in the Secretariat premises of the Rajasthan government. He also made it very clear in his eloquent speech that when his government has implemented a decision to reduce the retirement age of the state employees from 58 to 55, it is my moral duty to retire from my post in 55 years.
Mr. Sukhadia, after resigning from the chief minister, gave a poignant message to the people of Rajasthan from All India Radio, as "I came to the administration of Rajasthan for almost twenty years, and out of this, about seventeen years, I have been the chief Minister. I am leaving the office tomorrow and before that I am greeting all the citizens of Rajasthan. Whatever has been the achievement of this period is the result of your affection, warmth and cooperation, and the mistakes that have been committed are my own. The warmth and affection that the people of Rajasthan have given me in this long time is the most valuable fund of my life and I cannot forget for life."
I am now voluntarily coming between you as a normal citizen and will continue to do whatever service I can.
There were some agitations and some accidents, for which there will always be a deep sorrow in my mind. Barkatullah Khan will take the responsibility from tomorrow. I would like to say that the way you gave cooperation to me, give the same and more to him and help him in strengthen rajasthan.
Addressing the function organised by the Rajasthan Assembly on the occasion of the farewell of Shri Sukhadia, the then governor, Sardar Hukum Singh said that Mr. Sukhadia has resigned at a time when he is in power with full force and he has not been facing any challenge.. It is an extraordinary thing that he has decided to serve the public away from his position and outside power.
On 10th July, 1971, there was an unprecedented rush to bid farewell to Shri Sukhadia at Jaipur railway station and Shri Sukhadia accepted garlands and greetings from the masses while roaming on the platform for two and a half hours.
When the Chetak Express reached Udaipur, nearly twenty thousand people at the railway station welcomed Mr. Sukhadia with slogans of "Sukadia Jindabad". Twenty five welcome gates were created on the route from railway station to his residence at Durga Nursery. On both sides of the road, on the roofs of houses, thousands of people greeted Mr. Sukhadia with floral showers.
Addressing the honour ceremony held by the Municipal Congress in Nathdwara on July 23, 1971, Mr. Sukhadia said that he has not resigned from the post of Chief minister, fearing the internal conflicts of Congress or any other things. He said, "My childhood is near the streets of Nathdwara and Haldighati, which is my source of inspiration. So I didn't learn to be afraid of fighting."
Shri Sukhadia resigned voluntarily and as confirmed by Sardar Gurmukh Nihalsingh who was governor of Rajasthan from 1st November, 1956 to 15th April, 1962. He wrote in a context in the year 1969 that Mr. Sukhadia had several times wished to leave the post of Chief minister in the Central Congress party or the union Cabinet, but the Congress high command was so influenced by his leadership ability and competence that they did not allow him to leave the office of Chief Minister.
While being such an efficient player of politics, Mr. Sukhadia was not very satisfied with politics in his own mind. He could not reach on the inauguration of new house of his elder son-in-law, Shri Mananlal Goel. The letter he wrote to his son-in-law is really touching. "I am not able to be present there at the time of the House's Nangal, and I am deeply saddened," he wrote. It is very well known how this politics is that it does not even have time for us for families.The right forward when getting rid."
Mr. Sukadia also wished to quit the Chief minister when top leaders resigned under the "Kamaraj Yojana" in the country. He too expressed to quit before Jawaharlal Nehru but Pt. Nehru did not allow that to happen.