Indira loyalist with socialist roots, veteran Congressman Yogendra Makwana passes away at 92

In an interview earlier this year, Makwana told The Indian Express how, when the leaders loyal to Mrs Gandhi found out that more members of the other faction were being given tickets in the election, he launched an impromptu “Speakers’ Corner”, inspired by similar spaces in London’s Hyde Park, outside the AICC headquarters in Delhi.

“It was ahead of the Assembly elections and most of the tickets had been given to the Syndicate group that had abused her, while we who stood by her were ignored. I took a small stool and stood on it to speak, saying: ‘Yeh gaddar log hain (they are traitors)’. They will not listen to you. You fought against those who abused Indira and she has put them in positions of power,” he said, recalling the speech. After that, Congress Seva Dal workers took him to meet Mrs Gandhi.

“I told her, ‘When nobody was with you, we were with you.’ She felt I was right. She made me sit, gave me water and tea, and asked me to speak my mind. I did. But the tickets had been distributed by then, so I asked her to make me in-charge of elections and she did,” Makwana said.

A law graduate with a doctorate in philosophy, Makwana, who was born on October 23, 1933, joined the Socialist Party after being drawn to the politics of one of its founders, Chhotubhai Purani. His political career continued in the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), which was formed in 1952 following the merger of the Praja Party of Acharya J B Kripalani and the Socialist Party and he went on to serve as its general secretary in Kheda district.

When the Congress split in 1969, several socialist leaders such as Chandrasekhar, Madhu Limaye, and Mohan Dharia joined Mrs Gandhi, who asked them to recruit more members. “Mohan Dharia and Madhu Limaye, who were our leaders, gave my name and address (to join the Congress). One day, I received a letter from Indira Gandhi that you are invited to the requisition session of the Congress,” Makwana said in the interview earlier this year.

He quickly rose through the party ranks and in 1973 was sent to the Rajya Sabha, where he remained till 1989. During his time in the Upper House of Parliament, he held various positions, including deputy chief whip and secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party. He served as a Minister of State (MoS) from 1980 to 1988, in the Indira and then the Rajiv Gandhi government, holding portfolios such as Home Affairs, Communications, Steel and Mines, Health, and Agriculture. He was also a member of the Planning Commission of India.

Makwana, as MoS Home, led the initial negotiations with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which was at the helm of the Assam Movement. The talks ultimately led to the signing of the Assam Accord in 1985. “Makwana negotiated with AASU during the agitation (which began in 1979) that brought its then president Prafulla Mahanta to the mainstream. Mahanta co-founded the Asom Gana Parishad and served as the 11th Chief Minister of Assam from 1985 to 1990 and again from 1996 to 2001,” said a senior Congress leader.

As an MP and Union Minister, Makwana represented the country in various international fora, including the UN. In 2006, the Congress appointed him the chairperson of its Scheduled Caste Department. Two years later, Makwana broke away from the party and launched the National Bahujan Congress, but the new outfit failed to make an impact.

In 2018, Makwana came out in defence of Mrs Gandhi and the Emergency, responding to then Union Minister Arun Jaitley’s criticism in a blog post. Two years later, as the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc, the veteran leader praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the crisis and his call to SAARC countries to set up a Covid emergency fund.

Makwana was not the only member of his family to hold public office. His wife Shantaben was elected to the first Gujarat Assembly in 1962 and served as the state’s health and water resources minister. The veteran leader is survived by his daughter Anuradha, a retired bureaucrat in the state, and son Bharat, who was the MLA from Sojitra and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Ahmedabad West in 2024 on a Congress ticket.