Dr Sampurnanand, second UP CM, Sanskrit scholar and ex-journalist

Days before Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru asked Uttar Pradesh’s first chief minister GB Pant to join his Cabinet in early 1955, the Congress leadership had decided to replace him with Dr Sampurnanand as the CM of the country’s most populous state (with then population of over 6 crore).

The Varanasi-based Sanskrit scholar and former journalist, Sampurnanand, was then a senior minister in the Pant government, who had handled portfolios like Home and Education.

Sampurnanand took over as UP’s second CM on December 28, 1954. Following the second UP Assembly polls in early 1957, won by the Congress, he was unanimously elected the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader on April 7, 1957 and again took oath as the CM on April 10, 1957. In the elections to the then 430-member UP Assembly (excluding one nominated member), the Congress won 286 seats. The Praja Socialist Party (PSP), which was created out of the merger of the Socialist Party and Acharya JB Kriplani’s Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, bagged 44 seats, emerging as the principal Opposition party. The Bhartiya Jan Sangh (BJS) won 17 seats, the Communists 7, and others got 74.

Sampurnanand was also an academician, author and astrologist, who participated in the Mahatma Gandhi-launched movements like civil disobedience during the freedom struggle. He authored a numbers of books including a biography of Gandhi. He edited Maryada, a newspaper started by Madan Mohan Malviya. He studied at University of Allahabad and taught in various college in Vrindavan (Mathura), Indore and Bikaner before entering politics.

With a total of 5 years and 344 days in office, Sampurnanand has been the third longest-serving UP CM and the only one from the Kayasth community so far. But his tenure, especially his second one, had been dogged by political turmoil and volatility, which marked the beginning of the regime of political instability that continued in UP for decades.

With his ministers facing graft charges and his government accused of working in the interest of corporates, Sampurnanand had to grapple with challenges on multiple fronts, from within and outside the Congress.

In the second UP Assembly, the Sampurnanand ministry had to face no-confidence motions in three consecutive years in 1957, 1958 and 1959, although it survived all three of them. However, under rising pressure from various quarters and amid growing chorus of allegations of corruption and ineffective government, Sampurnanand had to resign in November 1960 before completing his term.

Reeling under infighting and factionalism within the Congress, Sampurnanand was drawing heat not only from fiery Opposition leaders like Raj Narain and Triloki Singh but also from his own ambitious party colleagues like Chandra Bhanu Gupta, Kamlapati Tripathi and Chaudhary Charan Singh.

He faced a major setback in August 1959 when the SSP’s Triloki Singh brought a no-confidence motion against his government. A dramatic situation developed in the Assembly just before the discussion was to start on this motion.

Congress MLA from Govardhan (Mathura) Acharya Jugal Kishor stood up and claimed that 96 Congress MLAs have given him a letter stating that, “We wanted to participate in the discussion in the House in favour of the no-confidence motion but we can’t do that. In our opinion, the way Dr Sampurnanand is running the government is not up to the expectation of ordinary people and Congressmen. Administration has been very weak and its strength is deteriorating. It does not have the reputation it had nearly five year ago…there is wastage of money… government employees are behaving arbitrarily…Corruption is increasing…Ministers don’t look concerned to improve financial condition of the state…due to factionalism ministers have no time to see the files of their departments…Congress party has now become party of groups.”

After including Jugal Kishore himself and another member, the number of dissident Congress MLAs rose to 98. The list of the letter’s signatories, as claimed by Jugal Kishore, included Charan Singh, who was elected from the Kotana seat in 1957. He had resigned from the Sampurnanand Cabinet on April 22, 1959 due to differences.

In contrast to his first innings, Sampurnanand had to cope with various problems immediately after he resumed his second stint as the CM. There were Congress leaders like Chandra Bhanu Gupta who was eyeing his post.

With the help of Sampurnanand’s home minister Kamlapati Tripathi, he continued to put pressure on the government and was appointed as the UP Congress president in 1960. Stung by it, Sampurnanand resigned as the CM in November 1960. And although a majority of the CLP members was still with him, the Congress leadership decided to replace Sampurnanand with Gupta as the CM.

During his tenure, Sampurnanand’s relation with then governor VV Giri was also tense. Giri was transferred to Kerala in June 1960 before he could complete his tenure in UP, although he later clarified that his transfer was due to his “domestic circumstances”.

Sampurnanand was elected in 1952 and 1957 from Banaras (now Varanasi) City South Assembly constituency, defeating the CPI’s Satin Rustam both times. The BJS candidates had finished third in both these polls. Sampurnanand did not contest the 1962 elections and was appointed the governor in Rajasthan in April 1962, where he remained in the post until April 1967.

The Sampurnanand government elevated Government Sanskrit College of Varanasi as Varanaseya Sanskrit University in March 1958, which was renamed Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in December 1974. He also made efforts to develop other educational and academic institutions as well and was associated with Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth till the last days of his life. He died in Varanasi on January 10, 1969.

On August 27 last year, President Ramnath Kovind attended the diamond jubilee function of the Sainik Schook, Lucknow which was founded by Sampurnanand in 1960. On the occasion, more than 15 members from the Sampurnanand family were present.