Jagjivan Ram

Jagjivan Ram
official portrait (1991 stamp)
4th Deputy Prime Minister of India
In office 24 January 1979 – 28 July 1979 Serving with Charan Singh
Prime Minister	Morarji Desai
Preceded by	Morarji Desai
Succeeded by	Yashwantrao Chavan
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha
In office 29 July 1979 – 22 August 1979
Preceded by	Yashwantrao Chavan
Succeeded by	Vacant
Union Minister of Defence
In office 27 June 1970 – 10 October 1974
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Sardar Swaran Singh
Succeeded by	Sardar Swaran Singh
In office 24 March 1977 – 28 July 1979
Prime Minister	Morarji Desai
Preceded by	Bansi Lal
Succeeded by	Chidambaram Subramaniam
Union Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation
In office 13 March 1967 – 27 June 1970
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Chidambaram Subramaniam
Succeeded by	Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
In office 10 October 1974 – 2 February 1977
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Chidambaram Subramaniam
Succeeded by	Indira Gandhi
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1952 – 1957
Preceded by	constituency established
Succeeded by	Ram Subhag Singh
Constituency	Shahabad South, Bihar
In office 1962 – 1986
Preceded by	Ram Subhag Singh
Succeeded by	Chhedi Paswan
Constituency	Sasaram (SC), Bihar
Member of Constituent Assembly of India
In office 9 December 1946 – 24 January 1950
President	Rajendra Prasad
Preceded by	assembly established
Succeeded by	assembly dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1908-04-05)5 April 1908 Arrah, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day Bihar, India)
Died	6 July 1986(1986-07-06) (aged 78) New Delhi, Delhi, India
Political party	Indian National Congress-Jagjivan (1981–1986)
Other political affiliations	Indian National Congress (Before 1977) Congress for Democracy (1977) Janata Party (1977–1981)
Spouse	Indrani Devi ​ ​ (m. 1935; died 1986)​
Children	Suresh Kumar (son) Meira Kumar (daughter)
Alma mater	Banaras Hindu University University of Calcutta

Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), popularly known as Babuji,^[1] was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as a minister with various portfolios for over 30 years, making him the longest-serving Union Cabinet minister in Indian history.^[2] He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from January 1979 to July 1979.^[3] He played a pivotal role as the Defence Minister of India during the Indo-Pak War of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh.^[4] As Union Agriculture Minister during two separate tenures, he contributed significantly to the Green Revolution and the modernization of Indian agriculture, particularly during the 1974 drought when he was entrusted with addressing a severe food crisis.^[5][6]

He was instrumental in the foundation of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for dalits, in 1935 and was elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1937, after which he organised the rural labour movement.^[7] In 1946, he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's interim government, the first cabinet of India as a Labour Minister and also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, where he ensured that social justice was enshrined in the Constitution.^[8] He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios for the next 30 years as a member of the Indian National Congress (INC).

Though he supported Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency (1975–77), he left Congress in 1977 and joined the Janata Party alliance, along with his Congress for Democracy and later served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India (1977–79); then in 1981, he formed Congress (J). At his death, he was the last surviving minister of the Interim Government and the last surviving original member of the first cabinet of independent India.