Suraj Bhan

Suraj Bhan (1 October 1928 – 6 August 2006) was an Indian politician who was elected to the Lok Sabha, Indian lower house of parliament, for four terms from Ambala. He also served as the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha from July 1996 to December 1997. He served as governor of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar.

Personal life Bhan was born on 1 October 1928, in Mehlanwali, Yamuna Nagar district of Haryana in Chamar (Dalit) family and studied MA and LLB at Punjab University and Kurukshetra University.

Political career Suraj Bhan Banswal, started his public life as a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He started his political career with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh which eventually became the Bharatiya Janata Party and dropped his last name "Banswal" after joining active politics. He represented the Ambala parliamentary constituency of Haryana in the 4th (1967–1970), 6th (1977–1979), 7th (1979–1984) and the 11th Lok Sabhas (1996–1997). In 1987, he was elected to Haryana assembly and served as Revenue Minister in Devi Lal's government between 1987 and 1989. After the BJP broke alliance with Devi Lal's party, he served as Leader of Opposition in the Haryana assembly (1989–1990). He was appointed State President of BJP Haryana Unit in 1984.

In 1996, he was named Agriculture minister in the First Vajpayee Ministry after which he served as deputy speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha, during the United Front government (Jul. 1996 to Feb. 1997). He contested 1998 Lok Sabha elections, but lost to Aman Kumar Nagra of the BSP. Afterwards, he took over as Governor of Uttar Pradesh (Apr. 1998 - Nov. 2000), Himachal Pradesh (Nov. 2000 - May 2003), and officiated as Governor of Bihar (1999).

In 2002 Dr Suraj Bhan also joined the race for the post of Vice-President of the country following re-thinking in the BJP over the candidature of former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Certain senior Dalit leaders of the Congress unofficially conveyed that Sonia Gandhi had no objection to Dr Suraj Bhan's candidature.

In February 2004, he was appointed Chairman of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Commission. He died of cardiac arrest following multiple organ failure on 6 August 2006 in New Delhi, while serving as the SC/ST Commission Chairman. He was aged 77.