Virbhadra Singh

Some Lesser Known Facts about Virbhadra Singh

• He was born into the royal family of Rampur Bushahr, Himachal Pradesh. The family is traditionally believed to be found by Pradhuman (son of Lord Krishna).

• In Himachal Pradesh, he was famous by the name, Raja Sahib.

• He was never interested in politics. He always wanted to be a professor. In 1962, he received a phone call from Lal Bahadur Shastri, which changed his life completely. In an interview, he told that
  

  “Shashtri ji said I had to meet Pandit Nehru. I didn’t know what I had done, but I came to Delhi and went to Teen Murti Marg where Indiraji met me and took me to Panditji. He was a clever man, he quizzed me, tested my knowledge with questions about Himachal Pradesh, about democracy and the next thing I knew I was given a ticket to fight the Lok Sabha election which I won. I was only 25 then.”

• In 1962, he was elected to the Lok Sabha at the age of 28, and the first Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was the person who asked him to contest.

  

• From 1976 to 1977, he served as a Deputy Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation in central cabinet.

• From 1980 to 1983, he was the Minister of State for Industries & Production.

• Later, he held the cabinet post of Minister for Steel from May 2009 to January 2011.

• From 19 January 2011 to 26 June 2012, he was chosen as the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises for the country.

• He served six times as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and five times as a member of parliament (Lok Sabha).

• He was an honorary Captain in the Indian Army.

  

• He was also appointed as the Education Minister of HP while serving as the CM of the state simultaneously.

• He was associated with several social and cultural organizations including Friends of the Soviet Union, Indo-Soviet Friendship Society, and President Sanskrit Sahitya Sammelan, Himachal Pradesh.

• In 2015, a biopic titled ‘Virbhadra Singh: Icon of the Era’ was released. The biopic was based on his personal and political life.

• His wife, Pratibha Singh, is also an active politician.

  

• His son, Vikramaditya Singh, has served as the President of HP State Youth Congress.