Mr Inder Kumar Gujral of the Janata Dal, who wrested the JaJandhar Lok Sabha seat from MajGen Rajinder Singh Sparrow of the Congress (I), was Ambassador to the Soviet Union.
Born in 1919 in Shelum, now in Pakistan, Mr Gujral belongs to a family of freedom fighters. His father, Mr Avtar Narain, and mother, Pushpa, were prominent social workers of Punjab. They founded the Nari Niketan in Jalandhar, where the family settled after partition, They also played a leading role in the rehabilitation of refugees in Punjab.
Mr Gujral participated in the freedom struggle and was jailed during the Quit India Movement in 1942, He was the President of the Lahore Students Union and General Secretary of the Punjab Students Federation. He took the master’s degree in economics from Panjab University, Lahore.
As a Union Minister he held the portfolios of Information and Broadcasting, Housing, Planning, Communications and Parliamentary Affairs. He was instrumental in setting up the Doordarshan Kendra in Jalandhar.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 29, 1989
