The politician with a clean image

JAIPUR: Ram Niwas Mirdha was one of the foremost politician who opted to be in public life rather than serving as a bureaucrat. In 1953 he quit his Rajasthan Adminstrative Service job to contest the by-election from Jayal in Nagaur district.
Son of Baldeo Ram Mirdha, a DIG in police in the erstwhile Jodhpur state and a patriarch of the Jats of Marwar region, who organised the Marwar peasants to found the Kisan Sabha.
Nathu Ram Mirdha, was a distant uncle of Ram Niwas Mirdha and is remembered as the tallest leader of the farming community, started his career in the Kisan Sabha under the late Baldeo Ram. But in 1952 Kisan Sabha was merged with the Congress. Ram Niwas served as the secretary of Nathu Ram when he was a minister in Tika Ram Palawal and Jai Narayan Vya's cabinet. Ram Niwas was educated in Jodhpur and did his post graduation from Allahabad University and his law from Lucknow University. He then went to study international affairs at Geneva in Switzerland.
When he was the secretary of Nathu Ram he was known for writing letters and conversing in fluent English and was regarded as a "padha likha Jat (educated Jat). Known for his pleasing manners, he was groomed in politics by his uncle Nathu Ram who helped him to get Congress nomination in the by-election in Jayal.
Nathu Ram Mirdha declined to join Mohan Lal Sukhadia's cabinet in 1954 when Sukhadia had displaced Jai Narayan Vyas and became the youngest chief minister of the country at 35. Nathu Ram promoted Ram Niwas Mirdha as a "padha likha aadmi". For two years Nathu Ram kept himself from the power game. But in 1957, after the second Vidhan Sabha election, he pushed his candidature for a berth in Sukhadia's cabinet. He successfully lobbied to ensure that Ram Niwas become the Speaker.
In 1973, after the death of Barkatullah Khan, Ram Niwas was sent by the party's leadership to stake his claim for the chief minister's post. He was obvious choice of Indira Gandhi, but lacked a solid support base in the state politics as he spent most of his time in Delhi.
In the CLP election Mirdha polled 13 votes less than Harideo Joshi and failed to be the "first Jat chief minister" of the state.
Interestingly, when Ram Niwas' son Rajendra, who died only last year, was abducted by Khalistani activists led by Navdeep Kadiyan, Shekhawat was the CM. Forgetting political affiliation Shekhawat kept Ram Niwas in good humour till his son was freed from the clutches of the Sikh terrorist Kadiyan, who was gunned down in an encounter.
Ram Niwas defeated his mentor Nathu Ram in the 1984 Lok Sabha election from Nagaur. After this their relationship soured. When Nathu Ram died and a by-election was effected in Nagaur for the Lok Sabha, Nathu's son Bhanu Prakash defeated Ram Niwas because the people wanted to pay their tribute to Nathu Ram who was a towering leader .

Ram Niwas enjoyed a good and clean image although he did not leave behind an impressive record as a minister or as chairman of various academies that he headed. But it was his clean image that made him the chairman of the joint parliamentary committee to probe the economic scams.