Sukh Ram

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A brief biography

May 12, 2022: The Times of India

New Delhi/Shimla: 1996. Sukh Ram was in the midst of his prolonged celebration as the man behind the telecom revolution in India, when a CBI raid at his residence in Mandi and Delhi-Ghaziabad hauled in wads of cash totaling to Rs 3. 6 crore, the sensational TV footage stunning the citizens who found visual evidence of what they always knew about the political high and mighty. In a matter of (nightly) minutes, the Congress veteran’s moment of glory turned into his hour of shame. 
On Wednesday, when the consummate politician and ex-Union minister died at AIIMS Delhi on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack at the age of 95, the coupling of glory and infamy continued, putting his pioneering role in telephony alongside the CBI raids that undid his fantasy run. Years later, he was also convicted for corruption by courts. 
Hailing from Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Sukh Ram was the quintessential old school politician, who started at the lowest rung of Territorial Council, and rose to become a five-term MLA and threeterm Lok Sabha MP, commanding loyalty among his constituents, who were forever unmoved and undeterred by the noise around.

Ameasure of his popularity was that during the 25 years he spent outside Congress following CBI raids that made him the face of political depravity — first launching Himachal Vikas Congress, then joining BJP and returning to Congress, he and his son continued to ride “Panditji’s” goodwill to assembly and Parliament. The belief is that BJP benefitted from his association in many polls during these years.

In the days of Congress’s high, Sukh Ram represented the Brahmin pole in the hill state where the Thakur community enjoyed dominance — Sukh Ram’s inhouse rival being late CM Virbhadra Singh. Not a coincidence that Sukh Ram blamed Singh for the CBI raids on him, as he always denied the charges of corruption asminister.

His currency among people made him a multiple-term minister at the Centre, the Communications ministry in the PV Narasimha Rao government (1993-96) being his pinnacle. The boy born in a poor family with 10 siblings in Arnyana village in Mandi came a long way through sheer grit and savvy. Even today, he is remembered for the PCO booths that in the 1990s sprang up in every nook and cranny of the difficult hilly terrain that is Himachal Pradesh.