Ajit Pramod Kumar Jogi (29 April 1946 – 29 May 2020) was an Indian politician, who has served as the 1st Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh from 2000 to 2003 and a member of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly from Marwahi from 2018 to 2020 and from 2001 to 2013. He also served as a member of Lok Sabha from Mahasamund from 2004 to 2008 and from Raigarh from 1998 to 1999 and member of Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh from 1986 to 1998 and district collector of Raipur in Office from 1978 to 1981. He was a member of Indian National Congress till 2016 and the founder of the political party named Janta Congress Chhattisgarh and the 1st President of the party from 2016 till he died in 2020.[4]
He was born on April 29, 1946, at Gaurela in Marwahi district of Chhattisgarh in a Christian Family. He is survived by wife Renu Jogi who is MLA from Kota constituency and son Amit Jogi who is a former MLA.[8] He was a gold medalist in Mechanical Engineering. He began his professional career as a lecturer in one of the engineering colleges of Raipur city.[7] After completion of his IAS training he was deputed at Raipur as District Magistrate. He was chosen by then Chief Minister Prakash Chandra Sethi to be collector for Sidhi district. He later served as the collector of Shahdol, Raipur and Indore districts.[7] He was considered a bright officer in his role as an IAS officer. He grasped the issues quickly which enabled him to guide his political seniors correctly, as he had a good knowledge on rules and regulations. He was known for having good memory. He could quote the sections from acts at appropriate moments.[7] Even his juniors in court work used to emulate his work. In year 2000 his daughter Anusha committed suicide. In year 2004, he met with a car crash while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Mahasamund, which left him paralysed from waist downwards. However he kept himself physically active for close to 16 years and remained active in politics. During his last days he was working on his autobiography.
Political career
In the course of his professional work in Sidhi district, he was introduced to Arjun Singh, a prominent politician from Madhya Pradesh, who later became his mentor in politics. When Arjun Singh became Chief Minister in 1980, he appointed Ajit Jogi as the collector for Raipur and later that of Indore. Ajit Jogi was introduced couple of times by Arjun Singh to Rajiv Gandhi, who was President of Congress Party, who took special interest in him and a guiding factor for him to quit professional service to enter politics.[7] He quit the civil services in 1986 and joined Indian National Congress party.[9] Later he became member of Rajya Sabha aged 40.[7] He was nominated for the second time too for Rajya Sabha in year 1992, during Prime Ministership of Late P. V. Narasimha Rao. However, he rose to prominence after creation of state Chhattisgarh from the state of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, when he was chosen to be its first Chief Minister. However BJP won the state's maiden elections held in December 2003, and Ajit Jogi's Congress government was unseated. Though BJP retained power by winning elections in year 2008 and 2013, Ajit Jogi retained his prominence in State Congress party. In 1998, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from Raigarh, a constituency reserve for members of Scheduled Tribe and won. However, he lost the Lok Sabha elections in year 1999 from Shahdol. In year 2000, Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, and Sonia Gandhi as President of Congress, chose him as Chief Minister of the newly carved state. Though he did not have political experience which was considered a limitation, his immense experience as Government servant and intelligence made him comfortable in the role and adjust easily. As Chief Minister he had complete grip on state affairs. Ajit Jogi was a unique person who combined politics in administration and administration in politics in his role of governing the state. As the decision making was centralised with him, ministers had little work. His bureaucrats used to take important decisions regarding affairs of the state. However the elections in November 2003 proved disappointing for him. He had an immense popularity in Satnami Community, a powerful Scheduled Caste group in Chhattisgarh. In 2016, he floated the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC), after appealing to the Congress high command. In 2018, his party tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), for the Assembly elections. He is known to have a new form of politics, one that invoked Chhattisgarh pride and sub-nationalism. Even after near-fatal accident in a car crash in 2004 while campaigning for Lok sabha elections from Mahasamund which made him paralysed from waist downwards, Jogi contested assembly election and won against his ex-party colleague Vidya Charan Shukla from BJP.
2014 Lok Sabha election campaign
During the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the Mahasamund seat, eleven independent candidates filed their nominations in the name of Chandu Lal Sahu.[10] Ajit Jogi was representing Indian National Congress, his main contender was Chandu Lal Sahu from the BJP.[10] Sahu ultimately won the election for the Mahasamund seat but only by small margin of 133 votes[11] and Jogi was accused of creating 11 namesakes similar to his BJP rival, as independents, to confuse voters.[10]
In February 2018, Jogi announced that he would contest the election from Rajnandgaon, and after some time he also announced that he would contest the election from Marwahi. On 29 April Jogi gathered more than 72000 people for rally on his birthday.[15]
1987–1989 General secretary, Pradesh-Congress Committee, Madhya Pradesh and also, member of committees on Public Undertakings, Industries, and Railways.
1989 Central Observer of the Indian National Congress for elections to Lok Sabha from constituencies in Manipur.
1995 Central Observer of the Indian National Congress for elections to Sikkim Assembly.
1995-96 Chairman of Committees on Science and Technology and Environment and Forests
1996 Indian Delegation to the United Nations for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations, New York.
1997 Observer, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee Elections. Member, AICC. Member of committees on Transport and Tourism, Rural and Urban Development, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Coal, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Energy, Public Accounts Committee, Convenor, Sub-Committee on Indirect Taxes, Panel of vice-chairmen, Rajya Sabha
1997 Indian Delegation to 98th IPU Conference, Cairo
1998 Elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) to the 12th Lok Sabha for the Raigarh constituency in Chhattisgarh[17]
1998–2000 Spokesman, AICC, Whip, Congress Parliamentary Party, Working President, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee
1998–99 Member, Committee on Human Resource Development and its Sub-Committee-II on Medical Education, Committee on Coal, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Coal
In August 2019, a high-level judicial committee dismissed Jogi's claim of belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) and cancelled all his caste certificates. Jogi was booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).[23] Additionally, Jogi was accused of cheating and forgery in connection with the declaration in a poll affidavit submitted by him during the 2013 Assembly elections. Facing a first information report (FIR) and arrests in the fake caste certificate case, Jogi was admitted to a private hospital in Delhi-NCR after he complained of breathing problem.[24][25]
Death
Jogi died in the afternoon of Friday, 29 May 2020, aged 74.[8] His son, Amit Jogi, confirmed the news on his official Twitter page. Jogi was admitted to hospital after a heart attack, which was caused by a tamarind seed stuck in his throat.[26] Since he was a Christian, he was laid to rest at a cemetery at Jyotipur area in Gaurela town of GPM district in Chhattisgarh.[27][28]