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While Bharatiya Janata Party has formed the government in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s party Trinamool Congress (TMC) is in bad shape at the moment. There has been a huge rift within TMC. The situation is that more than 50 MLAs of Mamata Banerjee, who won 80 seats in the last assembly elections, have openly rebelled, and the remaining MLAs also seem to be following the same path. There are even speculations in political circles that a day may come when Mamata Banerjee herself will resign from TMC.

By the way, this kind of rebellion and upheaval in political parties is not a new thing. Many big and interesting political incidents of rebellion have already been recorded in the history of Indian democracy. Years ago, a similar unique case of ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ rebellion and defection had come to light in the state of Haryana, adjacent to Delhi, which has turned into a famous idiom today. Let us tell you what was this whole interesting incident.

When history was made in the very first elections of Haryana

Actually, this whole story is from the year 1960 and the real hero of this famous idiom is Gaya Lal, an MLA from Haryana of that era. After separation from Punjab, Haryana came into existence as a new state on the map of the country on November 1, 1966. Within just one year of this, i.e. in the year 1967, the first assembly elections of the state were held. Congress had emerged as the largest party in this historic election. On the basis of bumper voting, Congress had won 48 out of total 81 seats.

In the same first assembly elections of Haryana in 1967, an independent candidate Gaya Lal also won the election from Hasanpur assembly seat. Till now everything was going absolutely normal and fine, but at that time no one had any idea that Gaya Lal would later become such a political personality of the country, in whose name a phrase would be immortalized forever.

Rebels toppled Congress government within a few days

Since the Congress had got an absolute majority in the elections, Bhagwat Dayal Sharma, elected leader of the party’s legislature party, took the oath of office as the first Chief Minister of Haryana on 10 March 1967. But even during that period, many different factions were active within the Congress and there was a continuous phase of mutual tug of war among the leaders. This was the reason why Bhagwat Dayal Sharma’s government could not survive for long in the state.

Due to the ongoing discord and sharp opposition within the party, many Congress MLAs suddenly rebelled. During this political turmoil, these rebel MLAs of Congress joined some independent MLAs with themselves and formed a new political front. This step greatly increased the problems of both Chief Minister Bhagwat Dayal Sharma and the Congress high command. The Congress party started making every possible effort to save its government by any means.

changed it 3 times in just 9 hours

In Haryana, on one hand, there was a conspiracy to topple Bhagwat Dayal Sharma’s government and on the other hand to create a new political equation, meanwhile Hasanpur MLA Gaya Lal did something which surprised everyone. Gaya Lal changed his political stance several times in a single day, within just 9 hours, and joined parties in haste.

During these 9 hours, Gaya Lal first joined one group, then after a short while he left it and joined another opposing group. Not only this, when only a little time was left for the 9 hours to end, he once again reversed course and returned to his previous group. This unimaginable incident of changing sides thrice in just 9 hours caused a major upheaval in the politics of Haryana.

This is how the most famous name of Indian politics ‘Aya Ram-Gaya Ram’ came into existence.

Amidst this interesting political development in Haryana, on March 24, 1967, Rao Birendra Singh, leader of the United Legislative Party, became the new Chief Minister of Haryana. When MLA Gaya Lal returned to his group after roaming around, a big press conference was organized in Chandigarh. In this press conference, Chief Minister Rao Birendra Singh jokingly told the journalists that ‘Gaya Ram is now Aaya Ram.’

This phrase that came from the mouth of Rao Birendra Singh spread everywhere in no time and Gaya Lal’s name became ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ forever. In later years, this name became completely famous in Indian politics as an idiom.

When this name echoed even in the country’s Parliament

This matter was not limited to Haryana only, but at that time the then Union Home Minister Y.B. Chavan had also used this word properly in the Parliament of the country. Within a few years, the phrase ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ caught the tongue of the entire country and became very popular. Even today, whenever there is talk of defection, change of party or rebellion of MLAs in Indian politics, ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ is invariably mentioned.