Ram Chandra Vikal

Who was Ram Chandra Vikal?

Ram Chandra Vikal was a Gurjar leader, freedom fighter and deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India. He was an agriculture minister and was elected twice as a Member of Parliament as well as a five-time Member of the Legislative Assembly. He had charge of Jammu and Kashmir during the governments of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He was also a well known yoga teacher.

Vikal was influenced by the ideology of the Arya Samaj from childhood and participated in the freedom movement from his student days. An agriculturist, Vikal championed the cause of the farmers, labourers and backward classes, and was instrumental in implementing various social welfare measures such as getting irrigation rates reduced and land revenue written off.

He also contributed to the setting up of various infrastructure facilities in the towns and villages of Uttar Pradesh by having bridges and railway lines constructed. He was also instrumental in getting several primary schools and colleges set up, establishing agricultural universities in Faizabad and Kanpur and a medical college in Meerut. Vikal was awarded the Degree of Vidyavachaspati, Honoris Causa, by the Gurukul Mahavidyalaya, Jwalapur.