He entered the MP Vidhan Sabha in 1957 at the young age of 27. Subsequently, he won several elections to the Assembly, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Though his first stint in the assembly was as an Independent member, on the eve of the 1962 General Elections, he joined the Congress and was elected to the state assembly as a Congress candidate. In 1963, DP Mishra became the Chief Minister and he inducted Arjun Singh into his council of ministers as a minister of state. In 1967, he was defeated in his home constituency by CP Tiwari, a firebrand Socialist leader.

Even at that early stage in his career, Arjun Singh managed to persuade a Congress legislator to resign his seat to facilitate his entry into the assembly. He was elected and was again inducted by DP Mishra into the ministry. However, the Mishra government did not last long. It was overthrown following the defection of 36 Congress legislators.

In 1972, the Congress was back in power and Prakash Chandra Sethi became the Chief Minister, Arjun Singh was again appointed Minister. In the 1977 assembly elections, the Congress was routed but Arjun Singh managed to retain his seat. He was entrusted with the responsibility of the leader of opposition and he performed his duties with great success.

After the Congress’ return to power in the State in 1980, a fierce battle took place for the leadership of the Congress legislature party. Arjun Singh staked his claim but he was opposed by Shivbhanu Singh Solanki, a tribal leader. Kamalnath also entered the fray. Voting took place and Solanki emerged the winner. But despite that, he was not made the Chief Minister. A novel stratagem was adopted for this. Kamalnath “transferred” his votes to Arjun Singh, thus converting the latter’s minority into a majority. It was mainly Sanjay Gandhi’s support that enabled Arjun Singh to grab the Chief Ministership. With his appointment, the Congress lost a historic opportunity of making a tribal the chief minister of the (then) biggest state of the country.

Arjun Singh’s tenure as Chief Minister was marked by many achievements. He took a string of steps to quicken the pace of industrialisation of the state. Industrial growth centres were set-up in many backward districts. He took several steps to ameliorate the pitiable living conditions of the poor. He conferred land ownership rights on slum dwellers. His pro-poor policies made him quite popular among the weaker sections of the society. He came to be known as their “messiah”. His commitment to secularism was total. His five year term was marked by peace on the communal front. .

He knew the art of winning over the loyalty of the permanent executive. Within six months of taking over the Chief Minister, he suspended the then Chief Secretary BK Dube. By punishing the top-most officer, Arjun Singh sent a clear message that he would spare none. He soon acquired the image of a Chief Minister whose orders the bureaucrats could ignore only to their peril.

He also took several initiatives to promote Culture in the state. His most outstanding achievement in this field was “Bharat Bhavan” - which emerged as a multi-arts centre. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who inaugurated the “Bharat Bhavan”, paid rich tributes to Arjun Singh by describing Bhopal as the “cultural capital” of the country.

Arjun Singh had to face many a crises during his Chief Minister. The worst among them was the Bhopal gas disaster. Despite the big dent the disaster caused to the image of the Congress, it won the 1985 elections hands down and Arjun Singh was unanimously elected as the leader of the CLP. But within a few hours of taking over as the Chief Minister, he was suddenly shifted to Punjab as the Governor. Why he was asked to leave the state in his most glorious hour is still a mystery.

Till then, no Chief Minister of the state had completed his full term of five years. Arjun Singh had not only done that but had also managed to win another term for himself. But he was not allowed to complete his second term.

In Punjab, he displayed remarkable statesmanship. He persuaded Harchand Singh Longowal, a top Sikh leader to ink “Rajiv Gandhi—Longowal” pact. This helped, to a great extent, in diffusing the tension in Punjab, owing to the terrorist menace.

After Punjab, he was brought back to Delhi, where he was made the Vice President of the Congress. For the first time, the post of Vice President was created in the Congress. After this, he said goodbye to state politics. He was inducted into the Union Cabinet, when Narsimha Rao became the Prime Minister. He was also named as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary party. But very soon, his differences with Rao took a serious turn. He challenged Rao’s leadership by contesting for the membership of the CWC against the wishes of Rao. Ultimately, along with ND Tiwari, Arjun Singh walked out of the Congress to form the Congress (Tiwari). This fissure became one of the causes for the defeat of the Congress in the 1996 General Elections.

Meanwhile, having lost the Lok Sabha elections, he entered the Rajya Sabha and joined the Manmohan Singh cabinet as Human Resources Development Minister. He relations with Manmohan Singh were far from cordial. He was not included in the cabinet in UPA-II. This came as a rude shock to him. His health too started deteriorating. In the 2009 general elections, Singh’s daughter contested the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent. This made his loyalty suspect in the eyes of the Congress leadership.

During his entire political career, Arjun Singh continued to be a defender of the secular character of the Indian polity. As far his economic views are concerned, they can well be described as socialist. He took several pro-poor decisions, the most outstanding among which was the nationalisation of the trade in Tendu leaves. This benefited thousands of tribals and other poor sections.

The Sangh Parivar regarded him as its sworn enemy. He once went to the extent of challenging the credentials of the BJP as a political party. His attempts to “de-saffronise” the school text books was also decried by the Sangh Parivar.

Arjun Singh was a deft player of factional politics. He was a member of strong likes and dislikes. While thousands of party workers in his home state were his great admirers, thousands also hated him with great vehemence. He was book-lover and a highly knowledgeable person. He was an effective orator and a prolific writer. His excellent command over English and Hindi made many a politicians envious of him.

In his death, the country lost a staunch Nehruvian Socialist who fought till the last to protect secular ideals of the Congress. (IPA Service)