A lifelong member of the Congress party, Jakhar founded the Bharatiya Krishak Samaj, a farmers' organization, in 1965. He was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1972 and was re-elected in 1977, becoming the Leader of the Opposition.
Jakhar then moved to national politics. He was elected in 1980 to the seventh Lok Sabha from Ferozepur and in 1984 to the eighth Lok Sabha from Sikar. He had the distinction of being elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha during his very first term in the house. Furthermore, served twice as Speaker of Lok Sabha, a rare achievement in Indian parliament history, holding office from 1980 to 1989, thus became the longest serving speaker in history. As Speaker of Lok Sabha, he promoted automation and computerization of Parliamentary works. He promoted Parliament library, reference, research, documentation and information services for the knowledge and use of members of Parliament. The establishment of Parliament Museum was his contribution. He was the first Asian to be elected Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Executive Forum.
The Sikar parliamentary seat was won by Devi Lal in the elections of 1989. In 1991, Jakhar was again elected to parliament from the Sikar constituency and his party returned to power in India. Jakhar was made Union Agriculture minister under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in 1991.
After the Congress party returned to power in 2004, he was appointed Governor of Madhya Pradesh and served from 30 June 2004 to 30 May 2009.[7]
Personal life
Jakhar was the father of three sons:
Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, the eldest son, is a former minister in the Punjab government. Father of Ajay Vir Jakhar.
Ajay Vir Jakhar, son of Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, is Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj, a farmer organization, and writes frequently on farmer issues in reputed newspapers.
Surinder Jakhar, second son, died of a self-inflicted bullet injury (probably accidental) in 2011. Surinder served as chairman of Asia’s cooperative fertiliser giant IFFCO for four terms and chief of Asian Cooperative Alliance for two terms.[8] Surinder is the father of Sandeep Jakhar.
Sunil Jakhar, youngest son. Before resigning from the party in 2022, Sunil was long a member of his father's Congress party. He is a three time MLA from Abohar. He became Leader of the Opposition in Punjab in March 2012. He was elected to parliament from Gurdaspur in 2017 and was made President of his party's Punjab unit the same year. He left the party on 14th May 2022. He is currently serving as President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Punjab unit since 4th July 2023.
