Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh
Minister of Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 May 2014
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Sushilkumar Shinde
President of the Bharatiya Janata Party
In office 23 January 2013 – 8 July 2014
Preceded by	Nitin Gadkari
Succeeded by	Amit Shah
In office 24 December 2005 – 24 December 2009
Preceded by	L K Advani
Succeeded by	Nitin Gadkari
19th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
In office 28 October 2000 – 8 March 2002
Governor	Suraj Bhan Vishnu Kant Shastri
Preceded by	Ram Prakash Gupta
Succeeded by	Mayawati
Member of Parliament for Lucknow
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2014
Preceded by	Lalji Tandon
Member of Parliament for Ghaziabad
In office 16 May 2009 – 16 May 2014
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	Gen (Retd) V K Singh
Minister of Agriculture
In office 2003–2004
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded by	Ajit Singh
Succeeded by	Sharad Pawar
Personal details
Born	10 July 1951 Bhabhaura, Uttar Pradesh, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Spouse(s)	Savitri Singh
Children	Pankaj Singh Neeraj Singh Anamika Singh
Mother	Gujarati Devi
Father	Ram Badan Singh
Alma mater	Gorakhpur University
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Official website

Rajnath Singh (born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who currently serves as the Home Minister of India. He previously served as the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh and as a Cabinet Minister in the Vajpayee Government. He has also served as the President of the BJP twice, 2005–2009 and 2013–2014. He began his career as a physics lecturer and used his long-term association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) to become involved with the Janata Party.

Early life

Singh was born in the small village of puttur in Chittor district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in a Hindu rajput family.^[1] His father was Ram Badan Singh and his mother was Gujarati Devi.^[2] He was born into a family of farmers and went on to secure a master's degree in physics, acquiring first division results from the Gorakhpur University.^[2] Rajnath Singh had been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since 1964, at the age of 13 and remained connected with the organisation even during his employment as a physics lecturer in Mirzapur.^[2] In 1974, he was appointed secretary for the Mirzapur unit of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, predecessor of Bhartiya Janta Party.^[2]

Political career

In 1975, aged 24, Singh was appointed District President of the Jana Sangh.^[2] In 1977, he was elected Member of Legislative Assembly from the Mirzapur constituency.^[2] He became the State President of the BJP youth wing in 1984, the National general secretary in 1986^[2] and the National President in 1988. He was also elected into the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.^[2]

In 1991, he became Education Minister in the first BJP government in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Major highlights of his tenure as Education Minister included Anti-Copying Act, 1992, which made copying a non-bailable offence,^[3] rewriting history texts and incorporating vedic mathematics into the syllabus.^[4] In April 1994, he was elected into the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) and he became involved with the Advisory committee on Industry (1994–96), Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Agriculture, Business Advisory Committee, House Committee and the Committee on Human Resource Development.^[2] On 25 March 1997, he became the President of the BJP's unit in Uttar Pradesh and in 1999 he became the Union Cabinet Minister for Surface Transport.^[2]

In 2000, he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was twice elected as MLA from Haidergarh in 2001 and 2002.^[3] He tried to rationalise the reservation structure in government jobs by introducing the most Backward Classes among the OBC and SC, so that the benefit of reservation can reach the lowest status of Society.^[5]

In 2003, Singh was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and subsequently for Food Processing in the NDA Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and was faced with the difficult task of maintaining one of the most volatile areas of India's economy.^[6] During this period he initiated a few epoch-making projects including the Kisan Call Centre and Farm Income Insurance Scheme.^[7] He brought down interest rates on Agriculture loans and also established Farmer Commission and initiated Farms Income Insurance Scheme.^[5]

After the BJP lost power in the 2004 general elections, it was forced to sit in the Opposition. After the resignation of prominent figure Lal Krishna Advani, and the murder of strategist Pramod Mahajan, Singh sought to rebuild the party by focusing on the most basic Hindutva ideologies.^[8] He announced his position of "no compromise" in relation to the building of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya at any cost^[8] and commended the rule of Vajpayee as Prime Minister, pointing towards all the developments the National Democratic Alliance made for the ordinary people of India.^[9] He also criticised the role of the English language in India, claiming that it caused erosion of cultural values.^[10]

On 24 January 2013, following the resignation of Nitin Gadkari due to corruption charges, Singh was re-elected as the BJP's National President.^[11]

Rajnathsingh&meghraj

He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow constituency and was subsequently elected as a Member of the Indian Parliament.^[12]

In 2014, Rajnath said that 75 per cent of the people in India either speak or know Hindi.^[13]

Home Minister

He was appointed the Union Minister of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi government and was sworn in on 26 May 2014.^[14]

He triggered controversy amid the protests over the police action at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), on 14 Feb 2016, claiming that the “JNU incident” was supported by Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.^[15]

In May 2016, he claimed that infiltration from Pakistan declined by 52% in a period of two years.^[16]

References

1. Christophe Jaffrelot (January 2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 489–. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
2. "Profile: Rajnath Singh". Zee News. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
3. "How Rajnath Singh rose through the ranks". rediff.com. 31 January 2013
4. "Who is Rajnath Singh? : India, News – India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
5. "Achievements". rajnathsingh.in
6. "Courage, Mr Rajnath Singh". The Hindu. 11 June 2003.
7. "Shri Rajnath Singh, MP (Ghaziabad)". wikimapia.org
8. Ghatak, Lopamudra (23 December 2006). "It's basic instinct for Rajnath Singh". The Times of India.
9. Rajnath Singh is new BJP President. indianewsdiary.com
10. "BJP chief claims English bad for India, triggers outrage." Times of India. 20 July 2013
11. PTI (19 December 2009). "Rajnath steps down, Gadkari takes over as BJP president". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
12. "Rajnath Singh surpasses Vajpayee’s victory margin in Lucknow". The Hindu. 18 May 2014
13. "Irony that Hindi is not used more in official work, says Home Minister Rajnath Singh".
14. http://pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/portfolios-of-the-union-council-of-ministers-2/
15. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/rajnath-singh-hafiz-saeed-let-jnu-protests-had-support-of-let-chief-hafiz-saeed-rajnath-singh/
16. "Narendra Modi's 56-inch chest not reduced an inch: Rajnath Singh", Deccan Chronicle, 28 May 2016

External links

• Official website
• Detailed Profile: Shri Rajnath Singh