Rajnath Singh (born 10 July 1951) is an Indian politician serving as the Defence Minister of India. He is the former President of Bharatiya Janata Party. He has previously served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Cabinet Minister in the Vajpayee Government. He was the Home Minister in the First Modi Ministry. He has also served as the President of the BJP twice i.e 2005 to 2009 and 2013 to 2014.
Key Description:
President: Ram Nath Kovind
Prime Minister: Narendra Modi
Preceded By: Sushilkumar Shinde
Succeeded By: Amit Shah
President of the: Bharatiya Janata Party
- 24 January 2013 – 8 July 2014
- 31 December 2005 – 19 December 2009
Minister of Agriculture: 24 May 2003 – 22 May 2004
Prime Minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
19th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: 28 October 2000 – 8 March 2002
Minister of Road Transport and Highways: 22 November 1999 – 27 October 2000
Prime Minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded By: Nitish Kumar
Succeeded By: B. C. Khanduri
Member of Parliament: Lok Sabha (5 June 2014)
Constituency: Lucknow (31 May 2009 – 5 June 2014)
Personal Details:
Born: 10 July 1951 (age 69) Bhabhaura, Chandauli district, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political Party: Bharatiya Janata Party
Other Political:
Affiliations: Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Before 1977)
Spouse(s): Savitri Singh
Children: 3, including Pankaj Singh
Education: Gorakhpur University (M.Sc. in Physics)
Website: Official website
Social Network: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
Rajnath Singh Early Life:
Singh was born in Bhabhaura village of Chandauli district, Uttar Pradesh. His father was Ram Badan Singh and his mother was Gujarati Devi. 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.He worked as a lecturer of Physics at K.B. Post-Graduate College Mirzapur, UP. He was born in a poor family of Hindu Rajput caste and he had been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since 1964, at the age of 13 and remained connected with the organisation. In 1974, he was appointed secretary for the Mirzapur unit of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, predecessor of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Political Career of Rajnath Singh
In 1975, aged 24, Singh was appointed District President of the Jana Sangh. In 1977, he was elected Member of Legislative Assembly from the Mirzapur. He became the State President of the BJP youth wing in 1984, the National general secretary in 1986 and the National President in 1988. He was also elected into the Uttar Pradesh legislative council.
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, modernizing science texts and incorporating vedic mathematics into the syllabus.
Education Minister of Uttar Pradesh
In 1991, when Bharatiya Janata Party made its government first time in Uttar Pradesh, he was appointed as Education Minister. He remained Minister for a tenure of 2 Years.
Rajnath Singh Controversy as Minister
During his tenure, he was responsible for pushing Anti-Copying Act due to which Cheating increased and sparkled a Controversy.
Union Surface Transport Minister (1999-2000)
In April 1994, he was elected into the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the 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. 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.
Rajnath Singh Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (2000-02)
In 2000, he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was twice elected as MLA from Haidergarh in 2001 and 2002. He tried to rationalize 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.
On 7 February 2001, Singh inaugurated the DND Flyway which connects Delhi to Noida.
Union Agriculture Minister (2003-04)
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. During this period he initiated a few epoch-making projects including the Kisan Call Centre and Farm Income Insurance Scheme. He brought down interest rates on Agriculture loans and also established Farmer Commission and initiated Farms Income Insurance Scheme.
National President of the BJP (2005-09)
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. He announced his position of "no compromise" in relation to the building of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya at any cost and commended the rule of Vajpayee as Prime Minister, pointing towards all the developments the NDA made for the ordinary people of India. He also criticized the role of the English language in India, claiming that most of Indian population is unable to participate in Indian economy and cultural discourse due to extreme preferences shown to English at the expense of native languages.
He became the BJP National President on 31 December 2005, a post he held till 19 December 2009. In May 2009, he was elected MP from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
On 24 January 2013, following the resignation of Nitin Gadkari due to corruption charges, Singh was re-elected as the BJP's National President.
Singh is on record shortly after the law Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was re-instated in 2013, claiming that his party is "unambiguously" in favour of the law, also claiming that "We will state (at an all-party meeting if it is called) that we support Section 377 because we believe that homosexuality is an unnatural act and cannot be supported.”
He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow constituency and was subsequently elected as a Member of the Parliament.
Rajnath Singh Union Home Minister (2014-19)
He was appointed the Union Minister of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi government and was sworn in on 26 May 2014.
Controversy over JNU Matter
He triggered controversy amid the protests over the police action at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), on 14 February 2016, claiming that the "JNU incident" was supported by Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed.
In May 2016, he claimed that infiltration from Pakistan declined by 52% in a period of two years.
Bharat Ke Veer App
On 9 April 2017, he launched Bharat Ke Veer Web portal and Application with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. This was an initiative taken by him for the welfare of Martyrs' family.
An official anthem was launched on 20 January 2018 for the cause 'Bharat Ke Veer' by him along with film star Akshay Kumar, and other ministers Kiren Rijiju, Hansraj Ahir.
Doklam Matter
Doklam is a disputed Territory for Bhutan and China, where China claimed Doklam as its Territory and due to which their started Tension between Indian Army and Liberation Army of China. Over the matter Singh assured Public to solve the matter and he had a talk with Officials of Chinese Communist Party over the Relations between the both Nation and later, the Tension solved at large extent.
Commissioning of Bastariya Battalion
On 21 May 2018, he commissioned Bastariya Battalion. As Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh attended the passing out parade of 241 Bastariya Battalion of CRPF in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh on 21 May 2018.
Rajnath Singh Union Defence Minister (2019- present)
Singh became the Defence minister of India on 31 May 2019. Singh was given Ministry of Defence (India) after Amit Shah was given the Ministry of Home Affairs (India).
Indo-China Border Tension
From July 2020, there has been Tension for Standoff between Security forces of India and China over the Border Region of Ladakh. This situation under Duration of time become more tense leading to War- like Situations between the 2 Nations involving United States and other Nations. In this tension 20 Soldier of Bihar Regiment martyred their Lives.
Rajnath Singh over the Matter
Over the matter Singh had a meeting with Officials of Indian Army and also visited Ladakh Range Region and talked to them over the matter. He had also meeting with CDS Bipin Rawat, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Army general Manoj Mukund Naravane to tighten the Situation.
Strict Instruction to Security Forces
After the killing of 20 Troops by People's Liberation Army over the Meeting in Galwan Valley, he and Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar played a crucial Role.[38] Over the matter Singh gave Security forces Open Hand to deal with Chinese Forces and not to trust them. He also said that he can't gaurantees to what Extend the tension would go.
Conclusion
Later the situation was handled.
Rajnath Singh Elections Wins and All Ministry
In 1977, MLA from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.
In 1984, President of BJP Youth Wing.
In 1985, MLC from Uttar Pradesh.
In 1986, General Secretary of BJP Youth Wing.
In 1988, National President of BJP Youth Wing.
In 1991, Education Minister of Uttar Pradeh.[1991-1992]
In 1994, Member of Parliament of Rajya Sabha.
In 1997, President of BJP State Unit of Uttar Pradesh.[1997-1998]
In 1999, Union Minister of Transportation.[1999-2000]
In 2000, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.[2000-2002]
In 2002, Member of Parliament from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.[2002-2004]
In 2003, Union Agriculture Minister.[2003-2004]
In 2005, National President of BJP.[2005-2009]
In 2013, Re-elected as Party President.[2013-2014]
In 2014, Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
In 2014, Union Minister of Home Affairs.[2014-2019]
In 2019, Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.[2019-2024]
In 2019, Cabinat Minister of Defence.
Personal Life
He is married to Savitri Singh in year 1971 in Uttar Pradesh. He has 3 Children, 2 sons and 1 daughter namely Pankaj Singh, Neeraj Singh and Anamika Singh.
His son Pankaj Singh is a politician and Member of the Legislative Assembly from Noida (Assembly constituency),Uttar Pradesh from BJP.