Rajnath Singh is an Indian politician. He is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has held many prominent political posts including the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the Union Home Minister of India. Currently, he is the Defence Minister of India in Narendra Modi‘s Cabinet.
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Wiki/Biography
Rajnath Singh was born on Tuesday, 10 July 1951 (age 73 years; as of 2024) in Bhabhaura village, Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh. His zodiac sign is Cancer. He received his primary education from a local school of Bhabhaura, UP. He pursued MSc in Physics, securing first division, from the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. After his post-graduation, he started working as a Physics lecturer at the K.B. Post Graduate College of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. Rajnath Singh has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from the age of 13. He liked the RSS ideology, and he worked for them even when he was working as a lecturer. Rajnath Singh has held many significant posts in the RSS.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 9″
Weight(approx.): 80 kg
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Black
Family, Caste & Wife
Rajnath Singh belongs to a Hindu Rajput Family. His father, Rambadan Singh, was a farmer and his mother, Gujarati Devi, was a homemaker. He is married to Savitri Singh. They have 3 children together, two sons, Pankaj Singh (Eldest; Politician) and Neeraj Singh (Younger), and a daughter, Anamika Singh (Youngest).
Career
Rajnath Singh’s political career started in 1969. He became the organization secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP; student wing of the RSS) Gorakhpur Division. In 1972, he was promoted as the ABVP’s General Secretary of Mirzapur.
He entered politics in 1974 and was appointed as the General Secretary of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party) in Mirzapur. He was appointed as the District President of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and the District Coordinator of the Jai Prakash Narayan movement. It was during this movement that he got jailed for the first time; along with many others who opposed the Emergency.
In 1977, he was elected as an MLA in the UP Assembly. In 1983, he was appointed as the State Secretary of the UP BJP. He was appointed as the State Chief of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch (BJYM) and got elevated to become the National President of the BJYM in 1988. He authored a book in 1998- Unemployment – Its Reasons and Remedies. In the same year, he was elected as an MLC in the UP Legislative Council and eventually became the Education Minister of UP in 1991 when the BJP formed the government for the first time in UP. His Anti-Copying Act of 1992, during his term as the Education Minister, was a turning point in his career as it got him noticed and appreciated across the nation.
In 1994, he got elected as an MP to the Rajya Sabha and as the Chief Whip of the BJP. In 1997, he was entrusted with the responsibility of the President of the UP BJP. On 22 November 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Miniter, and he appointed Rajnath Singh as the Union Minister of Surface Transport; during which Atal Bihari’s dream project, the National Highway Development Programme was initiated. On 28 October 2000, Rajnath became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. In 2002, he was made the National General Secretary of the BJP. The next year, he became the Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing. As the BJP General Secretary, he toured the entire country to meet workers from all over India to strengthen the party. In 2004, he was appointed as the National General Secretary for the second time. He was appointed as the BJP’s National President on 31 December 2005; a post he held till 19 December 2009.
In May 2014, he was elected as an MP from the Lucknow Lok Sabha Constituency and on 26 May 2014, he took oath as the Union Home Minister of India in the Narendra Modi Government.
On 30 May 2019, Rajnath Singh was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister in the Narendra Modi Government by the President Ram Nath Kovind. On 31 May 2019, he was announced to be the Union Minister of Defence.
He contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Lucknow constituency and won by a margin of 63,000 votes. On 9 June 2024, he was sworn in as the Defence Minister in Modi 3.0 government.
Facts
- Rajnath Singh has been a very bright student. He used to score high and was the teachers’ favourite student.
- Rajnath Singh inaugurated the famous DND Flyover connecting New Delhi and Noida in 2001.
- His elder son, Pankaj Singh, is BJP’s General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh. He is also an MLA from Noida.
- His younger son, Neeraj Singh, is a student, and he often campaigns for him. His daughter is a student and a social worker.
- During his term as the Union Minister of Agriculture, he introduced many initiatives which benefited the farmers a lot and became very popular such as the Kisan Call Centre, Farm Income Insurance Scheme, and others.