 "JP Nadda returns to Modi Cabinet: The rise and rise of the BJP leader")
Narendra Modi was sworn in as India’s prime minister for a rare third time on Sunday (9 June). He was joined by dozens of council of ministers who were also administered oath by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The one name that surprised some was BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda or JP Nadda who took oath as a Cabinet minister. With this, he has returned to the PM Modi’s council of ministers.
His tenure as the president of the saffron party is set to end in June. Notably, he is the only minister to represent Himachal Pradesh in the Union Cabinet.
Who is JP Nadda? Let’s look at his rise in the BJP under PM Modi and Amit Shah.
Who’s JP Nadda?
Born in 1960 in Bihar’s capital city, Nadda completed his early schooling from St Xavier’s Patna.
He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Patna College, Patna University. Nadda, who originally hails from Himachal Pradesh, pursued political science and a law degree from Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla.
His wife Mallika Nadda is an academician associated with Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.
Foray into politics
Nadda’s political career began when he was a student. A product of the Jayaprakash Narayan movement, he was elected secretary of Patna University in 1977, as per ThePrint.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsNadda became a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in 1978.
ThePrint reports that Nadda was appointed ABVP national general secretary from 1986 to 1989.
In 1991, he became the president of the BJP Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the saffron party.
“Nadda’s early stint as ABVP general secretary and BJP Yuva Morcha president helped him (a) lot. He came in contact with KN Govindacharya, the RSS ideologue who was then the third most powerful man after (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee and LK Advani,” BJP’s Suresh Bharadwaj told ThePrint.
He continued to be active in student politics even when he went to study at Himachal Pradesh University. As per The Hindu, Nadda became the first ever ABVP-nominated president of the student’s union there.
He also served as organisational general secretary for the ABVP in Delhi between 1985-89.
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From state to national politics
Nadda entered electoral politics in 1993 when he was given a ticket by the BJP to contest the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections from Bilaspur (Sadar).
He retained the seat in 1998 and was appointed the health minister in the then Prem Kumar Dhumal government in the state. Although he lost the polls in 2003, Nadda was victorious in the 2007 Himachal Assembly polls.
This time, he got the forest portfolio in the Dhumal government.
It was in the 1990s that Nadda built a connection with Modi, who was then the Himachal BJP in-charge, noted ThePrint.
Nadda moved from state to national politics in 2010 after his fallout with then Himachal chief minister Dhumal.
Nadda, who had worked with Nitin Gadkari in the 1990s in the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha, was called by the leader to Delhi.
Gadkari, the then BJP president, picked Nadda as the general secretary of the saffron party.
Since then, Nadda’s career has only touched new heights.
He got a Rajya Sabha ticket in 2012 and was made Union health minister in the first Modi government in 2014.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nadda was appointed BJP’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge, along with senior Gujarat leader Gordhan Zadaphia.
The BJP won 62 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats from the state and, as a party insider told ThePrint, “all credit went to Nadda”.
According to PTI, Nadda is seen as an “epitome of political correctness” in the BJP.
When he did not take oath in the second Modi government, speculations arose that Nadda was destined for a bigger role.
In June 2019, he was appointed BJP’s first working president ever. Nadda was elevated to the post of BJP national president in January 2020, replacing his “mentor” Amit Shah after he was inducted into the Union Cabinet.
The tenure of the low-key leader from Himachal was set to end in 2020. But he was given an extension in September of that year, which will be over this month.
Party sources told PTI that Nadda held 140 campaigns across the country after the 18th Lok Sabha elections were announced. He also convened 70 organisational meetings with BJP workers and functionaries to boost the morale of the party’s rank and file.
Although Nadda would have preferred ensuring another landslide victory for the BJP, the saffron party fell short of the majority mark this time and became reliant on its NDA partners to come to power for a third term. However, PM Modi’s speech at BJP headquarters after the results wherein he showered praises on Nadda’s leadership reflected there was no bad blood.
With Nadda moving back to the Modi Cabinet, it would be interesting to watch who will hold the coveted post of the BJP president.
With inputs from agencies
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