Rajnath Singh: All you need to know about him

Bharatiya Janata Party president and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh is all set to take over as the country’s next home minister once he is sworn in formally as part of the Narendra Modi cabinet. [caption id=“attachment_1543067” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajnath Singh. Reuters[/caption] Although way back in 2006 back Singh himself nurtured prime ministerial dreams, the arrival of Modi on the scene changed all power equations. In a speech in Lucknow in 2006, he had expressed his PM ambitions by saying, ‘Only I would be the bridegroom.’ Realising that the biggest political gains can be made only by establishing a cordial note with the former Gujarat chief minister, Singh started endorsing him for the country’s top executive post. This was not easy as the BJP president had to face stiff resistance from the likes of LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj. Singh has the the distinction heading the BJP twice and has a relatively clean image. Singh was born on 10 July, 1951 at Bhabhaura village in Chandauli district in Uttar Pradesh. He acquired a Masters degree in Physics from Gorakhpur University and was even a lecturer in the same subject. At the same time, he had been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since he was 13 years old. In 1974, he was appointed secretary for the Mirzapur unit of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and in 1977, he became an MLA from the Mirzapur constituency. He went on to become the national president of the BJP youth wing in 1988 and was elected into the UP legislative council in the same year. He was also the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 28 October 2000 to 8 March 2002. Singh’s first tenure as the BJP national president was in 2005. He was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari in 2009. But Singh was re-elected as the BJP chief on 24 January 2013 due to Gadkari’s alleged involvement in the Purti group scam. Known for his hardline ‘Hindutva’ image, Singh has apparently announced his position of ’no compromise’ on the issue of building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. On 18 July 2013, Singh created a storm by saying, “The English language has caused a great loss to the country. We are losing our language, our culture as there are hardly any people who speak Sanskrit now.” Singh has also been accused of practising ‘Thakurwad’ or promoting the Thakur community, to which he belongs, at the expense of other communities.