Happy birthday Rajnath Singh: The first home minister in PM Modi's cabinet

Happy birthday Rajnath Singh: Rajnath Singh, the Physics lecturer turned politician who is also well-known as first home minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet is celebrating his birthday today. As BJP's national president, Singh played a key role in the party's spectacular victory in 2014 general elections.

It was Rajnath Singh who announced Narendra Modi as Prime Minister candidate despite severe criticism from senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani. Singh was given home ministry after the Narendra Modi led BJP won a majority of seats in Lok Sabha elections in 2014. On this day in 2014, Rajnath Singh resigned as national party president.

Born on July 10, 1951 into agricultural family in Bhabhaura, Rajnath pursued his Masters degree in Physics from Gorakhpur University. He began his career as a physics lecturer in a Mirzapur college.

Rajnath ventured into politics at the age of 16 by associating with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He later went on to become as the secretary of the Mirzapur unit of Bhartiya Jan Sangh in 1972. He joined BJP in 1980 after gaining popularity during the state of National Emergency when he was arrested for a time of two years.

He brought many changes in the education system as an education minister in the first ever BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. The controversial anti-copying act was pushed by Rajnath Singh to curb cheating in schools and colleges in Uttar Pradesh. He also got vedic mathematics included in the syllabus.

Singh also brought notable reforms as a chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2000 to 2002. In 2003, Singh was appointed as the Union Minister of Agriculture and subsequently for Food Processing in the NDA Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He became BJP national president on December 31, 2005 which he served till December 19, 2009. In 2013, he was re-elected as party president following the resignation of Nitin Gadkari.

As the defence minister, Singh mainly focused on enhancing defence budget of the nation to make the nation as arms exporter. He played a prominent role during the Indo-China border tension in 2020.

Controversy

The usually calm Rajnath Singh has been involved in controversy with the protests over the police action at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He claimed that the incident was supported by Lashkar-e-Taiba.