Rajnath Singh Biography: Birth, Age, Education, Political Career, Wife, Sons, Daughter and More

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is a veteran BJP leader who started his political career as a student activist with ABVP and went on becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He has also served as the National President of BJP and as a Cabinet Minister under the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

On his birthday eve, let us have a look at his birth, education, political career, and personal life. 

Rajnath Singh: Birth and Education

Rajnath Singh was born on 10 July 1951 in Bhabhaura, Uttar Pradesh to Ram Badan Singh and Gujarati Devi in a Raikwar Rajput family. He received his primary education from a local school in his village and obtained a Master's degree in Physics from Gorakhpur University.

Since his childhood days, he has been a staunch supporter of RSS ideology and joined Sangh at the tender age of 13 years. Before entering politics, he worked as a lecturer of Physics at K.B. Post-Graduate College Mirzapur, UP.

Rajnath Singh: Personal Life

Rajnath Singh married Savitri Singh on 5 June 1971. The couple gave birth to two sons (Pankaj Singh and Neeraj Singh) and a daughter (Anamika Singh). Singh's son Pankaj Singh is an MLA from Noida, Uttar Pradesh from BJP. 

Rajnath Singh: Political Career

Bharatiya Jana Sangh

Rajnath Singh joined politics in 1974 as the secretary for the Mirzapur unit of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor of Bharatiya Janata Party. A year later, he was appointed as District President of the Jana Sangh.

JP Movement

Influenced by the JP Movement of Jayaprakash Narayan, Singh joined the Janata Party and was elected as MLA from Mirzapur. He was imprisoned during National Emergency due to his association with JP Movement. After his release in 1977, he was re-elected as MLA.

Association with BJP

In 1980, he joined BJP, becoming one of its initial members. In 1984, he became the State President of the BJP youth wing and went on becoming the National President in 1988. He was also elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. 

Education Minister of Uttar Pradesh

In 1991, he was appointed as the Education Minister in the first BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh. He served for a tenure of two years and introduced the Anti-Copying Act of 1992, thereby making copying a non-bailable offence. The Act was however repealed when Mulayam Singh Yadav came into power. 

State President of BJP and Union Cabinet Minister

In 1994, Singh was elected to Rajya Sabha and became involved with the Advisory Committee, House Committee and the Committee on Human Resource Development. In 1997, he became the State President of BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Union Cabinet Minister for Surface Transport in 1999. In his role as Minister of Union Surface Transport, he initiated NHDP, a dream project of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

In 2000, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. During his tenure, he focussed on rationalizing the reservation structure in government jobs, stabilized law and order in the state, and inaugurated DND Flyway that connects Delhi to Noida. 

In 2002, he resigned from the post of Chief Minister as BJP had minority status at that time in state politics. President's Rule was imposed in the state and Mayawati became the next CM of the State for the third time.

Union Agriculture Minister

In 2003, he was appointed as the Union Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing in the Vajpayee led NDA Government. During his tenure, he initiated a few projects including the Kisan Call Centre and Farm Income Insurance Scheme. He also brought down interest rates on Agriculture loans. 

National President of BJP

In 2005, Singh became the National President of BJP and worked tirelessly to strengthen the party on Hindutva ideologies. He also announced his position of "no compromise" in relation to the building of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya at any cost. He also highlighted the developments under the Vajpayee led government.   

Singh criticised the role of the English language in India due to extreme preferences shown to it at the expense of native languages. 

He also suspended Jaswant Singh from the party who praised Jinnah and disrespected former Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. He resigned from the post after NDA lost the 2009 General Election. The same year, he was elected as an MP from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad. 

On 24 January 2013, following the resignation of Nitin Gadkari over corruption charges, Rajnath Singh was re-elected as the party's National President. He campaigned for the 2014 General Elections and declared Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate despite facing opposition from within the party. 

Union Home Minister

After BJP's landslide victory in the 2014 General Election, Rajnath Singh resigned from the party presidency to assume the post of Home Minister. On 26 May 2014, Rajnath Singh sworn in as the Union Home Minister 

Amid protests over police action at JNU, Singh stirred controversy by claiming that the JNU incident was supported by  Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed. He also appointed an SIT for the investigation of the matter. 

JNU Incident: Anti-national speeches were delivered in JNU Delhi over the anniversary of the hanging of Kashmiri Separatist Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru on 9 February 2016. Police arrested Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar in connection with the anti-national slogans. 

On 9 April 2017, he launched  Bharat Ke Veer Web portal and Application with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, a fundraising initiative by the Ministry of Home Affairs, GOI for the welfare of the Martyrs' families. 

On 21 May 2018, he commissioned Bastariya Battalion and attended the passing out parade of 241 Bastariya Battalion of CRPF in Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh on 21 May 2018. 

Union Defence Minister

On 31 May 2019, Singh was appointed as Union Minister of Defence. After becoming the Defence Minister, he focussed mainly on increasing the defence budget of the nation, decreasing imports of weapons from other nations and make India an arms exporter with an arms industry. 

Rafale deal was signed by the then Minister of Defence Manohar Parrikar in 2016 to strengthen the Indian Air Force. The fighter jets were received during his tenure as Defence Minister of India. 

Amid the border standoff between India and China since May 2020, Rajnath Singh met with officials of the Indian Army and also visited the Ladakh Range. He also held meetings with  CDS General Bipin Rawat, CNS Admiral Karambir Singh and COAS General Manoj Mukund Naravane to discuss the situation. 

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