Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will seek reelection from the Lucknow seat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. His name featured on the first list of 195 Lok Sabha candidates, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, and Home Minister Amit Shah from Gandhinagar. This is the third time Rajnath Singh is contesting from Lucknow, a prestigious seat previously represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Here are five key points about Rajnath Singh:
1) Born on July 10, 1951, to Rambadan Singh and Gujarati Devi in Varanasi, Rajnath Singh received his primary education in his village. He completed MSc in Physics from Gorakhpur University in Uttar Pradesh. A good student, Mr Singh was also an active worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In 1972, he became the organisation’s general secretary in Mirzapur.
2) Two years later, in 1974, he became Secretary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Mirzapur, and in 1975, the district president of Jana Sangh and district coordinator of the JP Movement. Rajnath Singh was elected to the UP assembly in 1977 and there was no looking back after that. In the years to come, he would hold prominent posts such as state secretary of the UP BJP, and state president of the party’s youth wing (BJYM).
3) Elected an MLC to the UP legislative council in 1988, Rajnath Singh was entrusted with the state’s Education Ministry in 1991. Three years later, he was elected to Rajya Sabha where he also served as the chief whip of the BJP. During his tenure as BJP’s state president between 1997 and 1999, he worked towards expanding and strengthening the party. He became Union Surface Transport Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government. A year later, he was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
4) In 2005, a year after the BJP lost power to the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, Rajnath Singh became the party president and took some critical steps to once again build the BJP ground up, mobilising grassroots support. In 2014, when the party returned to power with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, Mr Singh was handed the Home Ministry.
5) The BJP retained power in 2019, with an even larger seat share than in 2014. Rajnath Singh remained one of the key members of PM Modi’s cabinet and was given charge of the Defence Ministry. Keeping in mind the spirit of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Rajnath Singh banned the import of 101 defence-related items in 2020. In May 2021, he decided that 108 military weapons and systems, including next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars would be entirely made in India.
