Rajnath has exemplary organisational skills

New Delhi, Nov 26: Rajnath Singh, who was re-elected as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party for a full term today, has often been termed as a leader without roots.

Most of the times he was nominated to the Legislative Council in Uttar Pradesh or Rajya Sabha rather than elected to lower house.

But Mr Singh has managed to silence his critics by showing exemplary organisational skills.

Despite having had a 'not too good' stint as the UP Chief minister -the party having received a battering at the polls in 2002, he excelled at the national politics and rose to the top party post in just five years.

His hour of glory arrived when as a National General Secretary, incharge of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand,he ensured BJP's victory in both the states, by his commendable electoral ability. Again, as the BJP chief, he managed the political presence of BJP in power at Jharkhand,during a crisis, and in Bihar and Karnataka in 2006.

Rajnath Singh was born on July 10, 1951 in village Bhabhora, Tehsil Chakia of district Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in a simple farmer's family of Ram Badan Singh and Gujarati Devi. A brilliant student throughout, he secured his Master's Degree in Physics from the Gorakhpur University in first class.

Rajnath Singh started his career as a Lecturer of Physics in the K.B. Post Graduate College, Mirzapur (UP). Having been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh right from 1964, he served it in various capacities. He was the organisation secretary of ABVP in the Gorakhpur Division from 1969 to 1971. In 1974 he was appointed the Secretary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh's Mirzapur Unit. Deeply inspired by late Jai Prakash Narayan, he joined the J.P. movement and was appointed its District Convenor.

In 1975, he was appointed as District President of Jana Sangh.

Rajnath Singh was jailed in 1975 during Emergency and remained in jail for about 20 months till elections in 1977. Though his mother died during his detention period, he was forced to stay in the jail.

In 1977 General Elections, he was elected as MLA from the Mirzapur constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

During his illustrious political career, Rajnath Singh has held a number of important assignments in BJYM, UP State Unit as well as in the National Executive. In 1983 he was appointed as the State BJP Secretary in Uttar Pradesh. In 1984, he became the State President of BJYM. During his tenure as BJYM State President, he wrote a book on the causes of and solutions to unemployment problem. In 1986, he was appointed as the National General Secretary of BJYM.

Two years later, he rose to become the National President of BJYM and extensively toured the country energising the youth. He also became a Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (1988-94) and a Member of BJP's National Executive. In 1990 he was appointed as BJP's State Vice-President in Uttar Pradesh and played a dynamic role in the state party affairs at that time. In 1991, when the first BJP government was formed in UP, Rajnath Singh was appointed as the Education Minister. Anti-copying Act, inclusion of vedic mathematics in syllabus, removal of distorted portions of history from textbooks were major highlights of his stint as UP Education Minister.

In April 1994, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. He became a member of the Advisory committee on Industry (1994-96), Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Agriculture, Business Advisory Committee, House Committee and the Committee on Human Resource Development. He was also appointed as the chief whip of BJP in the Rajya Sabha. He is currently a member of the Upper House.

On March 25, 1997 he was appointed as President of UP State BJP.

During his tenure he played a pivotal role in securing new allies and extended the roots and reach of BJP down to the village level.

A fine orator, grass root organiser, effective administrator and dexterous political manager, Rajnath Singh was inducted in the Union Cabinet as Minister for Surface Transport on November 22, 1999.

Later he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2000 when he made his name for good governance. Unfortunately the BJP could not get majority in 2002 Assembly elections. He joined the Central BJP organisation as General Secretary but soon became the Union Agriculture Minister in the Vajpayee led NDA Government. He was serving the party as a General Secretary when he became the party president on December 31, 2005.

Rajnath Singh is the first farmer to become the BJP's President, and his escalation to that role was largely based on the party's attempt to re-consolidate its lagging presence in Uttar Pradesh and market itself more to rural voters.

Rajnath Singh is keenly interested in reading books relating to History, Culture and Science and Technology. He has also written a book on Unemployment its Reasons and Remedies,when he was National President BJYM.

He is married to Savitri Singh and has two sons and a daughter.

UNI