Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh was sworn in as Union Cabinet Minister at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. He has held ministerial positions in PM Modi’s cabinet since 2014, when Narendra Modi assumed office as Prime Minister for the first time.
Rajnath Singh, who also serves as the Defence Minister, secured victory in the Lucknow constituency for the third consecutive term, defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra by 1,35,159 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Born on July 10, 1951, in Chandauli district, Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh holds a master’s degree in physics from Gorakhpur University in Uttar Pradesh.
He previously worked as a Physics lecturer at KB Post-Graduate College in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, and has served as a Member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 1977 to 1980 and from 2001 to 2003.
During the imposition of the National Emergency by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, he strongly opposed the decision and was subsequently arrested, spending two years in detention. He held the position of Minister of Education in the Uttar Pradesh government from 1991 to 1992 and served as Minister of Surface Transport in the Union Cabinet from 1999 to 2000.
As the Education Minister in Uttar Pradesh, he introduced significant measures such as the Anti Copying Act and the incorporation of Vedic Mathematics into the curriculum, along with rectifying distorted portions of history textbooks. In March 1997, he assumed the role of BJP Uttar Pradesh chief, where he worked towards expanding the party’s base and strengthening its organization.
Later, he was elected as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2000 to 2002 and served as Minister of Agriculture in the Union Cabinet in 2003. He held the position of Member of the Rajya Sabha from 1994 to 1999 and again from 2003 to 2008.
In 2003, Rajnath Singh served as Minister of Agriculture in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet at the Centre. During his tenure, he initiated projects such as the Kisan Call Centre and the Farm Income Insurance Scheme.
As the BJP National President in 2007, he advocated for a 33 per cent reservation for women within the party. In 2009, he was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha and served as a Member of the Committee on Ethics starting from October 7, 2009.
Rajnath Singh was inducted into the Union of India’s Cabinet in a Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 27, 2014, as the Minister of Home Affairs.
In 2014 he became Union Minister of Home Affairs in the Narendra Modi government and in 2019 was made Defence Minister of the country.