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Rajnath Singh: His commitment paid off

Rajnath Singh was among the few Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who have made it big early in life, not because of any political godfather but due to sheer hard work and commitment.

He rose from the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to become a minister at the Centre and will now take over as chief minister of India's most populous state.

At 49, he would be the second youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh after Mayawati, who shouldered the responsibility when she was only 39.

Born on July 10, 1951, Rajnath Singh began his career as a lecturer in the Post Graduate College in Mirzapur. He was closely associated with the Jayaprakash Narayan's Total Revolution movement in 1975 that landed him in jail during the emergency.

Staring his education in a humble school back home in Chakiya village of Varanasi district, he went to college in Gorakhpur and completed his M.Sc. in Mathematics from the university there.

He contested assembly elections for the first time in 1977 and, at 26, was among the youngest members of the legislative assembly. Thereafter, he held various posts in the BJP, including its youth wing, until 1988 when he was nominated to the state legislative council.

He shot to prominence during his stint as UP's education minister in 1991-92. For the first time in the country, copying and use of unfair means during examinations was made a cognisable offence.

A hardcore believer in the science of the Vedas, he introduced Vedic Mathematics in the secondary school curriculum in UP.

A strong advocate of hindutva, he was also responsible for introducing various chapters on what he called 'ignored Indian leaders' in UP's text books. The list largely included leaders like Dr Hedgewar and Dr Deen Dayal Upadhaya .

He was accused of making attempts to distort history by ordering major interpolations in certain chapters in what was termed as an attempt to undermine the role of all non-Hindu rulers over the years while highlighting that of the hindutva-minded kings.

Rajnath Singh had also played an active role in the Ayodhya temple movement.

He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and in the following year he was made president of the state unit.

Rajnath Singh had played a prominent role when the first BJP-led coalition was formed in 1997 under Kalyan Singh. It was Rajnath who managed to persuade some Thakur legislators to cross over from the Congress to become part of the BJP government.

Initially believed to be very close to Kalyan Singh, he did not hesitate to part ways with the former UP chief minister when the latter started going astray. After his efforts to bring Kalyan Singh back on the track went in vain, he chose to join the anti-Kalyan camp.

All along, Rajnath Singh maintained sobriety and unlike others, like Kalraj Mishra or Lalji Tandon, did not indulge in loose talk.

A widely respected person, Rajnath Singh is rated as tough, upright and honest, with rare political acumen and tremendous administrative capabilities.

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