Who is Rajnath Singh? The former defence minister of India takes oath as minister in Modi 3.0

Rajnath Singh, a prominent BJP leader and thedefence minister in the last Narendra Modi government, took oath on Sunday (June 9) as part of the cabinet in the historic third consecutive term of the Indian prime minister.

Singh has had a long political career spanning several decades, a journey that began in the early 1970s when he became associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

His strong ideological foundation within the RSS set the stage for his subsequent political career.

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Early life and education

Rajnath Singh was born on 10 July 1951 in Bhabhaura, Chandauli district ofUttar Pradesh. Singh earned a master’s degree in physics from Gorakhpur University.

His association with Hindu right-wing organisations started during his student days. Singh joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) when he was 13 years old. Between 1969 and 1971 he was the organisational secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP, the student wing of the RSS) in Gorakhpur. He became the general secretary of the RSS’s Mirzapur branch in 1972.

Political career

Rajnath Singh entered active politics two years later, joining the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Indian People’s Association), which was the political wing of the RSS and the precursor to the BJP.

Singh was arrested in 1975 during the state of emergency declared by then prime minister Indira Gandhi and was held in detention until 1977.

Following his release from jail that year, Singh was elected to the lower chamber of the Uttar Pradesh state legislature in his first run for public office.

The BJP was established in 1980, and three years later Singh was appointed secretary of the party in Uttar Pradesh. In 1984 he became the state president of the BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM; Indian People’s Youth Movement) and in 1988 he was named as the national president.

After BJP's majority win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 1992, Singh was made the education minister.

Ministerial roles

Singh became a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper chamber of the Indian parliament) in 1994. In 1997 he was appointed president of the Uttar Pradesh branch of the BJP.

In 1999 Singh was elected as the minister of Surface Transport under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

During his brief tenure with the ministry, an ambitious program was launched to expand the national highway network, aiming to better connect India's major urban centers.

In 2000 Singh became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. His term in office lasted less than a year and a half, as he was forced to step down in early 2002 after the BJP lost in state assembly elections.

In 2013, Singh was again elected as the president of the BJP, succeeding Nitin Gadkari, who had replaced him in 2009.

Later, Singh retained a seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections—part of a landslide BJP victory— and joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet as Minister of Home Affairs. He served in that role until 2019, when he was appointed Minister of Defense.

(With inputs from agencies)