Rajnath Singh – The man whom BJP really owes a lot

Rajnath Singh – the President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajnath Singh – the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh – the Home Minister, and Rajnath Singh – the Defence Minister of India. He is everything that BJP ever needed. He is the man whom the BJP owes a lot. Rajnath Singh turned 71 a few days ago and thus it becomes necessary to revisit his journey from a student activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to becoming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president.

From student activist to Defence Minister

Born into a family of farmers, in the Bhabhuara village of Uttar Pradesh, he became a lecturer of physics at K.B. Post-Graduate College Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. As far as his political career is concerned, he began as a student activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Later, he became the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president.

He was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1988. Later, he became the Education Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1991. In March 1997, Rajnath Singh became the State President of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP. It was he who expanded the party base and strengthened the organisation.

In November 1999, he was made Union minister of surface transport in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and then in October 2000, became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

In 2014 he was elected as the Union Minister of home affairs in the Modi government and in 2019 he became the Defence Minister.

Rajnath Singh as the Home Minister

India has vast geographical variations, and we face at least one manmade disaster on annual basis. Disaster management though has been ignored in the last 6 decades or so. Rajnath Singh realised it and showed the ability to act promptly.

Ever since Rajnath Singh took control of the MHA, naxalism is on the decline. Even in the Northeast, a major breakthrough was reached, as the Government entered into a peace agreement with NCSN (IM).

It was the result of his negotiations, which did not merely mark the end of one of many hostile chapters in Northeast India but also marked a new beginning.

Rajnath Singh showed the capability of interacting with the troops at the ground level. Moreover, he had started a positive trend of attending Raising Ceremonies (Foundation Days for Forces) instead of sending in the Ministers of State, thereby motivating the troops.

Rajnath Singh thus has acted like a true leader and has endeavoured to develop close connections with the Troops by reaching towards them. Therefore, a paramilitary trooper sitting in an isolated corner of the country would no longer feel that their ultimate leader, i.e. the Home Minister is indifferent to him/her.

Rajnath Singh as the Defence Minister

He has undertaken several reforms to revolutionise the Indian forces. It was the result of his initiatives that women’s participation in various departments and field operations increased in the last few years.

He promoted ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’ by banning the import of 101 defence-related items in August 2020.

In May 2021, he announced that “a set of 108 military weapons and systems including next-generation corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars will be entirely made in India.”

Mind you, India is gradually emerging as the biggest defence exporter in the world. The most recent reform under his leadership is the Agnipath scheme. The scheme aims at bringing revolutionary changes in the enrolment process for soldiers.

Given the reforms that India always needed and is witnessing nowadays, a leader like Rajnath Singh was everything that the country needed. He was a stern Home Minister and a great defence minister, who instead of focusing on vote bank priorities always acted in the National interest. Rajnath Singh is the politician and leader whom the BJP owes a lot.