About the Speaker

Shri Rajnath Singh was born on July 10, 1951, into a farmer’s family in Babhora, District Varanasi (now District Chandauli), Uttar Pradesh (UP). He received his basic education in his hometown and later completed his M.Sc. in Physics from Gorakhpur University, UP. He began his career as a lecturer in Physics at K.B. Post-Graduate College in Mirzapur, UP.

In 1972, he became the RSS Karyavah (General Secretary) of Mirzapur city. From 1969 to 1971, he served as the Organizational Secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the Gorakhpur Division. Shri Rajnath Singh entered politics in 1974, and in 1977, he was elected as a Member of the
Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He was later elected as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) in 1988 and became the state’s Education Minister in 1991. During his tenure as Education Minister in UP, he established some landmarks by introducing the Anti-Copying Act and Vedic Mathematics in the syllabus. He became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1994. On November 22, 1999, he became Union Surface Transport Minister, wherein he had the opportunity to initiate the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), a visionary project of India’s former Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

On October 28, 2000, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was twice elected as an MLA from the Haidargarh constituency in Barabanki. On May 24, 2003, he was appointed Union Minister of Agriculture and later, Minister of Food Processing. During this period, he initiated several significant projects such as the Kisan Call Centre and the Farm Income Insurance Scheme. He also launched the ‘Bharat Suraksha Yatra,’ which traversed several states to address the growing threats to internal security.

Shri Rajnath Singh became the BJP National President on December 31, 2005, a position he held until December 19, 2009. In May 2009, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ghaziabad, UP. On May 26, 2014, Shri Rajnath Singh took oath as Union Minister for Home Affairs, a portfolio he held until May 30, 2019. On May 31, 2019, he was appointed as the Union Minister for Defence. Subsequent to the formation of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government after the 2024 General Elections, Shri Rajnath Singh has once again assumed charge of the Ministry of Defence.