Tirath Singh Rawat (born 9 April 1964) is an Indian politician, a sitting

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

and former Chief Minister of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

. He was elected to the

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started off ...

from the Garhwal constituency in the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

as member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

. He was the party chief of

Uttarakhand from 9 February 2013 to 31 December 2015 and former member of

Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the winter capital, and Bhararisain, the su ...

from Chaubattakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017. He was also the first Education Minister of Uttarakhand.

Early life and education

Tirath Singh Rawat was born to a

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

family in 1964 in the

Pauri Garhwal district Pauri Garhwal is a district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Its headquarters is in the town of Pauri. It is sometimes referred to simply as Garhwal district, though it should not be confused with the larger Garhwal region of which it is o ...

, India. His father was Kalam Singh Rawat and his mother Gaura Devi. He holds a Master's degree in sociology and a diploma in journalism.

Career

Rawat entered active student politics and became the organizational secretary of

ABVP Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) () is a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). History The ABVP, founded in 1948 with the initiative of the RSS ...

Uttarakhand unit and later national secretary of ABVP. He was also the student union president at

Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University(HNBGU) (formerly known as Garhwal University) is a Central University, established in 1973, located in Srinagar, Uttarakhand in Northern India. The university is named after Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, f ...

in 1992. Subsequently, he became the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He worked for

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

as a key worker, known as a pracharak, from 1983 to 1988. He was the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. In 1997, he was elected as a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and was elected as legislature leader of BJP in the legislative council of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

. He was the first education minister of the newly formed state

. After this, he was elected as state general secretary of

in 2007 and after that state chief electoral officer and state membership chief. In 2012, he was elected as legislative assembly member (MLA) and in 2013 he became Uttarakhand BJP supremo. As Uttarakhand BJP president, he won four of six BJP mayoral posts in municipal corporation elections. He was elected as MP from Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency on 23 May 2019. He defeated his nearest rival Manish Khanduri by more than 3.50

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For e ...

votes. He took oath as the

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand The chief minister of Uttarakhand is the chief executive of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief mi ...

on 10 March 2021. At the time, Rawat was a member of the Lok Sabha representing Pauri Garhwal, but not a member of the Uttarakhand state assembly. Under the constitution, to remain as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, he needed to be elected to the state assembly within six months of being appointed Chief Minister (i.e. by 10 September 2021). Rawat did not contest the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

for the Salt Assembly constituency seat in April 2021, in part because Rawat had tested positive for COVID-19 on 22 March 2021. There were two subsequent vacancies in the state assembly, but these occurred less than a year before the term of the assembly was due to end on 22 March 2022, and by-elections are not meant to be held in the last year of the assembly's term of office. Since Rawat could not get elected to the state assembly within the deadline, he and his cabinet colleagues resigned on 2 July 2021.

Controversies

Narendra Modi as the avatar of Rama and Krishna

In March 2021, at a function organized by Hans Foundation, Rawat said, "The way people started considering Lord Ram and Krishna as gods in Dvapara and Treta yugas because of their works, in the same way, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

will be considered as Lord

Ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

and

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

in times to come." Leaders from the opposition party of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

claimed this is sycophancy and criticised him for his remarks.

Views on women's clothing

In March 2021, Tirath Singh Rawat created controversy by saying that he was shocked to see a woman running an NGO in ripped jeans, and was concerned about the example she was setting for society. Priyanka Gandhi criticized Rawat on his remarks and also posted photos of Prime Minister

and Union Minister

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways c ...

in white shirts and khaki shorts ( RSS uniform). Rawat later apologized for his controversial remarks and added he has no problem with

jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and pa ...

. But he maintained his objections to ripped jeans, claiming wearing "torn" ones is "not right."

Colonisation of India

Shortly after taking office as Chief Minister, Rawat said that India was handling the COVID-19 pandemic better than the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, which had enslaved India for two hundred years. It sparked outrage as it was the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

that had colonised India, and not the United States.

COVID-19 pandemic

Rawat took heavy criticism for his decision to pursue the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the ri ...

without any restrictions related to COVID-19. Rawat disputed the effects of COVID-19, saying that "Maa Ganga's blessings" would prevent ill effects. The 2021 Kumbh Mela gravely exacerbated the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

, and more than a thousand devotees tested positive for COVID-19 at the event. He also drew a distinction of the Kumbh Mela gathering and Tablighi gathering in Delhi during the preceding year, saying the latter was 'all inside a building' while Kumbh Mela is 'out in the open'. The Uttarakhand High Court criticized his decision to proceed with the Kumbh Mela under this circumstance. The Chota Char Dham Yatra, a tour of four holy sites in Uttarakhand, was suspended on April 30 due to the rise in cases of COVID-19.

Awards

* Newsmakers Achievers Awards 2022

References

External links

Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawat, Tirath Singh Uttarakhand MLAs 2000–2002 State cabinet ministers of Uttarakhand People from Pauri Garhwal district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttarakhand India MPs 2019–present 1964 births Members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council Living people Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Uttarakhand MLAs 2012–2017 Uttarakhand MLAs 2017–2022