Upendra Singh Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

politician and Member of Legislative Council of Bihar assembly. He was the former Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. He is former MP from the Karakat constituency in

Rohtas district Rohtas District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India. It came into existence when Shahabad District was bifurcated into Bhojpur & Rohtas in 1972. Administrative headquarter of the district is Sasaram. Rohtas district has th ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ...

. He is a former member of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using ...

. He was the leader of his own party the

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (abbreviated as RLSP; translation: ''National People's Equity Party'') was a political party in India led by Upendra Kushwaha. It was launched on 3 March 2013 and was based in the state of Bihar. The party came into exi ...

, until it merged with

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...

in 2021.

Early life

Upendra Singh was born to Muneshwar Singh and Muneshwari Devi on 6 February 1960 in Vaishali, Bihar into a middle-class family. He graduated from Patna Science College and then did MA in Political Science from BR Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur. Kushwaha also worked as a lecturer in the politics department of Samata College. Later he added Kushwaha to his name.

Politics

Upendra Kushwaha stepped into the world of politics in 1985. From 1985 to 1988, he was the state general secretary of Yuva

Lok Dal Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former prime minister of India Charan Singh. See also * Girraj Kishore Mahaur, former MLA of Lok Dal * Lok Dal (Charan) Lok Dal (Charan) or Lok Da ...

. Later, he became National General-Secretary, Yuva Janata Dal, 1988–93. He had also worked as General-Secretary for

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, now led by Uday Mandal its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It wa ...

, 1994–2002. Kushwaha was Member of

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated ...

in 2000-2005 and appointed as Deputy Leader (

) Bihar Legislative Assembly. In March 2004 after loksabha election Sushil Modi was elected to Loksabha and the same time number of MLA's of JD(U) increased than BJP. Since leader of JD(U) changed his party. So kushwaha became leader of opposition. Kushwaha started his electoral politics in 2000 winning from

Jandaha Jandaha ( in Hindi : जंदाहा ) is a block in Vaishali district, Bihar state, According to the census website, all blocks in Bihar state nomenclature as C.D. Block ( community development blocks). Jandaha Jandaha (Vidhan Sabha con ...

. He was dismissed from the

in 2007. Kushwaha founded the Rashtriya Samata Party in February 2009. The party was formed in the backdrop of alleged marginalisation of the

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri) and also referred to as Kushwaha and Maurya in several parts of North India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional occupation was agriculture. According ...

caste and

autocratic rule Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...

by the

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unite ...

government in

. The formation of the party was supported by

Chhagan Bhujbal Chhagan Bhujbal (born 15 October 1947) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. Currently he is Member of 14th Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra from Yeola Assembly. He also served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 18 Octobe ...

, the deputy chief minister of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. In November 2009, the party was merged into the

with the mending of ties between Kushwaha and Kumar. On 4 January 2013, Upendra Kushwaha who at the time was a

member resigned from the

. He alleged that the Nitish model had failed and that the law and order situation was becoming as bad as it had been 7 years ago. He further alleged that the

runs his government through autocratic means and that he had turned the

into his "pocket organisation". Kushwaha founded the

on 3 March 2013 and unveiled the name and flag of his party at a rally at the historic

Gandhi Maidan Gandhi Maidan is a historic ground in Patna, near the banks of the Ganges River, in Bihar, India. The Golghar falls to its west. During the period of 1824–1833, under British rule, it was used as a golf course and horse racing track and was ...

. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by

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 ...

. He was elected from the Karakat constituency and was appointed as Minister of State in Human Resource Development ministry. In December 2018, he resigned from the ministry and left the NDA, accusing Modi of not fulfilling his poll promises regarding Bihar. Initially, Kushwaha indicated his discontent with the NDA leadership due to diminishing importance as an ally. Kushwaha's party RLSP finally broke out from NDA alliance as it was not given appropriate seats in Lok Sabha elections of 2019. The NDA leadership was skeptical of Kushwaha's influence on member of Koeri caste and believed that even without his support they could win the elections in Bihar. It is believed that

too holds considerable hold on both koeri and kurmi community, as a counter to which

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

had earlier selected

Keshav Prasad Maurya Keshav Prasad Maurya (born 7 May 1969) is the Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Life On 8 April 2016, on the first day of Chaitra, he was appointed the Bharatiya Janata Party chief of Utta ...

as its

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 ...

chief. Hence, they were ready to face exodus of Kushwaha. Meanwhile, they were sure of reaping the popularity of Nitish, who was now an ally of BJP and had gained considerable reputation in Bihar due to his development model. Kushwaha hence joined

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single part ...

front, which contained

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: ''National People's Party'') is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has tradi ...

Hindustani Awam Morcha Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) (translation: ''Indian People's Front''; abbreviated as HAM-S) is an Indian political party having presence in Bihar. HAM(S) got new symbol wok in Bihar Assembly Election 2020. Formation It was launched forma ...

, as well as Vikassheel Insaan Party.He contested 2019

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past- ...

election from two seats namely Karakat as well as Ujiyarpur. Kushwaha lost from both the seats. The grand alliance of above mentioned parties under the leadership of

Tejashwi Yadav Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (born 9 November 1989) is an Indian politician, former cricketer, and the current Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, in office since August 2022. He also serves as the Minister of Health, Minister of Road Construction and P ...

was not able to win even a single seat in Bihar in 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the course of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Upendra Kushwaha's speech sparked controversy when he referred to the newly formed alliance of his party and Rashtriya Janata Dal as '

Kheer Kheer, also known as payasam, is a sweet dish and a type of wet pudding popular in the Indian subcontinent, usually made by boiling milk, sugar or jaggery, and rice, although rice may be substituted with one of the following: daals, bulgur ...

'. According to political analysts, RLSP represents Kushwahas who are also called Koeris in Bihar while RJD represents

Yadav Yadav refers to a grouping of traditionally non-elite, Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern state ...

s. The traditional occupation of these castes being growing paddy as well as cattle domestication. Hence, reference to Kheer was said to be the implicit indication to alliance of two influential backward castes. After losing in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kushwaha once again made a controversial statement. He warned NDA leadership that if the result of elections is deteriorated, the blood will flow on streets. However, later on a notice from Election Commission, he clarified that his intention was not of provoking violence. In September 2020, prior to the election to

, Upendra Kushwaha's party RLSP eschewed the

and Congress led coalition which was formed during the

elections of 2019 to counter

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India ...

in Bihar. Kushwaha announced the formation of third front in partnership with

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), alon ...

. This front contested on all 243 seats of Bihar Assembly against three other political fronts namely NDA, which included JD (U) and

; UPA, which included RJD, Congress and Vikassheel Insaan Party and one another alliance which contained various small parties led by

Jan Adhikar Party Babu Singh Kushwaha (born 7 May 1966) is an Indian politician in Uttar Pradesh. He was one of Mayawati's most trusted man and a senior member of her cabinet. Now he is the chairman of the Jan Adhikar Party. Political career Kushwaha has wor ...

. Kushwaha sought the unacceptability of the leadership of

as the reason behind his separation from the 'Grand Alliance'. The GSDF suffered a serious setback with only success in the form of AIMIM getting five seats in Muslim dominated areas of Bihar (particularly ''Simanchal'') and BSP managing to get one seats. Though the allies had obtained less percentage of votes compared to Kushwaha's RLSP (it secured 1.77% votes), it failed to win any seats. Also; the RLSP showed good presence in number of constituencies including Dinara and Saffron. Kushwaha parted his ways with

on two occasions, but after the split of 2013, his political graph went down and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party suffered massive defeats in various elections, most notably in the

elections of 2019 and the assembly elections of 2020. The weaning away of support of

Kushwaha Kushwaha (sometimes, Kushvaha) is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including beekeeping). The term has been used to represent different subcastes, being those of the Kachhis, Koeri ...

caste also resulted in setback for JD(U), which was reduced to 43 seats in 2020 election to

. This led to a merger in which RLSP was merged into its parent JD(U) and Kushwaha was made party's parliamentary board president. Soon after his induction into JD(U), Kushwaha was nominated to the Legislative Council, the upper house of Bihar Legislature.

Tenure as Minister of State (MoS)

Prakash Javadekar releasing the publication, at the presentation ceremony of the National level Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, 2016-17 to the 172 selected Government Schools in the country, in New Delhi.jpg, Upendra Kushwaha and Prakash Javadekar releasing the publication, at the presentation ceremony of the National level Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, 2016–17 to the 172 selected Government Schools in the country, in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, ...

. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Mrs. Kobita Ramdanee-Jugnauth being received by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha, on their arrival at IGI Airport, in New Delhi.jpg, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Mrs. Kobita Ramdanee-Jugnauth being received by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha, on their arrival at IGI Airport, in New Delhi.jpg Ram Vilas Paswan and the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha perform Yoga, on the occasion of the 4th International Day of Yoga 2018, in Hajipur, Bihar.JPG,

Ram Vilas Paswan Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Jansha ...

and the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha perform Yoga, on the occasion of the 4th

International Day of Yoga The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated across the world annually on June 21 since 2015, following its inception in the United Nations General Assembly in 2014. Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual practice which originated ...

2018, in

Hajipur Hajipur (, ) is the headquarters and largest city of Vaishali district of the state of Bihar in India. Hajipur is the 16th most populous city of Bihar, besides being the second-fastest developing city, next to Patna. It had a total population ...

, Bihar. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the inauguration of the Navodaya National Integration Meet and Award Function 2016-17, in New Delhi on January 17, 2017.jpg, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the inauguration of the Navodaya National Integration Meet and Award Function 2016–17, in New Delhi on 17 January 2017. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha visiting an exhibition, at the 56th NCERT foundation day celebrations, in New Delhi on September 01, 2016.jpg, The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha visiting an exhibition, at the 56th

NCERT The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India which was established in 1961 as a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies Registration Act. Its hea ...

foundation day celebrations, in New Delhi on 1 September 2016. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha visiting after inaugurating the KVS Rashtriya Ekta Shivir-2017, Ek Bharat-Shreshth Bharat, in New Delhi on October 31, 2017 (1).jpg, The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha visiting after inaugurating the KVS Rashtriya Ekta Shivir-2017, Ek Bharat-Shreshth Bharat, in New Delhi on 31 October 2017. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the inauguration of the KVS Rashtriya Ekta Shivir-2017, Ek Bharat-Shreshth Bharat, in New Delhi on October 31, 2017.jpg, The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the inauguration of the KVS Rashtriya Ekta Shivir-2017, Ek Bharat-Shreshth Bharat, in New Delhi on 31 October 2017. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the 56th NCERT foundation day celebrations, in New Delhi on September 01, 2016.jpg, The Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha addressing at the 56th

foundation day celebrations, in New Delhi on 1 September 2016. The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Prakash Javadekar presented the National level Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, 2016-17 to the 172 selected Government Schools in the country, at a function, in New Delhi.jpg, The Union Minister of state for Human Resource Development, Shri Upendra Kushwaha presented the National level Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar, 2016–17 to the 172 selected Government Schools in the country, at a function, in New Delhi.

Early life

Politics

Tenure as Minister of State (MoS)

See also

References

Further reading