Vinay Katiyar (born 11 November 1954) is a politician and the founder-

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Bajrang Dal The Bajrang Dal () is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was foun ...

, the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation

Vishwa Hindu Parishad The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian right-wing Hindu organization based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "t ...

(VHP) in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. He has served as an All India General Secretary 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 ...

(BJP), and as a

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 ...

in both the

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-p ...

and 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 si ...

Life and career

Katiyar was born to Devi Charan Katiyar and Shyam Kali in

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help· info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations ...

. He holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from Kanpur University. Katiyar started his political journey with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Sangh Parivar. He was the organizing secretary of ABVP's

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 ...

state unit from 1970 to 1974, and the convener of the

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for l ...

Bihar Movement The JP movement also known as Bihar Movement was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar in 1974 and led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, against misrule and corruptio ...

in 1974. He became a

pracharak 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") ...

(full-time worker) of the

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 ...

(RSS) in 1980. He founded the

Hindu Jagran Manch Hindu Jagran Manch also Called as H.J.M (translation: Forum for Hindu Awakening) is an Indian Hindu activist group affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It focuses on activism against religious conversion and works for the reconve ...

in 1982. In 1984, he was chosen to start the new youth

organisation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

to support the

Ram Janmabhoomi movement Ram Janmabhoomi (literally, "Rama's birthplace") is the site that is hypothesized to be the birthplace of Rama, believed to be the seventh avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. The Ramayana states that the location of Rama's birthplace is on the ...

. Later, Katiyar served as the President of Uttar Pradesh State Unit of the

from 2002 to 18 July 2004 and the national General Secretary of the BJP from 2006. Katiyar was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Faizabad (Ayodhya)

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

to the 10th, 11th and 13th Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996 and 1999, and to the

as a representative of

in 2012.

Controversies

In a 2018 interview with ANI'','' Katiyar said that there was no need for Muslims to remain in India in the wake of its Partition, and that Muslims in India should, instead, move to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. These views were shared after his comments about the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, ...

, claiming that the monument was a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

temple in the period of Aurangzeb's rule and implied that it would soon be returned to its 'original state' through its destruction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katiyar, Vinay 1954 births Living people Members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Kanpur Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University alumni People from Faizabad district Bajrang Dal members Far-right politicians in India India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1999–2004 Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh