Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (born 3 October 1967; ) is an Indian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who is serving as

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organiza ...

and

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) *Ministry of Touri ...

since 2024. He is a member of parliament from 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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) representing

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

Early life and education

Shekhawat was born in

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

in the Indian state of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. His father, Shankar Singh Shekhawat, was a senior government officer in the public health department and travelled on frequent assignments across the state to several different schools. He received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and

Master of philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

from Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.

Political career

Shekhawat began his political career in student politics when in 1992 he was elected as president of the Student Union a
JNVU University
gaining more votes than any other previous Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad supporter. Shekhawat was appointed National General Secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha, the farmers wing of the Bharatiya Janta Party. He was also a member of the Rajasthan State Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected as a member of parliament to the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 May ...

in 2014, with the highest ever winning margin (4,10,051 votes) from the constituency of

. One of his major achievements during his tenure as an MP has been the expansion of the Jodhpur Airport, a demand that had continuously been raised during the last 18 years. Known for his use of social media, Shekhawat is the most followed Indian politician on

Quora Quora is an American social question-and-answer website and online knowledge market headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was founded on June 25, 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010. Users can post questions, answ ...

. His Quora profile has more than 83,749 followers and his answers on the social media platform have been viewed 8 million times. He also served as the Chairperson of the Fellowship Committee, member of the All India Council of Sports (AICS) and member of the Standing Committee on Finance.

Union Minister

On 3 September 2017 he was appointed Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He defeated Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of

Ashok Gehlot Ashok Gehlot (born 3 May 1951) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan from 1998 to December 2003, then again from 2008 to December 2013, and later from 2018 to December 2023. He represents Sardarpura (Vidhan Sabha ...

, the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

from

by a margin of 2.74 lakh votes in

2019 Indian general elections 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 vote ...

. Shekhawat became the Minister of Jal Shakti on 31 May 2019.

Social works

Before entering electoral politics, Shekhawat held many positions in many forums and organisations; he was the co-convener of the

Swadeshi Jagaran Manch The Swadeshi Jagran Manch () is a political and cultural pan-India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List ...

, the economic wing of the

Sangh Parivar The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the RSS" or the "RSS family") is an umbrella term for the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the pol ...

and the General Secretary of Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, an organisation dedicated to strengthening national security by developing border towns and villages. As General Secretary, he was instrumental in building a second line of defence that consisted of civilians residing near the border area of Rajasthan. He was also instrumental in furthering the impact of civil defence by setting up 40 schools and four hostels along the India-Pakistan border. In October 2024, he launched the first coal gallery at the National Science Centre in New Delhi, India.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shekhawat, Gajendra Singh Living people Narendra Modi ministry India MPs 2014–2019 People from Jodhpur district Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan 1967 births People from Jaisalmer India MPs 2024–2029