Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala (born 1 October 1954) is an Indian politician and Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in the

Second Modi ministry The Second Modi ministry, also called Modi 2.0 was the Union Council of Ministers of India, Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 Indian general election, 2019 general election whi ...

. He was elected to

18th Lok Sabha The 18th Lok Sabha was formed after general elections were held in India over seven phases from 19 April to 1 June 2024, to elect all members from 543 constituencies of the Lok Sabha. The votes were counted, and the results were declared on 4 ...

from

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...

. He was a member of

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, representing the Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and a leader of

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 ...

. He was a former member of

Gujarat Legislative Assembly The Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member ...

from

Amreli Amreli is a city and a municipality in Amreli district in Indian state of Gujarat. History It is believed that during 534 AD Amreli existed was formerly known as Anumanji, Amlik and then Amravati. The city is named in ancient Gujrati as ''Amar ...

and formerly served as a minister in

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

Early life

Rupala was born to Hariben Khodabhai and Khodabhai Madhabhai, on 1 October 1954. Rupala earned his B.Sc. and B.Ed. He studied at

Saurashtra University Saurashtra University is a conventional state university located in Rajkot, Gujarat, India. This university was established by ''The Saurashtra University Act'' of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly in the year 1965. History Saurashtra Universi ...

and

Gujarat University The Gujarat University is a public state university located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The university is an affiliating university at the under-graduate level and a teaching university at the post graduate level. It is accredited A+ by NAAC ...

in 1976–1977. Before entering politics, he served as School Principal at Hamapur in Medium School from 1977 to 1983. He was the chief officer of the Amreli municipality from November 1983 to March 1987.

Career

Rupala was the president of the

district Bhartiya Janta Party from 1988 to 1991. This led to his service as

Secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of the

Bhartiya Janta 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 ...

in 1992. He was Chairman of a youth hostel from February 2002 to 2004. He served as trustee of Kadva Patidar trust, in Amreli, Chairman of Madad Trust and President of the Gujarat electricity board union. He served 3 consecutive terms as a member of

ending in 2002. He was a Cabinet Minister in Narmada for Irrigation and Water Supply from 19 March 1995 to 20 October 1995 and again from 4 November 1995 to 18 September 1996; for Agriculture from 9 October 2001 to 21 December 2002. He chaired the Public Accounts Committee of Gujarat Legislative Assembly from March 1997 to December 1997. He was the Chairman of

Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) was established under the ''Gujarat Industrial Development Act of 1962'', with a goal of accelerating industrialization in the state of Gujarat, India. History Main role of the GIDC is to iden ...

(G.I.D.C.) from June 1998 to October 2001. He was elected a Rajya Sabha Member (2008-2009) where he served on the Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Member (Aug. 2009 - Aug. 2010), on the Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Member (July 2010 -), on the Committee for the Ministry of Shipping Member (Sept. 2010 -) and on the Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers Member, Committee on Agriculture (Aug. 2012 -). He was again elected to

in June 2016 in by-poll following death of sitting

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 ...

MP Praveen Rashtrapal. From May 2019 to July 2021, he served as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. In July 2021, he became Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. He was elected to

Loksabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-th ...

from

constituency in

2024 Indian general election General elections were held in Elections in India, India from 2024 elections in India, 19 April to 1 June 2024 in seven phases, to elect all List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha, 543 members of the Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the res ...

Controversies

During the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Parshottam Rupala, stirred controversy due to his remarks about the

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

community during a campaign rally. His comments, which criticized the actions of erstwhile ' ''maharajas''' for allegedly capitulating to foreign rulers and British colonizers, sparked protests from the Rajput community. The Rajput community perceived Rupala's remarks as an insult, considering that the majority of the erstwhile rulers in Gujarat were from their community. Despite Rupala's public apology and request for forgiveness, community leaders continued to demand BJP to remove him from the list of candidates, threatening to vote against the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. But high command didn’t change the candidate and continued with Rupala. Despite this he was elected from

Personal life

Rupala married Savitaben in 1979. They have a daughter and one son.

References

, -

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rupala, Parsottambhai People from Amreli district 1954 births Living people Gujarat MLAs 1990–1995 Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat Gujarat MLAs 1998–2002 Gujarat MLAs 1995–1998 Narendra Modi ministry Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Gujarat Gujarat University alumni India MPs 2024–2029