Ram Naik (born 17 April 1934) is a veteran

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 of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n politician 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 ...

who served as the 19th

Governor of Uttar Pradesh The governor of Uttar Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Uttara Pradēśa kē Rājyapāla'') is the constitutional head of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The governor is appointed by the president of India. The post is preceded by the governor of U ...

Political career

Ram Naik was a member of the 13th

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 ...

and was Minister of Oil and Natural Gas in the

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

cabinet (1999–2004). He was instrumental in introducing Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme. He was the BJP candidate for elections to the

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (2 June 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian National ...

representing Mumbai North, but lost to famous Bollywood actor Govinda, an INC candidate from Virar. A

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

volunteer since childhood, he holds a law degree. He started his political career with the

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

in 1964 and was involved in organizing a group of rail commuters in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. He represented

Borivali Borivali (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, oːɾiʋəliː is a suburb which is located in the north-western end of Mumbai, India. Traditionally the tribals and East Indians lived in Borivali. The attractions include Sanjay Gandhi National ...

in the state assembly in 1978 and was re-elected twice, before becoming Minister of State for Railways in 1998, when he was influential in forming the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation. In 2004 he published a statement in which he demanded apology from the Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

and chairwoman

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

for removal of quotes from statues dedicated to the Indian revolutionaries, such as

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

, Madan Lal Dhingra,

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966 ), was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. The prefix "Veer" (mea ...

, Bhagat Singh, and

Bahadur Shah Zafar Bahadur Shah II, (Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad; 24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' ), was the twentieth and last List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Mughal emp ...

. Ram Naik announced in September 2013 that he will not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls. On 14 July 2014 he was named as the

. Within a few months of his being appointed governor, he stated that "The Ram Temple should be built as soon as possible, this is what the people of this country want and their wishes should be fulfilled." The theme was immediately backed up by

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

groups. Subsequently, his

remarks seem to have been reined in by

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

Personal life

He was born in Sangli district of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state. He married Kunda Naik on 17 May 1960 and has two daughters.

Positions held

*1969–1977 – Organising Secretary, Bharatiya Jan Sangh,

*1977–1978 – General Secretary,

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

, Mumbai *1978–1989 – Member, Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra (3 terms) *1979–1980 – President,

, Mumbai *1980–1986 – President, BJP, Mumbai *1986–1989 – Vice President, BJP, Maharashtra *1989 – Elected to 9th Lok Sabha *1991 – Elected to 10th Lok Sabha *1999 – Elected to 13th Lok Sabha *1999–2004 – Union Cabinet Minister, Petroleum and Natural Gas *since 2004 – President, All India Disciplinary Committee of BJP * 2014–2019 Governor of Uttar Pradesh

References

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External links

Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India websiteOfficial Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Ram Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra 1934 births Living people Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 People from Sangli district Marathi politicians Politicians from Mumbai Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians Governors of Uttar Pradesh Governors of Rajasthan Maharashtra MLAs 1985–1990 Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministers of India