RSS worker to CM: Tracing Tirath Singh Rawat’s political journey

Dehradun: The new chief minister of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat, was born in Seeron village in the state’s Pauri Garhwal district in 1964, and has worked his way up after spending a lifetime in public life, starting when he was still a teenager

Published on: Mar 10, 2021, 23:30:29 IST

By Neeraj Santoshi

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Dehradun: The new chief minister of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat, was born in Seeron village in the state’s Pauri Garhwal district in 1964, and has worked his way up after spending a lifetime in public life, starting when he was still a teenager.

Rawat’s first foray into public life was with the RSS as its pracharak from 1983 to 1988.

Rawat, a postgraduate in sociology from Birla Campus Srinagar and a diploma-holder in journalism, entered student politics and became the organisational secretary of ABVP Uttarakhand unit, and the national secretary of ABVP in early 1990s. He was also the president of the student union at Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in 1992. He became the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in 1996.

Rawat, an MP from Garhwal and former state BJP president and state education minister, was named CM in the legislature party meeting held here on Wednesday morning and took oath at 4.05 in the afternoon.

Rawat participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya -- the foundation ceremony was held last year, after a favourable court ruling in 2019 -- and spent two months in jail.

By 1997, he was an up-and-coming politician and was elected a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, but he was keen on statehood for Uttarakhand, then part of UP and actively participated in the campaign for this, BJP leaders who have known him for years said.

When Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000, he became the state’s first education minister and remained so till 2002. In 2007, he was elected as the state general secretary of Uttarakhand BJP.

In 2012, Rawat was elected as MLA from Chaubattakhal assembly seat from his native Pauri Garhwal district, and the following year (February 2013) he was appointed as the president of Uttarakhand BJP . He remained state president of the party till December 2015.

In 2017, he was not given the ticket from Chaubattakhal seat, which was was given to Satpal Maharaj, who left the Congress and joined the BJP, but he was named a national secretary of the party.

In May 2019, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Pauri Lok Sabha Seat, after defeating his rival Manish Khanduri, his political guru BC Khanduri’s son, by over 3.5 lakh votes. In the same year, he was also made in-charge of the elections in Himachal Pradesh

Rawat expressed his gratitude to the Central leadership including PM Narendra Modi, recalled his RSS days, and spoke of how a meeting with former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee influenced his politics. “I will continue to work on the development programmes introduced by (outgoing CM) Trivendra Singh Rawat so as to ensure the victory in next assembly elections”, he said .

The state goes to polls in a year.

Rashami Rawat, wife of Tirath Singh Rawat, said that on Tuesday night, when several other names were doing the rounds as possible contenders for the top spot, she received calls asking why Rawat was not among them. “ I told them to wait. Because I knew that party would give him the responsibility. He has struggled a lot and never cared about money. Because of his work in RSS, he was sent to ABVP and later to BJP”.

Rawat ‘s local roots and long years in public life should help him, analysts said. Raj Kumar, a resident of Pauri Garhwal said he has known and admired Rawat for his simplicity and maturity. “We are very happy that a leader from our district and that too such a humble one, has been given the reins of the state.”

Dinesh Arya, BJP leader and Rawat’s friend in Kumaon said that between 2007 to 2010, the new CM was district in-charge of Nainital “Then I was the district president of Nainital. I saw up close how good he was at managing the cadre and organisational issues very efficiently and democratically. He is down-to-earth and listens to the party cadre. When he became the state BJP president, he used to listen to every worker .”

(with inputs from Vipin Negi and Ankur Sharma)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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