Meet the new BJP president
Rajnath Singh, who has a masters in physics from Gorakhpur University, was born on July 10, 1951, in a farmer's family at Babhora, a village in what is now the Chanduli district.
When he was 21 years old, he became the RSS karyavah of Mirzapur.
Like most Opposition leaders of the time, Rajnath was inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan. In 1975, Rajnath became the district coordinator of the JP movement.
And like most Opposition leaders of the time, he was jailed during the Emergency. During his imprisonment, his mother Gujarati Devi passed away. But Rajnath was not allowed parole to visit her.
In 1977, he won his first election to the UP state assembly.
In 1983, he was appointed state secretary of the BJP. A year later, he became the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP's youth wing. In 1986, he became the national general secretary of the BJYM -- under Pramod Mahajan -- and subsequently its national president in 1988.
He became a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council in 1988.
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