Sushilkumar Shinde

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Sushilkumar Shinde
Sushilkumar Shinde in 2010
Minister of Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
31 July 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Preceded by Palaniappan Chidambaram
Minister of Power
In office
29 January 2006 – 31 July 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Preceded by Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu
Succeeded by Veerappa Moily
Governor of Andhra Pradesh
In office
4 November 2004 – 29 January 2006
Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhar Reddy
Preceded by Surjit Singh Barnala
Succeeded by Rameshwar Thakur
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office
18 January 2003 – 4 November 2004
Governor Mohammed Fazal
Preceded by Vilasrao Deshmukh
Succeeded by Vilasrao Deshmukh
Personal details
Born (1941-09-04) 4 September 1941 (age 71)
Solapur, British Raj
(now India)
Political party Indian National Congress
Other political
affiliations		 United Front (1996–2004)
United Progressive Alliance (2004–present)
Alma mater Dayanand College, Solapur
Shivaji University
University of Mumbai
Religion Nehruvian Secularism

Sushilkumar Shinde (born 4 September 1941; Solapur, Maharashtra) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra, and the current Minister of Home Affairs in the Manmohan Singh government. He is also the Leader of the house in Lok Sabha, the first Dalit to hold that job replacing Pranab Mukherjee.[1][2][3]

Contents

Early life and education [edit]

Shinde was born on 4 September 1941, at Solapur, in the present day Indian state of Maharashtra. Shinde completed his education with an honours degree in Arts from Dayanand College, Solapur; and later in Law from Shivaji University.[4]

Career [edit]

Shinde started his career as a bailiff in Solapur session court, where he served from 1957 till 1965. Later, he joined the Maharashtra State Police as a constable,[5] and in time served as Sub-Inspector of Police, Maharashtra State C.I.D. for six years.[6]

Political career [edit]

Shinde is a leader of the Congress Party. He is the first Scheduled Caste person to have Maharashtra State Assembly elections in 1978, 1980, 1985 and 1990.[7]

Shinde was elected to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra during July 1992 to March 1998.[8] He acted as Sonia Gandhi's campaign manager in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in 1999.[citation needed] In 2002, Shinde contested the election for the post of Vice-President of India against the National Democratic Alliance's candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and lost. On October 30, 2004, Shinde was appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. He replaced Surjit Singh Barnala, who became the Governor of Tamil Nadu. He served as governor for slightly more than one year before resigning and leaving office on January 29, 2006.

Shinde was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha for second time from Maharashtra on March 20, 2006.[9][10][11] Shinde became the leader of the house of the Lok Sabha after Pranab Mukherjee was elected President.[12]

Government offices [edit]

Power Minister [edit]

Shinde served as Power Minister of India from 2006-2012. During the 2012 northern India power grid failure, Shinde deflected criticism by observing that India was not alone in suffering major power outages, as the United States and Brazil had both experienced similar blackouts within the previous few years.[13][14] Officials in Uttar Pradesh, where the problem was believed to have begun, said the grid could not keep up with the huge demand for power in the hot summer. Uttar Pradesh Power Corp. chief Avnish Awasthi blamed the grid collapse on states drawing more than their allotted power to meet the summer demand.[14]

Shinde as the power minister, had written a letter dated September 20, 2007, to the PM, Manmohan Singh and argued on behalf of Bhushan Energy Limited (BEL) to allow the coal ministry to "allocate a captive coal block to let the operations begin at the 2,000MW thermal power plant in Angul district".[15] When contacted, Shinde admitted to writing such a letter. "I remember writing to the PM in 2007. BEL had written to us alleging 'discrimination' in allotment. Following this, I wrote to the PM (asking him) to use his discretion and resolve the matter." "However, when we cross-checked the details of the company and its antecedents, we decided to withdraw the allotment of the captive power block."[15] These revelations came under scrutiny during the coalgate scam controversy in 2012. At a function in Pune, after becoming the Home Minister, Shinde later remarked that like the Bofors scam even the Coalgate Scam will be forgotten. The comment was criticized by the opposition.[16][17] Shinde later tried to downplay his statement and stated: "I had gone to attend the felicitation ceremony of a former schoolmate. He did not make anyone laugh so I thought let me add some humour to the function."[16]

Home Minister [edit]

Shinde was appointed Home Minister of India in 2012.[18][19]

Criticisms and Controversies [edit]

Attacking Peaceful Protesters [edit]

In December 2012 after the New Delhi gang rape incident, lakhs of citizens took to the streets of New Delhi to protest against this gruesome incident. Thousands of protesters gathered outside Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's house, Rajpath and Raisina Hill demanding the death penalty for the rapists and stricter laws for sexual offenses. Shinde called in the Rapid Action Force and ordered them and the Delhi Police to use lathi charges and fire water cannons on all the peaceful protesters who had gathered outside these three locations. He was heavily criticized by activists, press and the social media for this act.[20] He later justified his actions by saying that Rashtrapati Bhawan is the prestigious house of the President of India and there was no reason for the protesters to protest over there. He also said that he was forced to act because the peaceful protests later turned violent by the entry of a few hooligan elements, and it was difficult to identify the goons among 3,000 people. On being asked why didn't he go to meet the protesters at India Gate, he compared the protesters to Maoists and said, "It's very easy to say that the Home Minister should go meet protesters there. Tomorrow if BJP workers demonstrate or if Maoists demonstrate with weapons, will I go and meet them too?". The press further attacked him for this irresponsible statement of his.[21]

"Hindu Terror" Remark [edit]

During a speech made in Congress's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur, Shinde had claimed that the home ministry had received a report that the RSS and BJP were promoting Hindu terrorism through their training camps. He also accused the RSS and BJP of being behind the Samjhauta Express bombings, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts. His statements were condemned by the BJP for claiming something without giving credible proof. The BJP demanded his immediate resignation, which at his failure to do so they would begin nationwide agitation.[22] Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Dr Praveen Togadia demanded Shinde to take back his words and apologize to the whole country.[23] Shiv Sena also condemned his statement saying that in the aftermath of 26/11 Terrorist Attack, the Congress had said that terror should not be associated with any color or religion. However, this time the Congress had raised the issue of "Saffron terrorism." Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too slammed him calling his statements "irresponsible" that clearly showed his "immaturity".[24]

The Islamic terrorist organizations Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa across the border in Pakistan welcomed his statements and congratulated him for this.[25]

Personal life [edit]

Sushilkumar Shinde is married to Ujwala S. Shinde and the couple have three daughters. His daughter Praniti Shinde is an MLA in Solapur, Maharashtra.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Shinde is new Leader of Lok Sabha". 4 August 2012. 
  2. ^ "Council of Ministers - Who's Who - Government: National Portal of India". http://india.gov.in. Government of India. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
  3. ^ "Chidambaram new finance minister, Shinde gets home". Retrieved 2012-07-31. 
  4. ^ Bio data OF Shri Sushilkumar Shinde
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Shri Sushilkumar Shinde biography
  7. ^ "State Elections 2004 - Partywise Comparison for 218-North Solapur Constituency of Maharashtra". Eci.nic.in. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
  8. ^ "Rajya Sabha members". Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  9. ^ "Arjun, Bhardwaj, Shinde elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha", Tribuneindia.com, March 20, 2006.
  10. ^ "We are talking of a lifestyle sans God - Lifestyle - DNA". Dnaindia.com. 2009-12-24. Retrieved 2010-08-26. 
  11. ^ [2][dead link]
  12. ^ Shinde to be new Leader of House in Lok Sabha. Firstpost. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Power cut causes major disruption in northern India". BBC News. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012. 
  14. ^ a b "Power grid failure makes 370M swelter in dark as India struggles to meet its vast energy needs". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012. 
  15. ^ a b "Sushilkumar Shinde's letter favouring BEL's case in Coalgate found, UPA to face more heat". India Today. Retrieved 17 September 2012. 
  16. ^ a b "Sushilkumar Shinde's remark on coal draws flak from Opposition". NDTV. Retrieved 18 September 2012. 
  17. ^ "Like Bofors, coalgate will also be forgotten: Sushilkumar Shinde". The Times Of India. Retrieved 16 September 2012. 
  18. ^ Home minister Shinde to visit Pune blast sites today. Firstpost. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  19. ^ "Chidambaram appointed as FM, Sushil Kumar Shinde to be Home Minister". Retrieved Jul 31, 201 2. 
  20. ^ "Delhi gangrape: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Appeals to People to Withdraw Protests Across Country". India Today. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  21. ^ "Gangrape protests: Shinde justifies police crackdown, compares protesters to Maoists". CNN-IBN. 24 December 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  22. ^ "BJP Holds Nation-Wide Protests Against Shinde's 'Hindu Terror' Remark, Police Water-Cannon Protesters". The Indian Express. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  23. ^ "VHP Demands Sushilkumar Shinde's Apology for Terror Remark.". The Indian Express. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  24. ^ "Sushil Kumar Shinde's remark on 'Hindu terror' is irresponsible: Nitish Kumar". NDTV. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  25. ^ "LeT, JuD have congratulated Sushilkumar Shinde for his claims on Hindu terror: RSS". DNA. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 

(Solapur)

External links [edit]

Political offices
Preceded by
Vilasrao Deshmukh		 Chief Minister of Maharashtra
2003–2004		 Succeeded by
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Preceded by
Surjit Singh Barnala		 Governor of Andhra Pradesh
2004–2006		 Succeeded by
Rameshwar Thakur
Preceded by
Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu		 Minister of Power
2006–2012		 Succeeded by
Veerappa Moily
Preceded by
Palaniappan Chidambaram		 Minister of Home Affairs
2012–present		 Incumbent
Authority control
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