Tirath Singh Rawat

For other uses, see T. S. Rawat.

Tirath Singh Rawat
File:Shri Tirat Singh Rawat official portrait, 2019.jpg Tirath Singh Rawat
9th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 March 2021
Governor	Baby Rani Maurya
Preceded by	Trivendra Singh Rawat
Member Of Parliament Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 May 2019
Preceded by	B. C. Khanduri
Constituency	Garhwal
Member Of Legislative Assembly Uttarakhand
In office 2012–2017
Succeeded by	Satpal Maharaj
Constituency	Chaubattakhal
Minister of Education
In office 2000–2002
6th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttarakhand
In office 9 February 2013 – 31 December 2015
Preceded by	Bishan Singh Chuphal
Succeeded by	Ajay Bhatt
Personal details
Born	(1964-04-09) 9 April 1964 Seeron, Pauri Garhwal district, Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand, India)
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Rashmi Tyagi Rawat
Alma mater	Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University
Website	Official website
Source: [1]

Tirath Singh Rawat (born 9 April 1964) is an Indian politician who is serving as 9th and current Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Garhwal in the 2019 Indian general election as member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and also former Minister of Education of Uttarakhand.

He was the party chief of Bharatiya Janata Party Uttarakhand from 9 February 2013 to 31 December 2015 and former member of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly from Chaubattakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017.

Early life

Tirath Singh Rawat was born on 9 April 1964 in village Sinro of Pauri Garhwal district, India. Born to a Rajput family of hill descent, his father was Mr. Kalam Singh Rawat, and mother Mrs. Gaura Devi.

Rawat, with a master’s degree in political science and a diploma holder in rural development, entered active student politics and became the organizational secretary of ABVP Uttarakhand unit and later national secretary of ABVP. He was also the president of the student union at Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in 1992. Subsequently, he became the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He worked for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a key worker, known as a pracharak, from 1983 to 1988.

Political career

He was the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

In 1997, he was elected as member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and was elected as president of the legislative council of Uttar Pradesh.

He was the first education minister of newly formed state Uttarakhand.

After this he was elected as state general secretary of Uttarakhand in 2007 and after that state chief electoral officer and state membership chief.

In 2012, he was elected as legislative assembly member (MLA) and in 2013 he became Uttarakhand BJP Chief.

As Uttarakhand BJP President, he won four of six BJP mayoral posts in municipal corporation elections. He was elected as MP from Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency on 23 May 2019. He defeated his nearest rival Manish Khanduri by more than 3.50 lakh votes.

He took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 10 March 2021.

Controversy

- In March 2021, Tirath Singh Rawat created controversy by saying that he was shocked to see a woman running an NGO in ripped jeans, and was concerned about the example she was setting for society. Priyanka Gandhi criticized Rawat on his misogynistic remarks and also posted photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in white shirts and khaki shorts (RSS uniform).

He quoted, "These days ripped jeans are very popular with the women... Is it our culture?" He said that the children learned about the culture from their parents. What kind of culture will they learn if their parents wear ripped jean? he asked. The CM made the controversial remark while addressing a child substance abuse workshop in the state. Tirath Singh described in detail the attire of a woman who sat next to him in a flight. The woman, he said, identified herself as a NGO worker and was travelling with her kids. He said: “You run an NGO, wear jeans ripped at the knees, move about in society, children are with you, what values you will teach?”

Terming ripped jeans as “kainchi wala sanskar” (scissor culture), Rawat claimed it is being taught that one will not be called rich without ripped jeans and bare knees.

Later on, the hashtag #RippedJeansTwitter started to trend on Twitter and images flooded the micro-blogging site. While some tagged the CM in their posts, most criticised him indirectly saying, “clothes don’t define character” and “no one should be judged on their attires.”

Rawat later apologised for his controversial remarks and added he has no problem with jeans. But he maintained his objections to ripped jeans, claiming wearing "torn" ones is "not right."

- Rawat has also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be considered as an avatar of Lord Rama and Krishna in times to come. Leaders from the opposition party of Congress claimed this is sycophancy and criticized him for his remarks.

- Later in a rally Tirath made comments stating “America, which enslaved us for 200 years, which ruled the world, under whose empire it was said the sun didn't set... recorded more than 2.75 lakh deaths due to Covid-19 and is still struggling.” This statement caused some controversy with him stating that the US ruled India instead of British rule, thereby causing the opposition to question his credibility and qualification for the post.

- In the next rally he mentioned that if poor families of 2 children are unhappy of just receiving 20kg of rice from the govt, just have more kids and you will get more rice and money from schemes. This statement also received a fair bit of controversy as this could lead to higher population and add stress and impact on Uttarakhand's environment and infrastructure.

References

13 ^"Biography of Tirath Rawat in Hindi"

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
• Official website of Tirath Singh Rawat
• Tirath Singh Rawat on Facebook
• Tirath Singh Rawat on Twitter
• Phone Number of CM Tirath Singh Rawat
• Official Email id of Tirath Singh Rawat