Murli Manohar Joshi (born 5 January 1934) is an Indian politician. He is one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993. Joshi is the former Member of Parliament from Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency.[3] He is a former professor of physics in University of Allahabad. He is one of the senior most leaders of the BJP and one of the founding members. Joshi later became the Union Human Resources & Development Minister in the National Democratic Alliance government.[4] Joshi was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award, in 2017 by the Government of India.[5] Joshi has been a member of RSS since his college days.
Murli Manohar Joshi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Human Resource Development | |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 22 May 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | S. R. Bommai |
| Succeeded by | Arjun Singh |
| Union Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Shankarrao Chavan |
| Succeeded by | H. D. Deve Gowda |
| Union Minister of Science and Technology | |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 21 May 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Succeeded by | Kapil Sibal |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 16 May 2014 – 23 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Sriprakash Jaiswal |
| Succeeded by | Satyadev Pachauri |
| Constituency | Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh |
| In office 16 May 2009 – 16 May 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Rajesh Kumar Mishra |
| Succeeded by | Narendra Modi |
| Constituency | Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh |
| In office 1996—2004 | |
| Preceded by | Saroj Dubey |
| Succeeded by | Rewati Raman Singh |
| Constituency | Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh[1] |
| In office 1977–1980 | |
| Preceded by | Narendra Singh Bisht |
| Succeeded by | Harish Rawat |
| Constituency | Almora, Uttarakhand |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 5 July 1992 – 11 May 1996 | |
| Constituency | Uttar Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 January 1934 Nainital, Uttrakhand |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Other political affiliations | Janata Party[2] |
| Spouse | Tarla Joshi |
| Education | BSc, MSc, PhD |
| Alma mater | University of Allahabad |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (2017) |
| Signature |  |
Background and personal life
editJoshi was born in Delhi on 5 January 1934. His family hails from Almora in Kumaon region, which is now part of the Uttarakhand state. His father's name was Manmohan Joshi. The family belongs to the Brahmin community. In 1966, Joshi was married to Tarla Joshi, a lady of his own community and similar family background, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. The lifelong marriage has proven entirely harmonious and conventional. The couple are the parents of two daughters, Nivedita and Priyamvada.[6][7]
Education
editJoshi had his early education in Chandpur, district Bijnor and in Almora, from where his family hails. He completed his B.Sc. from Meerut College and M.Sc. from Allahabad University. In Allahabad, one of his teachers was Professor Rajendra Singh, who later became the Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Joshi did his doctorate in physics at Allahabad University. The subject of his doctoral thesis was spectroscopy. He published a research paper in Physics in Hindi, which was a first of its kind.[8] After completing his PhD, Joshi started teaching physics at Allahabad University.[9]
Politics and activism
editJoshi came in contact with the RSS in Delhi at a young age and took part in the Cow Protection Movement in 1953–54, in the Kumbh Kisan Andolan of UP in 1955,[10] demanding halving of land revenue assessment. During the Emergency period (1975–1977) in India, Joshi was in jail from 26 June 1975 until the Lok Sabha elections in 1977. He was elected Member of Parliament from Almora. When the Janata Party (which then included his party) came to power forming the first non-Congress government in Indian history, Joshi was elected General Secretary of the Janata Parliamentary Party. After the fall of the government, his party came out of Janata Party in 1980, and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP. Joshi first looked after the Central Office as a General Secretary and later became Party Treasurer. As General Secretary of BJP, he was directly in charge of Bihar, Bengal and North-Eastern States. Later, when BJP formed a government in India under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Joshi served as the Human Resource Development Minister in the cabinet.
In December 1991, Joshi held a yatra, the Ekta Yatra, intended to signal that BJP supported national unity and opposed separatist movements. It began on 11 December in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu and visited 14 states.[11] The rally's final stop to hoist the Indian flag in Jammu and Kashmir on 26 January 1992 was considered unsuccessful, with minimal local participation.[12]
Joshi is known to have been influenced by the life and work of Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Deendayal Upadhyaya. Joshi was a three-term M.P. from Allahabad before he was defeated in the Lok Sabha elections of May 2004. He won election to the 15th Lok Sabha from Varanasi as a BJP candidate.[13] He also served as the home minister for 13 days government in 1996. Joshi was appointed as Chairman of the Manifesto Preparation Board of the BJP in 2009. He was honoured as "Proud Past Alumni" of Allahabad University by Allahabad University Alumni Association.[14][15]
He was a sitting MP from Varanasi and he vacated that seat for Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. He later contested from Kanpur and won from the constituency by a margin of 2.23 lac votes.[16]
Awards and honours
edit
- Padma Vibhushan (2017)
References
edit- ^ https://results.eci.gov.in/PcResultGenJune2024/candidateswise-S2452.htm [bare URL]
- ^ "Vajpayee's comrades, LK Advani to Murli Manohar Joshi". 17 August 2018.
- ^ "Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi". The Times of India.
- ^ Debashish Mukerji (15 November 1998). "Our students don know India's problems (Interview with Murli Manohar Joshi)". The Week. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
- ^ "List of Padma awardees 2017". The Hindu. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ Jain, Praveen (7 January 2024). "Murli Manohar Joshi turns 90: Well-wishers flock to Raisina Road to celebrate life of BJP stalwart". ThePrint. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- ^ Varma, Pavan K (14 January 2024). "Joshi at 90: The storied journey of a politician". epaper.hindustantimes.com/. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- ^ "Evolution of Dr Joshi - Welcome to Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi". Archived from the original on 26 June 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
- ^ "डॉ मुरली मनोहर जोशी: फिजिक्स के इस प्रोफेसर ने लिखी थी हिंदी में थिसिस, बाद में बने बीजेपी की 'तीसरी धरोहर'". ABP Live (in Hindi).
- ^ Patrick, French; French, Patrick (27 January 2011). India: A Portrait. Penguin Books Limited. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-14-194700-6.
- ^ Sharma, Naresh Kumar (22 January 2011). "BJP to go ahead with Ekta Yatra in Kashmir". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Bamzai, Kaveree (15 February 1992). "BJP flag-hoisting ceremony in Srinagar turns out to be a damp squib, militancy gets a boost". India Today. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Dikshit, Rajeev (16 May 2009). "Joshi beats Mukhtar with big margin Varanasi News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ "Allahbad University Alumni Association : Our Proud Past". archive.is. 10 November 2018. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Our Proud Past". archive.is. 10 November 2018. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Constituency wise-All Candidates". Eciresults.nic.in. 17 May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
External links
edit
- Reflections... Murli Manohar Joshi's blog (last updated 1 October 2009)