Jagdeep Dhankhar taking oath as 14th Vice-President of India.
New Delhi:
Jagdeep Dhankhar, the political veteran from Rajasthan who additionally served as Governor of Bengal, at this time took oath because the 14th Vice-President of India. Within the election on August 6, he defeated the Congress’s Margaret Alva, who was the Opposition candidate, getting 74.36 per cent of the votes — the highest profitable margin within the final six V-P elections since 1997.
The oath was administered by President Droupadi Murmu, who too was elected just lately. Mr Dhankhar succeeds M Venkaiah Naidu, whose time period ended yesterday; and turns into chairperson of the Rajya Sabha by default.
Mr Dhankhar’s dwelling state goes to polls subsequent yr, and putting a Jat and a “farmer’s son” like him within the second highest Constitutional place in India could assist the BJP’s narrative towards Ashok Gehlot’s Congress authorities there.
Jhunjhunu, the district the place Mr Dhankhar was born in a village referred to as Kithana, is an element of a bigger cultural area that cuts throughout Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
In Haryana, too, Jats type a big chunk — it’s due for polls simply after the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Right here the BJP, led by a non-Jat chief minister, couldn’t retain energy by itself final time, and needed to take help from Dushyant Chautala’s get together that has some heft in the neighborhood.
By the way, Dushyant Chautala is a great-grandson of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal, in whose tutelage Mr Dhankhar began his political profession.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cited Mr Dhankhar’s farming background as a standout credential — repeatedly calling him “kisan putra” (farmers’ son) in his tweets.
“I by no means thought, even in my desires, that an individual with a humble background like me will get this chance,” Mr Dhankhar, 71, mentioned on the time of submitting his nomination papers.
Mr Dhankhar had the help of a number of non-NDA events too, akin to Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal from Odisha, Jaganmohan Reddy’s YSR Congress from Andhra Pradesh, and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Occasion.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress — which had a less-than-cordial equation with him when he was governor — determined to abstain from the voting. It didn’t again Margaret Alva for it was sad with “the way wherein the Opposition candidate was chosen”, however mentioned “there was no risk of going with the BJP nominee” both.
Earlier than coming to the BJP over a decade in the past, Jagdeep Dhankar had stints within the Congress and Janata Dal.
He was a lawyer on the Rajasthan Excessive Courtroom when he entered politics, profitable the 1989 Lok Sabha election from dwelling base Jhunjhunu. Within the short-lived, Congress-supported authorities of Chandra Shekhar, Mr Dhankhar was a minister.
He joined the Congress forward of the 1991 Lok Sabha election however misplaced from Ajmer even because the get together got here to energy and PV Narasimha Rao turned PM.
He then shifted to state politics and served as MLA (1993-98). However, as Ashok Gehlot rose to the highest of Congress in Rajasthan, Mr Dhankhar noticed his likelihood dim. After years of being within the shadows, he shifted to the BJP by the 2000s.
Within the BJP, he largely labored throughout the organisation for almost twenty years earlier than his title made nationwide headlines once more three years in the past. In 2019, he was appointed Governor of West Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee’s authorities there accused him of doing the bidding of the BJP-led central authorities. Mr Dhankhar didn’t attempt to cover his dislikes both. The controversy-a-day tenure gave extra prominence to Mr Dhankhar. He resigned final month to get into the Vice-Presidential contest.
On the private entrance, he began training in his village and later joined the Sainik Faculty in Chittorgarh on a scholarship, based on his profile within the Bengal Raj Bhavan web site.
In Jaipur for additional research, he received a bachelor’s diploma in physics from Maharaja Faculty, after which received his regulation diploma from the College of Rajasthan.
He has a daughter, Kamna, with spouse Sudesh Dhankhar.