Thursday, May 16

Uttarakhand: Trivendra Singh Rawat, BJP Candidate From Hardwar Constituency

Edited by Hiba Anvar

Trivendra Singh Rawat is fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party as its candidate from Hardwar Lok Sabha constituency. Trivendra was the chief minister of Uttarakhand during the year 2017 and 2021. Trivendra was included in the second candidate list of the saffron party.

Rawat was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from 1979 to 2002. Being an active member, Rawat held the post of organizing secretary of the Uttarakhand region and later the Uttarakhand state after the state’s formation in 2000. In the 2002 election, Rawat was elected from Doiwala, and in 2007 he was able to retain the seat and then served as the state’s minister of Agriculture.

As a member of the saffron party, Rawat served as the Jharkand’s in-charge and Uttarakhand cadre’s president. In the 2017 assembly election, he then was chosen as the chief minister of the state. Later in 2021, he resigned from the post citing it as be “collective decision” made by the party.

Born in 1960, Rawat hails from the village of Khairasain in the Kotdwar tehsil. He obtained his master’s degree in journalism from the Birla campus in Srinagar. Taking his initial step in politics, Rawat joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1979. And later he joined the saffron party.

While he was serving as the chief minister of Uttarakhand, his tweet about linguistic preference sparked controversy and was accused of preferring the Garhwali language over the Kumaoni language.

Another controversial and hilarious comment passed by the former chief minister was regarding his discovery of the treatment of tuberculosis. He claimed that the cow is the only animal that exhales oxygen and that whoever lives in close proximity to cows could cure tuberculosis.

He then during the covid times said that coronavirus is also a living organism and hence it has the right to live, just like human beings and this led to harsh criticism from the opposition.