Bhupinder Singh Hooda (born 15 September 1947) is an

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

politician who is the current

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Haryana Legislative Assembly The Haryana Legislative Assembly or the Haryana Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral state legislature of Haryana state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Chandigarh, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 90 Members of L ...

. He also served as the

Chief Minister of Haryana The Chief Minister of Haryana is the chief executive of the Indian state of Haryana. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elect ...

from 2005 to 2014. When he began a second term in

October 2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

after leading the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

to an election victory, it was the first time since 1972 that a Haryana electorate returned a ruling party back to power. Hooda is also a Member of the Bar Council of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and Haryana. In 2010, Indian Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

constituted the Working Group on Agriculture Production under Hooda's chairmanship to recommend strategies and action plan for increasing agricultural production and productivity, including long-term policies to ensure sustained agricultural growth.

Early life

Bhupinder Singh Hooda was born to Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda and Har Devi Hooda at the Sanghi village in Rohtak district of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. His father Ranbir Singh Hooda was a renowned freedom fighter. He is an alumnus of

Sainik School, Balachadi The Sainik School, Balachadi, in Jamnagar, Gujarat, is one of the leading Sainik Schools in the chain of Sainik Schools. It is one of the outstanding boarding schools for public education in Gujarat. It was established in July 1961 by the then Ho ...

, Jamnagar, Gujarat. He did his B.A. at

Panjab University, Chandigarh Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

after which he pursued law from the prestigious

Faculty of Law, University of Delhi The Faculty of Law, University of Delhi is the law department of the University of Delhi. It has the unique distinction of producing the largest number of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India. It is situated in the north campus of the ...

. He started his political career from Youth Congress.

Political career

Chaudhry Bhupinder Singh Hooda was elected as a

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from Rohtak Lok Sabha segment for four terms in 1991, 1996, 1998, 2004. He also remained the Leader of Opposition in

from 2001 to 2004. He also served as the President of HPCC (Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee) from 1996 to 2001. In three consecutive Lok Sabha elections of 1991, 96 & 98, he defeated Ch.

Devi Lal Chaudhary Devi Lal (born Devi Dayal; 25 September 1915 – 6 April 2001) was an Indian statesman who served as 6th Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1991 in the governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Also popularly known as ...

in electoral battles fought in the Jat heartland of Rohtak in Haryana. He attended international Conferences like World Youth Festival in USSR, World Parliamentary Conference in China, International Conference in USSR as a delegate of AICC and OISCA and International Conferences in Japan and South Korea. Hooda was a vocal supporter for structural reforms within the Congress party and a part of the G23 rebel leaders group. He has been meeting party senior leaders and other G23 leaders to bring about reconciliation. He is also President, All India Young Farmers' Association, Haryana ; Ex-Member, Market Committee, Rohtak; Director, Bank of India, 1989–92; Secretary, Farmers' Parliamentary Forum, 1991 onwards; Founder-Member and Working President of All India Freedom Fighters' Successors' Organisation; Working President, National Federation Railway Porters, Vendors and Bearers. Elected as a President for the Khadi & Village Industries Commission Employees Union & Patron for the National Khadi & Village Industries Board's Employees Federation – an apex body of all State K&V.I Board's Employees Unions. To encourage youngsters to pick up Olympic sports, Hooda announced a cash award of Rs 25 million for the state athletes who would win gold medal in any discipline at the London Games. Cash prize money of Rs 15 million and Rs 10 million for silver and bronze medal winners has also been announced. Hooda has come under the scanner of the CBI for alleged misappropriation of funds and scams. In 2019, CBI's preliminary inquiry (PE) has revealed that Hooda and TC Gupta, a 1987 batch IAS officer and the then head of the town and planning department, allegedly hatched a criminal conspiracy with private builders to deliberately notify huge chunks of land in various sectors of Gurgaon for acquisition for public purpose. This led to the landowners selling their lands at throwaway prices to private builders. But the government ended up actually acquiring only a small proportion of these notified land tracts.

Personal life

Hooda married Asha Dahiya in 1976. He has two children. His son Deepender Singh Hooda was the MP of Rohtak from 2004 to 2019.

Positions held

Position held in Pradesh Congress Committee

Government of Haryana

Electoral History

Lok Sabha

Haryana Legislative Assembly

Criticism and scam cases

There are many cases filed against him because of political vendetta and false allegations by the ruling party six CBI cases and several other vigilance department investigations against Hooda underway.

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and governmen ...

is investigating several scams, mostly related to illegal land grab, that took place during his rule in Haryana. These investigations include the Gurugram-Manesar IMT land scam, Robert Vadra DLF land grab scam, Gurugram Rajiv Gandhi Trust land grab scam, Sonepat-Kharkhoda IMT land scam case, Garhi Sampla Uddar Gagan land scam, Panchkula-HUDA Industrial plots allotment scam, AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam, Haryana Forestry scam case and Haryana Raxil drug purchase scam. He has been already

chargesheet In policing on the Indian subcontinent, a chargesheet is prepared after First Information Reports (FIRs), and charges an individual for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s). Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court ...

ed in the Manesar-Gurugram land scam, while other cases are still under investigation (c. March 2018).

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooda, Bhupinder 1947 births Living people Chief Ministers of Haryana Panjab University alumni Lok Sabha members from Haryana India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 2004–2009 People from Rohtak district Leaders of the Opposition in Haryana Haryana MLAs 2000–2005 Haryana MLAs 2005–2009 Haryana MLAs 2009–2014 Haryana MLAs 2014–2019 Haryana MLAs 2019–2024 Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Indian National Congress politicians Faculty of Law, University of Delhi alumni People charged with corruption