Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat is an Indian agriculturist and politician who served as the First Gentleman of India as the husband of President

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

. He formerly served as the First Gentleman of Rajasthan & also as former Mayor of Amravati. He is a member of the

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 E ...

Early life

Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat, who was then a lecturer in chemistry, married Pratibha Patil on 7 July 1965. The couple have a daughter and a son,

Raosaheb Shekhawat Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, also known as Raosaheb Shekhawat, is a politician in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He is a former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Amravati constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Family ...

, who is also a politician. Shekhawat was awarded a PhD from the

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

in 1972. Prior to his wife's elevation to her presidential role, he had been principal of a college operated by his wife's Vidya Bharati Shikshan Sanstha foundation and also a former mayor of

Amravati Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...

(1991-1992). Like his wife, he is a member of the

party. He is also an agriculturalist and a former

Member of Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

, being elected for the period 1985-1990 from the Amravati constituency in the Maharashtra state legislature. He lost his deposit in the 1995 contest for that constituency. Various accusations against Shekhawat and Patil emerged after the latter was nominated for the office of president. Among these was the case of Kisan Dhage, a teacher in a school run by Vidya Prasarak Shikshan Mandal in

Buldana district Buldhana district (Marathi pronunciation: ulɖʰaːɳa is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra, India. It is situated at the western border of Vidarbha region and is 500 km away from the state capital, Mumbai. The district ha ...

, who committed suicide in November 1998. He left a note saying that he was committing suicide because he was tired of the mental harassment caused by Shekhawat, who was chairman of the institution, and four others. When the police registered the case as "accidental death", Dhage's wife appealed to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) in Jalgaon Jamod, a

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administ ...

in Buldana district. The JMFC ordered the police to start criminal proceedings. Shekhawat petitioned the courts seeking dismissal of charges of abetting Dhage's suicide. Two lower courts turned down this plea and by June 2007 the issue was pending in the Bombay High Court. A judge at that court dismissed the charges against Shekhawat in 2009 on the grounds that there was no proof of direct involvement, although one of his co-accused remained subject to the proceedings. In 2009, a court ruled that Shekhawat had colluded with five relatives and local officials to illegally transfer into his ownership of land in

Chandrapur Chandrapur (earlier known as ''Chanda'', the official name until 1964) is a city and a municipal corporation in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra state, India. It is the district headquarters of Chandrapur district. Chandrapur is a fort cit ...

belonging to a

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

farmer. This was one of several allegations of corruption and irregularities to emerge during Patil's presidency in relation to her and her family.

First Gentleman of Rajasthan (2004 - 2007)

Upon Shekhawat's wife's succession as the Governor of Rajasthan, he moved into Raj Bhavan, Jaipur succeeding as the First Gentleman of Rajasthan for 3 years.

First Gentleman of India (2007 - 2012)

Barack and Michelle Obama are greeted by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil

On 25 July 2007 Shekhawat assumed the role of 1st First Gentleman of India upon his wife's succession as the 12th & first woman

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

for a full 5-year term.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shekhawat, Devisingh Ransingh Pratibha Patil Maharashtra MLAs 1985–1990 Living people First Ladies and Gentlemen of India Mayors of places in Maharashtra Corruption in Maharashtra University of Mumbai alumni People from Amravati Year of birth missing (living people)