Jagdish Thakor (born 1 July 1957) 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 from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was the

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

15th Lok Sabha Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...

of India. He represented the Patan constituency of

Thakor Thakor also known as Thakarda is subcaste of Koli community of Gujarat. Koli forms the largest caste-cluster, comprising 24% of the total population of the state. Koli Thakors in Gujarat placed in Other Backward Class including all of the Koli C ...

belongs to the

Koli Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli peopl ...

community of Gujarat.

Political Career

Thakor began his political career as a student leader in 1973 and won his first Assembly election in 2002.

Member of Legislative Assembly (2002-2012)

He was elected as MLA from Dahegam in 2002 and 2007. Between 2007-2008 he was the Chief Whip, Congress, Gujarat Legislative Assembly.

Member of Parliament (2009-2014)

He was MP in the 15th Lok Sabha from

Patan Lok Sabha constituency Patan ( gu, પાટણ લોકસભા મતવિસ્તાર) is a Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency in Gujarat state in western India. Vidhan Sabha segments Presently, Patan Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven Vidhan Sabha ...

between 2009 and 2014, and lost his seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. On 3rd December 2021, Thakor was appointed

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress in Gujarat. Jagdish Thakor is the president of the Committee. It has 1,862 seats in various urban and rural local bodies in Gujarat. Its office is l ...

president.

2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly Election

In December 2021, the Indian National Congress held a mock assembly in Rajkot, to highlight the plight of the youth for jobs. Thakor slammed the government saying "In Gujarat, 11 question papers were leaked. 25 lakh youth applied for government jobs. Despite having lost confidence in the government, 10 to 12 lakh of them are still applying for jobs and those eligible are not getting them." He also added that jobs were not going to the average youth, and that the government was giving jobs to BJP functionaries. In April 2022,

Jignesh Mevani Jignesh Mevani (alternatively Mewani; born 11 December 1980) is an Indian politician, lawyer, activist and former journalist serving as the representative of the Vadgam constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly since 2017. He is a membe ...

, Gujarat Congress MLA from

Vadgam Vadgam is located in India, situated in Banaskantha district in northern Gujarat. Administratively, it is a Taluka. There are 110 villages under this Taluka. Vadgam region also known as a Dhandhar. Geography Vadgam is situated between Kheralu ...

was arrested by

Assam Police The Assam Police is the law enforcement agency for the state of Assam in India. A regular police force was initiated in Assam by the British after the Treaty of Yandaboo to maintain the law and order. It functions under the Department of Home Af ...

Palanpur Palanpur is a city and a municipality of Banaskantha district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Palanpur is the administrative headquarters of Banaskantha district. Palanpur is the ancestral home to an industry of Indian diamond merchants. Ety ...

, Jagdish Thakor hit out at the BJP, saying that he was arrested for tweeting against the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...

, a Hindu-nationalist parent organization of the BJP. In July 2022, Thakor along with several

Gujarat Congress Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth- ...

leaders workers staged a sit-in in Lal Darwaja,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

for 2 hours to protest against the summoning of

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...

by the

Enforcement Directorate The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is a law enforcement agency and economic intelligence agency responsible for enforcing economic laws and fighting economic crime in India. It is part of the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Gover ...

, which they alleged was working with the BJP-led central government to intimidate opposition leaders. Thakor said that this was vindictive politics, "Though Soniaji is unwell, she is cooperating in the probe. The BJP is harassing opposition leaders to distract people from real issues, such as price rise." The Congress also staged a protest at Koba, Gandhinagar demanding Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) chairman and BJP leader Asit Vora to resign. In July 2022, after the Gujarat toxic liquor deaths, Thakor slammed the BJP, saying that it is maligning the image of Gujarat, and also failing to implement the

prohibition in Gujarat Alcohol prohibition in India is in force in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Mizoram, and Nagaland. All other Indian states and union territories permit the sale of alcohol. The directive principles of state policy (DPSP) in the constitution o ...

. "The sarpanch of Rojid (Dharmendra Patel, a

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 ...

leader) had repeatedly alerted the police in the past regarding illicit sale of spurious liquor in his village yet no action was taken. The BJP and police are running a partnership with the bootleggers in Gujarat." Jagdish Thakor said. He also criticized the BJP for wasting taxpayers money, and for not meeting the victims of the tragedy. He said that unemployment was being neglected, and said that the government was giving booze and drugs to the youth instead of jobs. In September 2022, Thakor and the Congress party gave a bandh call in Gujarat, as a symbolic protest against inflation and unemployment. He alleged that 4.5 lakh youth were unemployed out of which 4.3 lakh were qualified, even though 4.5 lakh government posts were vacant in the state. He also said that 27000 posts for teachers are open, that there were hundreds of libraries without a librarian. Talking about inflation, Thakor said that prices of basic commodities are very high and that it had a cascading effect on the average citizen's life. He instructed Congress workers to ensure that emergency services were not stopped because of the bandh call.

References

External links