Bhagat Singh Koshyari (born 17 June 1942) is an Indian politician serving as the 22nd and current

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...

from 5 September 2019. An

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veteran, Koshyari served as National Vice-President of BJP and party's 1st State president for Uttarakhand. He also served as 2nd

Chief Minister of Uttarakhand The chief minister of Uttarakhand is the chief executive of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief mi ...

(formerly Uttaranchal) from 2001 to 2002 and thereafter, was the leader of the opposition in the

Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the winter capital, and Bhararisain, the sum ...

from 2002 to 2003. He also served as an MLC in

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad'') is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh, a state in India. Uttar Pradesh is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is ...

(when Uttarakhand was part of undivided Uttar Pradesh) and MLA in

. He later served as an MP in

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

from 2008 to 2014 from Uttarakhand and then the MP in the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituency, earning him the distinction of being elected in both houses of State Legislature and both houses of National Parliament respectively.

Personal and professional life

Bhagat Singh Koshyari was born on 17 June 1942 to Gopal Singh Koshyari and Motima Devi at Palanadhura Chetabgarh in

Bageshwar district Bageshwar is a district of Uttarakhand state in northern India. The town of Bageshwar is the district headquarters. Prior to its establishment as a district in 1997 it was part of Almora district. Bageshwar district is in Kumaon, and is bounded ...

of then United Provinces in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(present

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

). Koshyari holds a master's degree in English and studied at Almora College, Almora (then affiliated with

Agra University Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, formerly Agra University, is an Autonomous University located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university is named after Bhimrao Ambedkar, Indian scholar, social reformer, and the architect of the Indian Cons ...

, now S.S.J. Campus Almora of

Kumaon University Kumaun University is a state university headquartered in Nainital, Uttarakhand, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest ...

). During this period, Koshyari was also a general secretary of the students' union of Almora College, Almora, between 1961 and 1962. He has also represented the Executive Council of Kumaon University, from 1979 to 1982, 1982 to 1985 and 1988 to 1991. He has had a successful career as a teacher and journalist. He had worked as a lecturer at Raja Inter College, Raja Ka Rampur, Etah district, Uttar Pradesh for few years. Koshyari is a founder and managing editor of ''Parvat Piyush'', a weekly published from

Pithoragarh Pithoragarh ( Kumaoni: ''Pithor'garh'') is a Himalayan city with a Municipal Board in Pithoragarh district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the fourth largest city of Kumaon and the largest in Kumaon hills. It is an education hub of t ...

, Uttarakhand since 1975. He has also published two books, ''Uttaranchal Pradesh Kyun?'' and ''Uttaranchal Sangharsh Evam Samadhan''.

Political career

He joined 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 ...

(RSS). He took part in the struggle against the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

and was imprisoned he was detained in

Almora Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of th ...

and

Fatehgarh Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the south bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from ...

Central Jail under the

Maintenance of Internal Security Act The Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was a controversial law passed by the Indian parliament in 1971 giving the administration of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Indian law enforcement agencies very broad powers – indefinite p ...

(MISA), from 3 July 1975 to 23 March 1977. In May 1997 he became a member of

, upper house of legislature of Uttar Pradesh. In 2000, he was appointed minister of Energy, Irrigation, Law, and Legislative Affairs of the newly created state of Uttaranchal. In 2001 he replaced

Nityanand Swami Nityanand Swami may refer to: *Nityanand Swami (Paramhansa) (1754–1850), a Paramhansa saint of the Swaminarayan Sampraday *Nityanand Swami (politician) (1927–2012), a politician and 1st Chief Minister of Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) {{hndis ...

as the chief minister of Uttarakhand. He has also served as the President of the BJP of his state. As a result of his party's defeat in the 2002 Assembly elections, he resigned in March 2002 as the chief minister. However, he was elected from Kapkot assembly constituency, and became the leader of the opposition of the

, till 2007. In the 2007 Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, he was elected again from Kapkot assembly constituency. However, despite the BJP's victory, Koshyari was deprived of the Chief Minister's post by his chief rival,

Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri (Retd.), AVSM, (born 1 October 1934) is an Indian politician. He was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2007 to 2009 and 2011 to 2012. He was a Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha representing the ...

. Media reports have cited that the BJP's central leadership was biased for

, despite Koshyari supported by RSS and majority of the elected MLAs. In November 2008 he was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand and remained a member till his election to the Lok Sabha in 2014. He has been appointed a national vice-president of BJP and also BJP chief in Uttarakhand . In the 2014 Indian general election, he was elected to the

from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Lok Sabha constituency.

Social activities

He founded various schools in Uttarakhand (Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Pithoragarh, Vivekanand Vidya Mandir Inter College, Pithoragarh; and Saraswati Vihar Higher Secondary School,

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

). Even after years in politics, he remains steadfast in his dedication to education. He is currently serving as the Governor of Maharashtra and is the (ex-officio) Chancellor of 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 ...

. Since 2019 (during his tenure as the Governor), there have been several crucial developments in the state's higher education atmosphere. These range from the introduction of the NEP 2020, and the setting up of many state cluster universities - Dr. Homi Bhabha State University & HSNC University, Mumbai of which he is the (ex-officio) chancellor.

Controversies

While Koshyari served as the governor, he sparked a row in a speech by saying, "There will be no money left, and

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

will cease to exist as the

financial capital Financial capital (also simply known as capital or equity in finance, accounting and economics) is any economic resource measured in terms of money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or to provi ...

of India, if

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

Marwaris The Marwari or Marwadi (Hindi: मारवाड़ी, Urdu: مارواڑی) are an Indian ethnic group that originate from the Rajasthan region of India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani languages ...

and

Gujaratis The Gujarati people or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. While G ...

are removed from these areas of Maharashtra". This statement received large backlash from the opposition parties; even the ruling

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

distanced itself from the situation. Koshyari later apologised for hurting the sentiments of Marathi people. Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray lashed out to the Governor for his insensitive and senile remarks terming it an insult to marathi pride. In November 2022, while giving a speech to students of a university, attended by NCP leader

Sharad Pawar Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: �əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...

and Union Minister

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways cu ...

,Governor Koshyari called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj an olden days idol, sparking a row of discontent over whole Maharashtra.

References

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External links