Murli Manohar Joshi | |
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Minister of Human Resource Development | |
In office 19 May 1998 – 22 May 2004 |
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Succeeded by | Arjun Singh |
Constituency | Rajya Sabha |
Minister of Science and Technology | |
In office 19 May1999 – 22 May 2005 |
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Succeeded by | Kapil Sibal |
MP | |
Assumed office 2014 |
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Preceded by | Sriprakash Jaiswal |
Constituency | Kanpur |
MP | |
In office 2009-2014 |
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Preceded by | Dr. Rajesh Kumar Mishra |
Succeeded by | Narendra Damodardas Modi |
Constituency | Varanasi |
MP | |
In office 1996-2004 |
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Preceded by | Saroj Dubey |
Succeeded by | Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh |
Constituency | Allahabad |
MP | |
In office 1977–1980 |
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Preceded by | Narendra Singh Bisht |
Succeeded by | Harish Rawat |
Constituency | Almora |
Personal details | |
Born |
Nainital, United Provinces, British India |
5 January 1934
Nationality | Indian |
Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
Spouse(s) | Tarla Joshi |
Alma mater | Allahabad University |
Religion | Hinduism |
Signature |
Murli Manohar Joshi (born 1934) is an Indian politician, a leading member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of which he was the President between 1991 and 1993, and the current Member of Parliament for Kanpur. He later became the Union Human Resources Development minister in the National Democratic Alliance government. He is best known for his views on Hindu socio-politics and for his affiliation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), of which he had been a pracharak.
Joshi was born on 5 January 1934, hailing from the Kumaon Hills region of Nainital northern India which today form a part of the state of Uttarakhand. Joshi had his early education in Chandpur, District Bijnore and Almora (currently part of Uttarakhand). He completed his B.Sc. from Meerut College and M.Sc. from Allahabad University. Here one of his teachers was Professor Rajendra Singh, who later became the RSS Sarsanghchalak. He did his doctorate from Allahabad University. The subject of his doctoral thesis was spectroscopy. He published a research paper in Physics in Hindi, which was a first of its kind. After completing his PhD, Joshi started teaching Physics at Allahabad University.
Joshi came in contact with the RSS in Delhi at a young age and took part in the Cow Protection Movement in 1953–54, in the Kumbh Kisan Andolan of UP in 1955, demanding halving of land revenue assessment. During the Emergency period (1975–1977) in India, Joshi was in jail from 26 June 1975 until the Lok Sabha elections in 1977. He was elected Member of Parliament from Almora. When the Janata Party (which then included his party) came to power forming the first non-Congress government in Indian history, Joshi was elected General Secretary of the Janata Parliamentary Party. After the fall of the government, his party came out of Janata Party in 1980, and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP. Joshi first looked after the Central Office as a General Secretary and later became Party Treasurer. As General Secretary of BJP, he was directly in charge of Bihar, Bengal and North-Eastern States. Later, when BJP formed a government in India under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Joshi served as the Human Resource Development Minister in the cabinet.