West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was declared as the candidate for vice-president by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, on Saturday. The BJP’s national president, JP Nadda, made the announcement. The 71-year-old Dhankhar is known to have frequent run-ins with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress since he became governor in July 2019.
But there is more to him than that. Dhankhar was instrumental in getting OBC status for Jats in Rajasthan and loves to beat his own cappuccino desi-style. Described by Nadda as a ‘kisan putra’ (son of farmer), Dhankhar is a lawyer by profession. He forayed into politics in 1989 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan the same year and became a union minister in 1990. He has had a successful legal career, where he became the youngest president of the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association.
Dhankhar has been in public life for over three decades and his life’s story reflects social and economic struggle. Born into an agrarian household in a remote village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, Dhankhar worked tirelessly as a professional. He used to walk 4 to 5 km to a government school when he was in Class VI and has been a cricketer as well as a keen student of spirituality and meditation, according to various official accounts.
Dhankar was designated a senior advocate in 1990, the same year he became a union minister. He was also a member of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha from 1993 to 1998 representing Kishangarh constituency.
The lawyer-turned-politician was appointed West Bengal governor in July 2019 and has since shared a tumultuous relationship with the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state. The TMC leadership has often accused him of acting as an “agent of the BJP”, while the saffron party in the state looked upon him as an “upholder of constitutional norms”.
Dhankhar has raised his voice against issues ranging from post-poll violence in Bengal to delays in assent to bills passed in the House, besides interference in the functioning of the civilian bureaucracy and state-run universities.
The governor has often said he is “reluctant politician” and graduated with honours in physics from Maharaja’s College in Jaipur and an LLB degree from Jaipur University in 1978-79. Before that, he finished his schooling from Sainik School, Chittorgarh, on a full merit scholarship after his primary education from the government school at Kithana village in Jhunjhunu, where he was born in 1951. He is married to Sudesh Dhankhar and the couple has a daughter.
Dhankhar’s candidature was announced after a meeting of the BJP’s parliamentary board attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, as well as Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The NDA’s previous candidate, M Venkaiah Naidu, had won the elections comfortably in 2017. His term ends on August 10.
(With PTI inputs)
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