Manohar Parrikar

Manohar Parrikar

Manohar Parrikar gestures with his hand over his heart as he welcomes Ash Carter to a meeting on 3 June 2015
Minister of Defence
Assumed office
9 November 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Preceded by Arun Jaitley
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)[1]
Assumed office
26 November 2014
Constituency Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister of Goa
In office
9 March 2012 – 8 November 2014
Governor K Sankaranarayanan
Bharat Vir Wanchoo
Margaret Alva
Om Prakash Kohli
Mridula Sinha
Preceded by Digambar Kamat
Succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar
In office
24 October 2000 – 2 February 2005
Governor Mohammed Fazal
Kidar Nath Sahani
Mohammed Fazal
S C Jamir
Preceded by Francisco Sardinha
Succeeded by Pratapsingh Rane
Personal details
Born Manohar Gopalakrishna Prabhu Parrikar
(1955-12-13) 13 December 1955
Mapuçá, Goa
Political party Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s) Medha Parrikar
Children 2
Alma mater Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Religion Hinduism

Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (born 13 December 1955) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party who is the current Defence Minister of India. Before being inducted into the Council of Ministers of the Union Government on 9 November 2014, he served as the Chief Minister of Goa, first from 2000 to 2005 and later from March 2012 to November 2014.[2][3][4] He is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.[5]

Personal life

Manohar Parrikar was born in Mapusa, Goa.[6] He studied at Loyola High School, Margao. He completed his secondary education in Marathi and went on to graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay)[6] in 1978. He is the first IIT graduate to serve as Chief Minister of an Indian state. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2001 by IIT Bombay.[4]

His wife Medha Parrikar died of cancer in 2001. He has two sons.[7][8]

Political career

Parrikar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a young age and became a mukhya shikshak (chief instructor) in the final years of his schooling. After graduating from IIT, he resumed RSS work in Mapusa while maintaining a private business, and became a sanghchalak (local director) at the age of 26. He was active in the RSS's North Goa unit, becoming a key organiser of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was seconded by RSS to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the objective of fighting the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.[9] Parrikar has often expressed considerable pride of his RSS background, saying that he learnt "discipline, progressiveness, gender equality, equality of all before the law, nationalism and social responsibility from the RSS".[10] He is sometimes described as having been a pracharak of the RSS.[11]

As a member of the BJP, Parrikar was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa in 1994. He was leader of the opposition from June to November 1999. He successfully contested the election to become Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure would last only till 27 February 2002. In 2001, the Parrikar government turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the Sangh Parivar, inviting criticism from certain educationists.[12][13] On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and would serve another term as Chief Minister.

Manohar Parrikar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2015 Republic Day Parade, New Delhi.

On 29 January 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the Assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House. Pratapsinh Rane of the Indian National Congress would subsequently replace Parrikar as Chief Minister. In 2007, the Parrikar-led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Indian National Congress led by Digambar Kamat. His party became victorious once again after the BJP and their party-allies won twenty-four seats against the Indian National Congress' nine in the Goa Assembly Elections held in March 2012. The BJP showed an impressive performance in the 2014 General Elections, winning both Lok Sabha seats in Goa. The Archbishop is said to have played a crucial role in bringing the BJP to power in the March 2012 assembly election, at a time when the minority community was against the saffron party. The BJP, under Parrikar, which was known as an ‘anti-minority’ party before the assembly election, slowly started gaining confidence of this section, which constitutes almost 26.7 percent of the State population.[14]

Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November of 2014, by his own admission. The relationship between the Archbishop and by then former Chief minister Parrikar was such that Parrikar had sought the blessings of Goa's Archbishop Filipe Neri[15] before leaving to take up his assignment as Defence Minister, in New Delhi. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi had high regard for Parrikar's abilities and persuaded him to join the Central Government.[14] He was succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar as Goa's CM. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was a player in the state politics.

Parrikar was sworn-in as Cabinet Minister for Defence in November of 2014 during what would be the first expansion of Modi's ministerial council, and his entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party's candidate for the elected Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.

Controversies

Italy, Germany and Austria garbage tour junket

Months before Goa’s lawmakers booked themselves on a taxpayer-funded junket to the World Cup in Brazil to study traffic management, another batch of elected representatives had gone to Venice, among other European cities, to study garbage systems.

The 20-person delegation went to Italy, Germany and Austria in November to observe garbage management practices. Led by deputy chief minister Francisco D’Souza, the team included MLAs, panchayat members and as well as members of municipal councils. It cost the state exchequer about Rs 1 crore.[16]

FIFA World Cup junket

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar approved a Rs 89-lakh junket for six of his MLAs, including three ministers, to attend the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. [17]

Hindutva education

In 2001, Parrikar government turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the Sangh Parivar, inviting criticism from certain educationists.[18][19]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "List of Sitting Members of Rajya Sabha (Term Wise)".
  2. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar takes oath as Goa chief minister". 9 March 2012. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Government Printing Press & Stationery, Govt of Goa, India - Shri Manohar Parrikar - Honourable Chief Minister Archived 1 January 1970 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 Shri. Manohar Parrikar Profile|Government of Goa: Official Portal
  5. ↑ "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is now a Rajya Sabha MP from UP : North, News". India Today. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Shri. Manohar Parrikar - M.L.A - Goa Legislative Assembly".
  7. ↑ "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar remembers wife on his 60th birthday". dna. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar: The Gentleman Politician". Sify. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "All you need to know about Manohar Parrikar". Economic Times. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  10. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar: The real aam admi". Niti Central. 22 Jan 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  11. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar agrees to shift to Delhi, Modi meets President". India Today. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  12. ↑ Visweswaran, Kamala; et al. (2009), "The Hindutva view of history: Rewriting textbooks in India and the United States" (PDF), Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: 101–112
  13. ↑ Frederick Noronha (30 June 2001), "Questionable Initiatives in Education", Economic and Political Weekly 36 (26): 2322–2325, JSTOR 4410796
  14. 1 2 "Herald: Church feels alienated and sidelined by Parsekar". oHeraldo.
  15. ↑ Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman
  16. ↑ http://scroll.in/article/667156/Before-storm-over-Brazil-plans,-Goa-MLAs-had-gone-to-Venice-to-study-garbage-management
  17. ↑ http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-goa-cm-manohar-parrikar-sends-mlas-on-fifa-world-cup-junket-ignores-football-legends-1995055
  18. ↑ Visweswaran, Kamala; et al. (2009), "The Hindutva view of history: Rewriting textbooks in India and the United States" (PDF), Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: 101–112
  19. ↑ Frederick Noronha (30 June 2001), "Questionable Initiatives in Education", Economic and Political Weekly 36 (26): 2322–2325, JSTOR 4410796
  20. ↑ "CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012". CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012. IBN live. December 12, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Search". India News Analysis Opinions on Niti Central.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manohar Parrikar.
Political offices
Preceded by
Francisco Sardinha		 Chief Minister of Goa
2000–2005 		Succeeded by
Pratapsingh Rane
Preceded by
Digambar Kamat		 Chief Minister of Goa
2012–2014 		Succeeded by
Laxmikant Parsekar
Preceded by
Arun Jaitley		 Minister of Defence
2014–present 		Incumbent
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