A Governor is a representative of the President to a state, nominated to work in sync with the people’s representatives or the elected government. In the Indian Political diaspora, the story of the public face-off between a Governor and Chief Minister of a state is very less heard of, but not until the nomination of Jagdeep Dhankar as the Governor of West Bengal.
Since assuming the office in 2019, Jagdeep Dhankar’s tenure has been riddled with controversies and frequent run-ins with the West Bengal government and against the party chief Mamata Banerjee in person. Be it the COVID mismanagement in the state or law and order, Dhankar has openly criticized the government. The instance went on such a note that Mamata had to block Dhankar on Twitter.
But who is Jagdeep Dhankar whose career started as a lawyer and is now set to take oath as India’s 14th Vice President?
Jagdeep Dhankar was born to Gokal Chand and Kesari Devi on May 18 1951 in a small village Kithana in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan in a Hindu Jat family. His initial schooling was done in a government school in his village Kithana itself, before admitting to Sainik School in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh.
After the completion of high school, Dhankar completed graduation with B.Sc in Physics before taking up a degree in law (LLB). Dhankhar enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan as an Advocate in 1979. He was designated as Senior Advocate by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan in 1990. Dhankhar married Sudesh Dhankhar in 1979, and they have a daughter, Kamna.
Since 1990, Dhankhar had been practicing primarily in the Supreme Court of India. He has appeared in various High Courts of India and had also been a President of Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jaipur. Dhankhar appeared in the Sutlej River water dispute in 2016, he argued on behalf of the state of Haryana at the Supreme Court.
Life in Politics:
Dhankar’s life in politics has been mild since the onset of his journey in 1989. The same year he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Jhunjhunu constituency under the sway of Jat leader Devi Lal from Rashtriya Lok Dal. The same term saw his elevation as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in Chandrashekar’s cabinet which was short-lived.
He was also elected as the MLA from the Kishangarh constituency and assumed office for a term from 1993-1998 which was his last affiliation in the office of public affairs before being nominated as the Governor of West Bengal in 2019.
Dhankar even made a switch to congress, but his inning there was short-lived, and finally shifted to the saffron party to settle up until now. Now and then during his tenure as the Governor, Dhankar made the headlines over his run-ins against the Bengali government.
On July 16th BJP national President JP Nadda addressed Dhankar as ‘Kisan Putra’ while announcing his candidacy as the NDA’s nominee for the upcoming Vice Presidential election scheduled on August 6th. In the strength of 780 MPs of the parliament, Dhankar’s elevation as the Vice President is inevitable with the BJP crossing the halfway mark along with 394 members, apart from the member of parties in support.
Dhankar is up against Margaret Alva the former Governor of his home state in the race for 14th Vice President of the country from UPA. With M. Venkaiah Naidu’s term in the office set to end on August 10th, the new VP will assume oath to the office the next day.