Jai Ram Thakur, a politician who started as a student activist, has become the new chief minister of Himachal Pradesh. Jairam’s rise to the post of chief minister was not certain and even he asserts that it was the serendipity of events which worked in his favour. May be it was a fortune, but it favoured Thakur only after he braved all personal and professional struggles of life. Thakur, a new age politician, was born in the remote village of Tandi, in the Seraj area of Mandi district. He completed his primary education in the village school and later got shifted to Baghshiar, another village, to attend his middle school. He then went to a third village for matriculation.
Thakur, who has two brothers and two sisters, realised that his father, a mason, would not be able to afford his college education. He dropped two years after school and worked to earn some money to finance his college expenses. He later did his masters from Punjab University. “My childhood was like that any other village boy,” Thakur said while speaking to The Indian Express. Thakur joined ABVP in his college days and later went to Jammu after MA to work as a whole-time RSS worker. He stayed for three years. Thakur later joined the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
Himachal Chief Minister, now a five-time MLA, had opened his Assembly Elections account with a defeat. In 1993, he contested from Chachiot (now Seraj) against Congress’ leader Moti Ram Thakur and lost by 1,800 votes. However, he did not give up his political ambitions and contested again in 1998. Since then, a string of election wins followed Thakur.
Thakur also served as state party president from 2007 to 2009. His electoral performance also gave him an opportunity to serve as Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in Prem Singh Dhumal-led Himachal Pradesh government. His term as president is considered as non-controversial and acceptable.
The party also chose him as the candidate for Lok Sabha by-election from Mandi against Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh in 2013. However, he lost the election. Fearing another Lok Sabha defeat, Thakur refused to contest elections in 2014. “Now I realise that had I contested the seat, I would have been elected to Parliament and this opportunity to become Chief Minister probably would not have come to me. It is sheer destiny. Nothing else,” he said. Thakur enjoys the reputation of a non controversial leader who is expectable to all.