Sushil Kumar Sambhajirao Shinde (English: Sushil Kumar Sambhajirao Shinde, born: 4 September 1941) is a politician from Maharashtra. He was the Home Minister in the Manmohan Singh government and a member of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. Apart from this, he is also the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. He is the first Dalit leader to achieve this post and before this Pranab Mukherjee was in this post.
Birth and Education
Shinde was born on 4 September 1941 in Solapur, Maharashtra. He received an honours degree in Arts from Dayanand College, Solapur and later obtained a law degree from Shivaji University. Shinde started his career as a Nazir in the Solapur Sessions Court but later became a sub-inspector in the state police. Shinde is the first Dalit leader to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Entry into politics
On the insistence of Sharad Pawar, he left his police job and joined politics. He contested the assembly by-election for the first time from Karmala in Solapur district and won. The then Chief Minister late VP Naik made him a junior minister in his government. Later he again joined Congress and became the Finance Minister in the new Vasantrao Patil cabinet. From 1978 to 1990, he kept winning elections for the state assembly. In July 1992, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state. In 2002, he contested the election for the post of Vice President against NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, but he lost. Later he was made the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, but resigned from this post after a year. In 2006, he was again elected to the Rajya Sabha and after Pranab Mukherjee became the President, he was made the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.
Tenure
Sushil Kumar Shinde was the Energy Minister from 2006 to 2012. During his tenure, when the power grid of northern India failed, people criticized him. His answer to this was that grids fail in countries like America and Brazil too. He has been known for his controversial comments before and after this too. In Pune, he had said that like the Bofors scam, people will forget the Coalgate scam too. Shinde was made the Home Minister of India in the year 2012.
married life
He is married to Ujjwala Shinde. Sushil Kumar Shinde has three daughters. One of his daughters Praniti Shinde is an MLA from Solapur. India has got a new Home Minister in the form of Sushil Kumar Shinde, Shinde, who once worked as a CID sub-inspector in Maharashtra, is now responsible for law and order across the country.
As Home Minister
Shinde says that he had never imagined that one day he would become the Home Minister of the country. This has been possible because of democracy. For this, he thanks Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, he used to be the Energy Minister and on Tuesday, when he was promoted and made the Home Minister, more than half of the country was immersed in darkness. Due to the failure of the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern power grids, hundreds of trains were stranded here and there and industrial production was at a standstill. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision has been heavily criticized in the media that on a day when he was to be held accountable for the failure of the power grid, he was promoted. With this promotion, Sushil Kumar Shinde is one of the most important and powerful ministers of the government. It is also a coincidence that Sharad Pawar, who brought him into politics in 1971 by making him resign from the post of Sub-Inspector, is a minister at the Center but his post of Agriculture Minister is not that powerful.
Shinde’s political journey
Shinde is considered a low-profile leader of the Congress. Born in a Dalit family in 1941 in Sholapur, Maharashtra, Shinde has an honours degree in Arts and a degree in Law. He practised law in the Sholapur court until 1965 and then joined the police. After working in the police for five years, he entered politics. He was elected a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly five times and held every position from Minister of State to Finance Minister and Chief Minister. He was also the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress once. In 1992, the party decided to send him to the Rajya Sabha. Here he got a chance to get close to Sonia Gandhi and due to this, in 1999 he got the opportunity to handle Sonia Gandhi’s campaign in Amethi.
In 1999 he was elected to the Lok Sabha then on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi he contested the Vice President election against NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in 2002 and lost. When the UPA government came to power at the Centre in 2004, he was made the Governor of Andhra Pradesh but within a year he left this post too. In 2006 he once again became a member of the Rajya Sabha and then Energy Minister. In the 2009 elections he was made Energy Minister for the second time and on 31 July 2012 he was made Home Minister.
As Home Minister, he would face many challenges but his tenure as Power Minister would be remembered as an achievement-less one, ending at a time when the ministry was grappling with the biggest challenge in its history.
