Tirath Singh Rawat (born 9 April 1964) is an Indian politician, a sitting Member of Parliament and former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha from the Garhwal constituency in the 2019 Indian general election as member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was the party chief of Bharatiya Janata Party Uttarakhand from 9 February 2013 to 31 December 2015 and former member of Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly from Chaubattakhal constituency from 2012 to 2017. He was also the first Education Minister of Uttarakhand.

Early life and education

Tirath Singh Rawat was born to a Rajput family in 1964 in the Pauri Garhwal district, India. His father was Kalam Singh Rawat and his mother Gaura Devi. He holds a Master's degree in sociology and a diploma in journalism.

Career

Rawat entered active student politics and became the organizational secretary of ABVP Uttarakhand unit and later national secretary of ABVP. He was also the student union president at Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in 1992. Subsequently, he became the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He worked for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a key worker, known as a pracharak, from 1983 to 1988.

He was the state vice president of Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

In 1997, he was elected as a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council and was elected as legislature leader of BJP in the legislative council of Uttar Pradesh.

He was the first education minister of the newly formed state Uttarakhand.

After this, he was elected as state general secretary of Uttarakhand in 2007 and after that state chief electoral officer and state membership chief.

In 2012, he was elected as legislative assembly member (MLA) and in 2013 he became Uttarakhand BJP supremo.

As Uttarakhand BJP president, he won four of six BJP mayoral posts in municipal corporation elections. He was elected as MP from Garhwal Lok Sabha constituency on 23 May 2019. He defeated his nearest rival Manish Khanduri by more than 3.50 lakh votes.

He took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand on 10 March 2021. At the time, Rawat was a member of the Lok Sabha representing Pauri Garhwal, but not a member of the Uttarakhand state assembly. Under the constitution, to remain as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, he needed to be elected to the state assembly within six months of being appointed Chief Minister (i.e. by 10 September 2021). Rawat did not contest the by-election for the Salt Assembly constituency seat in April 2021, in part because Rawat had tested positive for COVID-19 on 22 March 2021. There were two subsequent vacancies in the state assembly, but these occurred less than a year before the term of the assembly was due to end on 22 March 2022, and by-elections are not meant to be held in the last year of the assembly's term of office. Since Rawat could not get elected to the state assembly within the deadline, he and his cabinet colleagues resigned on 2 July 2021.

Views on women's clothing

In March 2021, Tirath Singh Rawat created controversy by saying that he was shocked to see a woman running an NGO in ripped jeans, and was concerned about the example she was setting for society. Priyanka Gandhi criticized Rawat on his remarks and also posted photos of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in white shirts and khaki shorts (RSS uniform).

Rawat later apologized for his controversial remarks and added he has no problem with jeans. But he maintained his objections to ripped jeans, claiming wearing "torn" ones is "not right."

Colonisation of India

Shortly after taking office as Chief Minister, Rawat said that India was handling the COVID-19 pandemic better than the United States, which had enslaved India for two hundred years. It sparked outrage as it was the British Empire that had colonised India, and not the United States.

COVID-19 pandemic

Rawat took heavy criticism for his decision to pursue the Haridwar Kumbh Mela in Haridwar without any restrictions related to COVID-19. Rawat disputed the effects of COVID-19, saying that "Maa Ganga's blessings" would prevent ill effects. The 2021 Kumbh Mela gravely exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and more than a thousand devotees tested positive for COVID-19 at the event. He also drew a distinction of the Kumbh Mela gathering and Tablighi gathering in Delhi during the preceding year, saying the latter was 'all inside a building' while Kumbh Mela is 'out in the open'. The Uttarakhand High Court criticized his decision to proceed with the Kumbh Mela under this circumstance. The Chota Char Dham Yatra, a tour of four holy sites in Uttarakhand, was suspended on April 30 due to the rise in cases of COVID-19.

Controversies

•  In March 2021, a few days after taking charge as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh made a controversial remark against the practice of women wearing "ripped jeans." He made the alleged misogynist comment in his speech at a workshop organised by the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Dehradun. Recalling an anecdote, Tirath stated that he was stunned upon seeing a woman, who runs an NGO, wearing a pair of ripped jeans and was worried about the precedent she was setting for society. Later, he issued an apology saying that he is apologetic if his statement hurt someone. However, he stood by his statement and said that wearing ripped jeans is ethically wrong.
• A few days after sparking controversy with his statements on women wearing ripped jeans, Tirath Singh triggered another controversy by saying that people should have given birth to more children if they wanted extra ration. He said,
  "Those having 10 children got 50 kg while those with 20 got one quintal. People with two children got 10 kg. People built stores and found buyers. Who is to blame for this? Now you are jealous of it. When there was time, you produced only two children. Why didn't you produce 20" During the speech, he also misquoted a major historical fact by confusing Britain with America. He said,
  "As opposed to other countries, India is doing better in handling the pandemic. On the other hand, America, who enslaved us for 200 years and ruled the whole world, is struggling to control the virus" 
• In March 2021, at a function organized by Hans Foundation, Rawat said, "The way people started considering Lord Ram and Krishna as gods in Dvapara and Treta yugas because of their works, in the same way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be considered as Lord Ram and Krishna in times to come." Leaders from the opposition party of Congress claimed this is sycophancy and criticised him for his remarks.