Murli Manohar Joshi
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Murli Manohar Joshi was the Union Human Resources Development minister of India in the NDA government. Joshi is a leading member of the BJP.
He was born in Delhi on January 5 1934, hailing from the Kumaon Hills region of northern India which today form a part of the state of Uttaranchal. Mr. Joshi had his early education in Chandpur, District Bijnore and Almora (currently part of Uttaranchal). He completed his B.Sc. from Meerut College and M.Sc. from Allahabad University. Here one of his teachers was Professor Rajendra Singh, who later became RSS Sarsanghchalaks. He did his doctorate from Allahabad University. The subject of his doctoral thesis was Spectroscopy. He was the first scientist to submit his thesis in Hindi.
After completing his PhD, Dr. Joshi started teaching Physics at Allahabad University. He came in contact with the RSS in Delhi at a young age and took part in the Cow Protection Movement in 1953-54, in the Kumbh Kisan Andolan of UP in 1955, demanding halving of land revenue assessment. During the Emergency period (1975-1977) in India, Dr. Joshi was in jail from June 26, 1975 until the Lok Sabha elections in 1977. He was elected Member of Parliament from Almora. When the Janata Party (which then included his party) came to power forming the first non-Congress government in Indian history, Dr. Joshi was elected General Secretary of the Janata Parliamentary Party. After the fall of the government, his party came out of Janata Party in 1980, and formed the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP. Dr. Joshi first looked after the Central Office as a General Secretary and later became Party Treasurer. As General Secretary of BJP, he was directly in charge of Bihar, Bengal and North-Eastern States. Later, when BJP formed a government in India under the Prime-ministership of Atal Behari Vajpayee, Dr. Joshi would serve as the Human Resource Development Minister in the cabinet. Among other things, he slashed the fees at IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) by almost 80%. Critics felt that his policies regarding the IIMs, well-known for providing world-class management education comparable to Harvard or Sloan in India, were an unnecessary meddling in the affairs of the IIMs. The IIMs have always been quite independent despite being established by the Government of India. In fact, in one of his interviews to the media, Dr. Joshi had this to say about the IIMs:
"They are government institutions. They are created by government. I nominate the board. They are my creation. Creation of this government. So where is the question of autonomy?" This of course flies straight in the face of the constitution of the IIMs.
Hi successor, the Congress' Arjun Singh has recently created an even bigger ruckus by inititating a bid to provide 49.5% reservation at the IITs and IIMs.
One of Mr. Joshi's prime contribution to education as a minister was modifying school books to espouse national and cultural unity,and encourage nationalism.
Dr. Joshi has been deeply influenced by the life and work of Veer Savarkar, Shri Guruji and Deendayal Upadhyaya. He has made a special study of Integral Humanism and Pauranic characters.
In recent years the influence of Joshi, once considered the third most powerful man in the BJP after Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Kishan Advani, seems to have has fallen. In fact, Dr. Joshi was defeated from the seat he had held all along; namely Allahabad, in the Lok Sabha elections of May, 2004.
