Ram Naik


Ram Naik is a veteran Indian politician from the BJP, was the 19th Governor of Uttar Pradesh

Political career

Ram Naik was a member of the 13th Lok Sabha and was
Minister of Oil and Natural Gas in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet.
He was instrumental in introducing Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme.
He was the BJP candidate for elections to the 14th Lok Sabha representing Mumbai North, but lost to famous Bollywood actor Govinda, an INC candidate from Virar.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteer since childhood, he holds a law degree. He started his political career with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1964 and was involved in organizing a group of rail commuters in Mumbai. He represented Borivali in the state assembly in 1978 and was re-elected twice, before becoming Minister of State for Railways in 1998, when he was influential in forming the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation.
In 2004 he published a statement in which he demanded apology from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chairwoman Sonia Gandhi for removal of quotes from statues dedicated to the Indian revolutionaries, such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Madan Lal Dhingra, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, and Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Ram Naik announced in September 2013 that he will not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha Polls. On 14 July 2014 he was named as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.
Within a few months of his being appointed as governor, he stated that "The Ram Temple should be built as soon as possible, this is what the people of this country want and their wishes should be fulfilled." The theme was immediately backed up by Hindutva groups.
Subsequently, his Hindutva remarks seems to have been reined in by Narendra Modi.
He was born in Atpadi, in Sangli district of Maharashtra state. He married Kunda Naik on 17 May 1960 and has two daughters.

Positions held