Giriraj Singh


Giriraj Singh is an Indian politician and the Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the 23rd Ministry of the Republic of India. He is the Member of Parliament from the Begusarai parliamentary constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha, and formerly served as Minister of Cooperative, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Resource Development in the Government of Bihar.

Personal life

Giriraj Singh was born in Barahiya town in Lakhisarai district of Bihar to Ramavtar Singh and Tara Devi. He graduated from Magadh University in 1971. He is married to Uma Sinha and has a daughter.

Political career

Singh served in the government of Bihar as co-operative minister from 2005 to 2010 and as Animal Husbandry minister from 2010 to 2013. He has been a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi from the beginning. He publicly supported Modi for Prime Minister for a long time. He was among the eleven BJP ministers who were dismissed by Nitish Kumar as a result of breaking the JDU-BJP alliance. He is a member of Bihar State Bharatiya Janata Party's 16-member state election committee and presently a State Minister of the "Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises ", MP from Nawada Constituency.
In May 2019, he became the Cabinet minister of the newly formed Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries after defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar in the 2019 Indian general election.

Controversies

In April 2016, he stirred up a controversy with his remark stating that the population should be controlled by ensuring that people of all religions have the same number of children in their families. In October 2016, he was embroiled in a controversy when he urged Hindus to produce more children. Again on 4 November 2016, Giriraj Singh stressed that the Hindus in India need to increase their population.
In January, 2020, he raised controversy by remarking that Indians eating beef outside the country was "a matter of concern". He also suggested imposing Hindu religious texts on school children.
On 12 February 2020, NDTV reported that Giriraj Singh said sites like Deoband in UP and Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, where protests have been on for two months against the Citizenship Act, especially by Muslim women, are breeding grounds for suicide bombers.
On 23 February 2020, he made yet another controversial remark by saying "India's founding fathers made a mistake by not ensuring all Muslims were sent to Pakistan and that all Hindus were brought to India".

Positions held