Kalraj Mishra is a veteran Indian politician who is presently designated as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Minister in the Cabinet Ministry of Modi Government in 16th Lok Sabha. Being a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), previously he served as the President of Uttar Pradesh State Unit of BJP. He is also accredited for introducing 16 Private Member`s Bill in the Upper House which also includes the one for regulating the sale of acid and providing compulsory medical treatment to people in emergency cases. In 2014 general election Kalraj Mishra got elected as an MP from Deoria constituency.
Early Life of Kalraj Mishra
Kalraj Mishra was born in the year 1941 to a middle class Brahmin agriculturist family in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. He obtained his Masters Degree from Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi.
Political Career of Kalraj Mishra
Kalraj Mishra started his political career in 1963 as a pracharak of RSS in Gorakhpur, situated in Uttar Pradesh.
His work led to his association with the then Jan Sangh and in 1968 he got appointed as organising secretary, Bharatiya Jana Sangh at Azamgarh Centre. Being inspired from the JP Movement, he worked as a convenor of `Sampurna Kranti` a revolution initiated by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974 in eastern Uttar Pradesh. During Emergency, he was kept in Deoria jail as a political detainee. With his growing political graph, he also got the position of National President of the All India Janata Yuva Morcha, in 1978, a youth organisation of Janata Party.
After joining politics, Kalraj Mishra, held a number of party positions at state as well as national level. During the period of March 1997 to August 2000 he became a Cabinet Minister in Government of Uttar Pradesh, in charge of Public Works, Medical Education and Tourism. While holding the post he gained credit for formulating the Road Development Policy in Uttar Pradesh. Under the `Dindayal Link Road Scheme`, during this period, a number of link roads were built in several villages. He has also been elected to the Rajya Sabha thrice, in 1980, 1986 and 2001. He was also designated as the chief of the BJP`s UP unit along with being a member of the State Legislative Council. A campaign was led by Kalraj Mishra for making the state highways pothole free, which was continued later by the successive state governments. Being the minister of State Government, he also worked for the formation of Uttarakhand state. In the assembly elections of 2012, he got elected from the Lucknow east seat. He contested the 2014 general elections from Deoria, winning with a margin of 2.65 lakh votes.
