O Rajagopal

O. Rajagopal or Olanchery Rajagopal is a pivotal politician and representative of the Indian political party - Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). He was born in 1929 in Palakkad in the then Madras (currently Kerala). He went to the Kanakkannoor Elementary School to study. He went to Government Victoria College in Palakkad for higher studies. He studied to become a lawyer and started his practice in the District Court in 1956. He used to idolize the Indian politician Deendayal Upadhyaya and that influenced him to enter politics. He joined Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS) – a unit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and later became the State General Secretary of the party and then the President. When in 1975 emergency was declared across India, Rajagopal went to jail with V. Velankutty. After 1977, Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS) became a part of the Janata Party.

The Janata Party later fell out and gave birth to the Bhartiya Janata Party in 1980. The new Bhartiya Janata Party had O. Rajagopal as its President for the state of Kerala. He lost the Lok Sabha elections many times, once in 1989 (Manjeri), in 1991, 1999, and 2004 (from Thiruvananthapuram). He won a seat at the Legislative Assembly in Kerala in 2016. Over the years, he held various positions including Minister of Urban Development, Minister of Law, Defence Minister, Minister of Railway, and Minister of Parliamentary affairs. He was the founding member of the Bhartiya Janata Party. He was elected as the Member of Parliament twice in Rajya Sabha and also served on the Legislative Assembly Committee on Petitions & Committee of Public Work, Transport and Communications, Government of Kerala. He currently lives in Thiruvananthapuram with his wife and has two children.