Murli Manohar Joshi
Born 5 January 1934 · Uttarakhand
Serving as BJP President from 1991 to 1993 and shaping its political strategy.
🔔 Add birthday reminderMurli Manohar Joshi is an Indian politician. He is one of the founding members and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and served as its President from 1991 to 1993. In addition to his role in the BJP, he has been a lifelong member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organisation. Joshi is the former Member of Parliament from Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency.
✨ A detail that surprised us
Murli Manohar Joshi published one of the very first physics research papers in Hindi, breaking the convention of English-only scientific literature in India.
1. In 1966, Murli Manohar Joshi married Tarla Joshi in a traditional arranged marriage, marking the start of a lifelong partnership with two daughters, rooted in his Kumaon family heritage from Almora, Uttarakhand.
2. 🌟 In the early 1970s, Joshi was a physics professor at Allahabad University who published a research paper in Hindi on spectroscopy, pioneering scientific literature in an Indian language.
3. Joshi was imprisoned during the Emergency from June 26, 1975, until the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, after which he was elected MP from Almora as part of the first non-Congress government.
4. 🏛️ Between 1991 and 1993, Joshi served as BJP President and led the 1991 Ekta Yatra, a politically charged march aimed at asserting BJP’s national unity message.
5. As Union Human Resources & Development Minister under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Joshi controversially mandated that religious leaders vet content in NCERT textbooks, sparking debates on history education and academic freedom starting in 2000.
6. 🏅 In 2017, the Government of India awarded Joshi the Padma Vibhushan, recognizing his long political and academic career.
7. ❓ How did Murli Manohar Joshi’s dual identity as a physicist and Hindu nationalist shape India’s education policies and cultural narratives in the early 21st century?
Awards & Honours
- 🏅Padma Vibhushan
🔍 One thing most people don't know
Joshi was jailed during the 1975 Emergency from June 26 until the 1977 elections, an imprisonment that propelled his political career as he was elected MP from Almora immediately after release.
🖼️ Through the Years
📅 The Journey
🗝️ Discoveries
"We should unshackle our thinking in the domain of science and technology from the clutches of Western thought."
— Murli Manohar Joshi
🎥 Speeches & Recordings
Hindutva Ideology : Murli Manohar Joshi, L. K. Advani and Bal Thackeray
YouTube📖 Curated Sources
🌱 What changed because of them
Joshi’s tenure as HRD Minister redefined India’s educational content by introducing religious consultation in textbook creation, influencing the narratives taught about Indian history and culture. His leadership in the BJP during its formative years helped steer the party toward asserting Hindu nationalist themes in Indian politics. His academic background lent a unique voice advocating for decolonizing science and education in India.
💬 Social Buzz
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