Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (born 3 October 1967; ) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 13th Minister of Culture and 11th Minister of Tourism since 2024. He is a member of parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representing Jodhpur in the Lok Sabha.

Early life and education Shekhawat was born in Jaisalmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan. His father, Shankar Singh Shekhawat, was a senior government officer in the water works department and travelled on frequent assignments across the state to several different schools. He received a Master of Arts and Master of philosophy from Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur. He was the second of five children and was the only son, his younger sister is now a leading executive at CitiBank.

Political career Shekhawat began his political career in student politics when in 1992 he was elected as president of the Student Union at JNVU University, gaining more votes than any other previous Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad supporter. He was also a member of the Rajasthan State Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party. His Quora profile has more than 83,749 followers and his answers on the social media platform have been viewed 8 million times. He also served as the Chairperson of the Fellowship Committee, member of the All India Council of Sports (AICS)

Union Minister On 3 September 2017 he was appointed Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He defeated Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan from Jodhpur by a margin of 2.74 lakh votes in 2019 Indian general elections. Shekhawat became the Minister of Jal Shakti on 31 May 2019.

Social works Before entering electoral politics, Shekhawat held many positions in many forums and organisations; he was the co-convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the economic wing of the Sangh Parivar and the General Secretary of Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, an organisation dedicated to strengthening national security by developing border towns and villages. As General Secretary, he was instrumental in building a second line of defence that consisted of civilians residing near the border area of Rajasthan. He was also instrumental in furthering the impact of civil defence by setting up 40 schools and four hostels along the India-Pakistan border.

In October 2024, he launched the first coal gallery at the National Science Centre in New Delhi, India.