Onkar Singh Lakhawat

Onkar Singh Lakhawat (born 1 April 1949) is an Indian lawyer, politician, writer, and a senior BJP leader from Rajasthan. He is serving as the Chairman of Rajasthan Heritage Conservation and Promotion Authority. He is a former Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (1997–2000). He was a Minister of State in the Second Raje ministry (2014–2019). He was also the vice-president of the BJP in Rajasthan.

Early life and family Onkar Singh Lakhawat was born 1 April 1949 in Tehla village in Nagaur, Rajasthan. He was married on 1 July 1964.

Education Onkar Singh Lakhawat has done graduation in Bachelor of Arts(B.A.) as well as obtained a degree in Bachelor of Legislative Law(LL.B.). When BJP was established in 1980, Onkar Singh Lakhawat was appointed as the first General Secretary of BJP in Ajmer. Onkar Singh attended the Delhi conference of BJP's formation. He was later appointed as State President of BJYM. and member of the Disciplinary Committee of BJP Rajasthan (2020). He also planned tours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and was a panelist in TV debates. In June 2020, BJP fielded him for the election of 3 vacant seats of Rajya Sabha.

Positions held

Monuments and panoramas Onkar Singh Lakhawat, in his long career, is known for spearheading the construction of monuments and panoramas dedicated to local heroes & folk deities of Rajasthan. Till now, he has presided over the building of more than 75 such panoramas and monuments.

Pritviraj Chauhan Memorial Park, Ajmer 1996 After his appointment as Ajmer UIT Chairman, Onkar Singh took the decision to build a monument dedicated to Prithviraj Chauhan.

Daher Sen Statue Lakhawat also built a panorama dedicated to Raja Daher Sen, an old ruler of Sindh.

Since 2018, Onkar Singh Lakhawat, as the chairman of Rajasthan Heritage Preservation and Promotion Authority, oversaw the construction of around 50 statues of various local heroes, freedom fighters, and folk deities of Rajasthan.

In May 2018, Vasundhara Raje, then the Chief Minister of Rajastha n, met with Onkar Singh Lakhawat, Chairman of Rajasthan Heritage Protection and Promotion Authority and directed to speed up the pace for the installation of panoramas of great saints and heroes of various communities of Rajasthan. Onkar Singh assured the chied minister regarding installation of panoramas. Onkar Singh said:"The government is committed to restoring the memory of all revered persons from the state. There have been many who have not got their justified space in History and our effort is to correct that."

Tejaji Panorama Tejaji is a folk deity worshipped widely in Rajasthan by communities like Jats, and the Rajasthan Heritage Protection and Promotion Authority has built a panorama of Tejaji at Kharnal Village in Nagour district. Kharnal is the birthplace of Tejaji and the devotees go there to offer prayers. Onkar Singh Lakhawat said: "There has been gross disregard of national heroes and it needs to be set right. Their contribution cannot be ignored by terming them feudal or royal."

Gorakh-dhandha word Lakhawat criticised the usage of the word 'Gorakh-Dhandha'(Gorakh-business) for indicating illegal activities. He explained that the it hurts the feelings of the devotees Hindu saint Gorakhnath, who is worshipped by millions of devotees all over India. In 2018, BJP in its election manifesto, promised to censor the usage of the word 'Gorakh-dhandha'.

Ram Mandir statement In October 2018, Onkar Singh Lakhawat made a statement replying to the comment on the Ram Mandir by the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor that it is offensive to the Hindus that hundreds of years of struggle to reclaim the Ram Temple land is trivialised as Tharoor termed that "Good Hindus" won't accept any temple built after levelling others' religious site. Lakhawat told reporters that the Congress Party members are making contradictory statements over Ram Mandir while "temple tourism" is being done by top Congress leaders.

CAA Bill During December 2019, Onkar Singh Lakhawat was vocal regarding anti-CAA protests by the opposition parties in India. He targeted Congress, saying that the Congress wanted to make a vote bank out of the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. He further remarked that even though Congress is protesting against Citizenship Amendment Bill, it hasn't yet clarified its stance regarding the citizenship of illegal foreign nationals living in India.

Authorship He is author of the following books on culture and history of Rajasthan:-