The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced the name of its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh. The party announced the name of Union Minister of State George Kurien on Tuesday. This Rajya Sabha seat has become vacant after Jyotiraditya Scindia became a Lok Sabha member. Kurien is currently a member of the Modi cabinet. George, who hails from Ettumanur in Kerala, has been associated with the BJP since 1980. He has also been a lawyer in the Supreme Court. He was included in the NDA government on 9 June 2024.
Who is George Kurien?
Kurien has been an organisation man in the Kerala BJP unit for the past four decades after entering politics from the BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). He is serving as Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Minority Affairs in the third term of the Modi government. He was born in Nambiyakulam, Ettumanur, Kerala. He did his schooling from Kottayam. He has done graduation in law. Apart from this, he has a Master of Arts degree. He has been a lawyer in the Supreme Court.
How was your political journey?
George Kurien joined the BJP in 1980. That is, he has been a member of the party since its early days. He has held the responsibility of various posts. He has previously served as the Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. He is considered the Christian face of the BJP in Kerala. He also served as a member of the party’s National Executive. Kurien started working ideologically with the Sangh Parivar in the Christian belt of Kerala at a time when this community was not on the radar of the BJP. He was the first Malayali to serve as the Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities.
Contested elections in 2016
In the 2016 assembly elections, Kurien contested on a BJP ticket from Puthupally against the then Chief Minister and Congress candidate Oommen Chandy. In which he faced defeat. When BJP veteran O Rajagopal was a Union minister in the then Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004, Kurien served as his Special Officer. After this, he was made a core committee member and vice-president of the Kerala unit of the BJP. Kurien is a familiar face in TV debates and was often chosen to translate the speeches of Modi and Amit Shah during the party’s public events in Kerala.