Journey of ‘quiet’ son of a railway fitter to CM office

DEHRADUN

: As a child, the sixth and youngest son of a fitter man with the

railways

,

Tirath Singh Rawat

was a mediocre student in

school

who maintained a low profile and was more comfortable away from the spotlight. In fact, his family worried if he would do anything “worthwhile” in life. But his virtue, they recalled, was his quiet patience.


“Every time we took him to the market, he wouldn’t buy anything for himself. Other kids would rush to pick up things they liked. We always appreciated that calm contentment,” said Tapeshwari Devi, Rawat’s eldest sister-in-law, who saw him growing up in his formative years. “He got that from his father Kalam Singh.” Kalam Singh was a fitter man with the railways, checking the safety fittings of train wagons. His mother Gaura Devi was a homemaker. “He had been active in politics from a very early age. He joined RSS when he was in Class XI. We were worried he would not be able to do anything in life,” the CM’s eldest brother Jaswant Singh Rawat, 70, told TOI.

After school too, the family was worried. “He proved us wrong with his success in politics,” he added. “When news of his being chosen as the CM reached our native Siron village in Pauri, it broke into celebration.” Back home in Dehradun, his wife Rashmi was also a little unprepared. “I always knew the party had faith in his potential and that he will, one day, be given some key responsibility,” Rashmi, an associate professor in psychology at DAV College in Dehradun, said. The couple has a daughter, Lokansha.

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