Om Birla: Journey from Student Leader to Lok Sabha Speaker

By Himakshi Thakuriya

Om Birla, the speaker of 17th Lok Sabha, started his politicalcareer at the age of 17 when he was still in school. He holds a Master Degreein commerce from Kota and MDS University, Ajmer (Rajasthan).

He was the president of the students union in 1979.

Birla was a topmost leader of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Manchafrom 1991 to 2003, first as a state level president and later as thevice-president in the national level. He won his first assembly elections in2003, defeating Shanti Dhariwal in the Kota-South constituency. Again hedefended his seat in 2008 defeating Ram Kishan Verma of Congress. He became anMLA for the third time in 2013.

 The two time MP OmBirla won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and was again elected this yearfrom Rajasthan's Kota-Bundi seat defeating Congress's Ramnarayan Meena with amargin of over 2.5 lakh votes.

A three-time MLA representing Rajasthan, he also served as the parliamentary secretary to the state government from 2004 to 2008. Also being a member of the Standing Committee on Petitions and Consultative Committee for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, he worked for the welfare of differently abled people and women. During 2001 Gujrat earthquake, he led a relief team of over 100 volunteers which also included doctors to help the victims.