Upendra Kushwaha

Upendra Kumar Singh, commonly known as Upendra Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an Indian politician, and a former Member of Bihar Legislative Council and Bihar Legislative Assembly.

He has also served as Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the Government of India.

Kushwaha is a former Member of Parliament (MP) from the Karakat constituency in Rohtas district, Bihar, and a former member of the Rajya Sabha.

Upendra Kumar Singh was born to Muneshwar Singh and Muneshwari Devi on 6 February 1960 in Vaishali, Bihar, into a middle-class family.

He graduated from Patna Science College and then gained a Master of Arts (MA) in Political Science from BR Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.

Singh worked as a lecturer in the politics department of Samata College.

He added 'Kushwaha' to his name at the suggestion of Nitish Kumar: the surname is associated with caste identity and was supposed to improve his political standing.

Upendra Kushwaha entered politics in 1985; from then until 1988, he was State General Secretary of Yuva Lok Dal.

According to political analysts, Kushwaha enjoyed the support of voters of the Kushwaha caste in some districts of the Magadh and Shahabad divisions.

A majority of political workers accompanying Upendra Kushwaha originate from this region.

There are other districts where members of the Kushwaha caste who were not under his influence.

Kushwaha became National General-Secretary of Yuva Janata Dal from 1988 to 1993.

Kushwaha had worked with Karpoori Thakur and Jay Prakash Narayan and, like the other significant leaders of the 1990s such as Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, Kushwaha had socialist leanings.

His father Muneshwar Singh was acquainted with Karpoori Thakur; he sent Kushwaha to work with Thakur as political worker during his graduation days.

In his political life, Kushwaha considers former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Chhagan Bhujbal his political mentor.

Kushwaha has spoken of his cordial relations with Bhujbal and Sharad Pawar; he credits Pawar for helping him during a difficult period in his political life.

He also worked as General-Secretary for Samata Party from 1994 to 2002.

Kushwaha was Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly in 2000–2005 and was appointed Deputy Leader of Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Kushwaha started electoral politics in 2000, winning Jandaha constituency.

In March 2004, after the Lok Sabha election, Sushil Modi was elected to the Lok Sabha and the number of MLA of JD(U) exceeded those of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kushwaha, who was a one time MLA then, was made leader of the opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly.

He was dismissed from Janata Dal (United) in 2007.

He was the leader of Rashtriya Samata Party (RSP), his own party, which merged into Janata Dal (United) (JDU) in 2009.

Later, he formed Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which also merged with JD(U) in 2021.

On 20 February 2023, Kushwaha resigned from all positions in Janata Dal (United) and formed his own party called Rashtriya Lok Morcha due to his political problems with JD(U) and Nitish Kumar.

Kushwaha founded the Rashtriya Samata Party in February 2009 against the backdrop of alleged marginalisation of the Koeri caste and autocratic rule by the Bihar state government of Nitish Kumar.

The formation of the party was supported by Chhagan Bhujbal, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

In November 2009, the Rashtriya Samata Party was merged into Janata Dal (United) due to an improved relationship between Kushwaha and Kumar.

On 4 January 2013, Upendra Kushwaha, who at the time was a Rajya Sabha member, resigned from Janata Dal (United), saying the Nitish model had failed and that the law-and-order situation was becoming as bad as it had been seven years before.

He also said Nitish Kumar runs his government through autocratic means and that he had turned Janata Dal (United) into his "pocket organisation".

Kushwaha founded Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on 3 March 2013, and unveiled the party's name and flag at a rally at Gandhi Maidan.

He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which Narendra Modi led.

Kushwaha was elected to Karakat constituency and was appointed Minister of State in Human Resource Development.

In December 2018, Kushwaha resigned from the ministry and left the NDA, accusing Modi of not fulfilling his election promises regarding Bihar.

Kushwaha indicated his discontent with the NDA leadership due to diminishing importance as an ally.

Kushwaha's RLSP left the NDA alliance because it was not given appropriate seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The NDA leadership was sceptical of Kushwaha's influence on members of the Koeri caste and believed they could win elections in Bihar without his support.

According to political analysts of Bihar, Nitish Kumar holds considerable influence on the Koeri and Kurmi communities as a counter to which BJP had earlier selected Keshav Prasad Maurya as its Uttar Pradesh chief.

The BJP was sure Nitish, who was now a BJP ally and had gained a considerable reputation in Bihar due to his development model, would be popular.

Kushwaha then joined United Progressive Alliance (locally known as Mahagathbandhan), which included Rashtriya Janata Dal, Hindustani Awam Morcha, and Vikassheel Insaan Party.