Jagdish Mukhi

Jagdish Mukhi is the Governor of Assam and a member of BJP and RSS. . Past positions have included Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Minister of Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation and Higher Education in the Delhi government.

Mukhi was born on 1 December 1942 in Dajal, Dera Ghazi Khan, to a Saraiki Hindu family. At age 4, during the partition of India, the family moved to Sohna.

Mukhi gained a B.Com from Raj Rishi College in Alwar, Rajasthan in 1965, followed by a M. Com from the university of Delhi in 1967. Until entering politics he was a professor at Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Delhi University, but before that he was an IPS officer and resigned after training. He was awarded a PHD in Finance from Kurukshetra University in October 1995.

He married Prem Grover in 1970, who as Prem Mukhi is actively involved in social development works for women empowerment under the banner of Mahila Jagriti Sangh. He is blessed with a son Atul (BE, MBA) and a daughter Latika.

Mukhi attended an RSS training camp while at school in Panipat in 1958, became the secretary (Karyawaha) of Alwar District RSS in 1964, and campaigned against the Emergency with the Delhi RSS in 1975. Having moved to Janakpuri, Delhi in 1973, he became the General Secretary of the Janakpuri branch of the nascent Janata Party in September 1977.

His first election success was in a 1980 by-election for the advisory Delhi Metropolitan Council.

He held the role of Minister of Higher Education, when he launched Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in the record time of 8 months.

He was awarded as best planning minister of the nation by the then Union planning minister Pranab Mukherjee. Two times he was awarded with best MLA award in Delhi Vidhan Sabha. He represented Janak Puri constituency continuously from 1980 and has won seven continuous Vidhan Sabha elections from the same constituency, until losing the 2014 election by 25000 votes to AAP leader Mr. Rajesh Rishi. He has worked at all levels in the BJP & given the best performance as President, BJP Mandal Janak Puri; General Secretary, BJP West District; President, BJP West District; General Secretary, BJP Delhi; Prabhari, BJP affairs Jammu & Kashmir; Prabhari BJP affairs Haryana.

His performance was best appreciated in Loksabha & Vidhan sabha elections of Haryana where BJP has got results to the best ever performance and first time in Haryana BJP chief minister without any support has taken the oath.

He became Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in August 2016, then Governor of Assam in September 2017.

Controversies

In April 2004, Congress candidate from South Delhi (Lok Sabha constituency) RK Anand wrote to the Election Commission complaining that BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi had allegedly made "defamatory and scurrilous" remarks against him at a press conference which were in violation of the model code of conduct. Anand criticised Mukhi for making personal attacks, calling him a "habitual defector" and a "resident of Jharkhand", on him.

In March 2008, RSS workers clashed with CPIM comrades at the party office when the three-day Central Committee meeting was going on. CPM named Jagdish Mukhi and Delhi's Mayor Aarti Mehra for being involved in the attack. The police confirmed the RSS's involvement in the incident.

Prof Mukhi threw up an outrageous surprise while declaring his assets in April 2009. In the affidavit, Mukhi quoted the value of 1.1 kg gold at Rs. 175 per 10 grams, 100 times lower than actual. Similarly, Mukhi also claimed that his DDA MIG flat in Janakpuri’s C-4 C block (a decent 2-bedroom apartment) is worth Rs. 21,500 — the original purchasing price three decades ago.