After a successful electoral debut in 2014, J&K’s BJP state president Ravinder Raina is aiming for a second win in the ongoing elections.
In 2015, Ravinder Rana made national headlines when he invoked ‘Mata Vaishno Devi’ while taking oath as a member of the J&K Legislative Assembly. The oath of the freshly-elected Nowshera MLA sparked objections from Opposition members, and Protem Speaker Mohmmad Shafi had to intervene, urging Raina to take his oath in the name of God instead.
Nine years and one Article 370 abrogation later, Raina, now the BJP's J&K state president, is aiming to repeat his electoral success from Nowshera.
Born in 1977 in Jammu's Nowshera, Ravinder Raina served in the Merchant Navy after qualifying the Combined Defence Services (CDS) exam. He graduated with a B.Sc. from Jammu University in 1999 and also holds a postgraduate degree in International Law of Human Rights. In 2010, Raina joined the BJP and eventually became the state president of the party’s youth wing. It is believed that Raina joined BJP on the advice of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
An RSS pracharak, Raina was elevated to the top role in the BJP's state unit over several seniors to bring some bite to the party's activities in the region. A provocateur known for his controversial statements, Raina was involved in a violent altercation in the Assembly in 2015 with Independent legislator Sheikh Rashid. He alleged that Rashid had hosted a "beef party" outside the MLA hostel in Srinagar, leading Raina and other BJP MLAs to physically assault him. Members of the opposition National Conference and several other MLAs rushed to Rashid’s aid.
Raina also made headlines for his remarks about the state’s new Governor, Satya Pal Malik, in 2018, referring to him as “hamara banda” (our man). The comment raised eyebrows, especially since Raina implied that the previous governor, NN Vohra, was replaced due to his unwillingness to accommodate BJP perspectives.
Union minister Rajnath Singh publicly rebuked Raina’s statements, emphasising that the governor’s role is a constitutional one, governed by established protocols.
Ravinder Raina, has also been a strong critic of Pakistan and the Hurriyat Conference and its leaders. He has opposed any government action hinting towards leniency to the Hurriyat or protestors and has on multiple occasions led anti-Pakistan chants in Assembly sessions to protest ceasefire violations along the Line of Control.
Raina considers Pakistan the main enemy of Jammu and Kashmir, accusing the Hurriyat of being "paid agents" who incite violence against India. In 2019, he claimed that Hurriyat leaders were "puppets" of Pakistan, manipulating Kashmiri youth for many years.
Ravinder Raina will be up against National Conference’s Surinder Choudhary in the second round of J&K Assembly elections.