Bihar's Ram Nath Thakur takes oath as member in Modi's Union cabinet

Ram Nath Thakur, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Janata Dal (United) and a prominent leader belonging to the extremely backward community, has been sworn in as a member of the new Union cabinet.

The 74-year-old is a significant figure in Bihar's politics and is considered a key confidant of chief minister Nitish Kumar. He was among the many leaders invited for high tea with prime-minister-designate Narendra Modi on Sunday morning.

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Born on 3 March 1950, Thakur is from Samastipur in Bihar and belongs to the socially deprived Nai (barber) community. He is the son of former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, who was was posthumously honoured with Bharat Ratna by the previous government days before the Lok Sabha poll dates were announced.

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Ram Nath Thakur joined politics after his father passed away in in 1988. He became a member of the Bihar legislative council and served as minister of sugarcane industries in Lalu Prasad Yadav's first cabinet.

From November 2005 to November 2010, he was the minister of revenue and land reforms, law, information and public relations in the Nitish Kumar government. However, he lost in the 2010 assembly elections despite the Nitish-led NDA securing 206 of 243 seats in the Bihar assembly.

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After this defeat, Thakur remained relatively inactive for a while. He was later nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the JD(U) before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and again in 2020.

Like his father, he has significant influence among the extremely backward classes. His influence also extends to other backward castes. According to Bihar's Caste Survey, EBCs constitute 36% of the state's population.