Ashok Gehlot

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ashok Gehlot

• Does Ashok Gehlot smoke?: No

• Does Ashok Gehlot drink alcohol?: No (he is a teetotaler) ^[4]Business Standard

• He hails from a magician’s family of Jodhpur in Rajasthan.

• According to sources, his father, Babu Laxman Singh Daksh, was a popular magician who travelled across the country to perform. In his childhood, Ashok used to accompany his father and perform magic tricks. Reportedly Ashok Gehlot also used to perform magic tricks before a young Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in the presence of Indira Gandhi.

• Mr. Gehlot is deeply religious and has grown up practicing several Gandhian ways of life; as he is greatly inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

• Ashok Gehlot is a teetotaler who believes in eating only Satvik meal and avoids eating anything after sunset till dawn.

• Before entering the politics, Gehlot wanted to become a doctor and had even taken admission in a Medical College, which he quit later.

• In 1971, he served in the refugee camps during the East Bengali Refugee Crisis.

• He was an active participant in the student politics in his college. He was also the President of the youth wing of the Congress party, NSUI, from 1973 to 1979.

  

• When Indira Gandhi was on one of her regular visits to the refugee camps, she first noticed Gehlot’s organizational skills there and invited him to join politics; at that time, he was 20 years old.

  

• Gehlot has also worked in close association with Rajiv Gandhi; when Rajiv was the Prime Minister of India.

  

• He worked in the camps organized by the Tarun Shanti Sena in Indore, Sevagram, Aurangabad, and Wardha.

• According to sources, during the 7th Lok Sabha Elections in 1980, he was running out of money and had to circulate and stick his campaigning posters himself. Following the elections, he became one of the youngest Member of Parliaments at that time.

• In 1982, for his sworn-in ceremony as the Union Deputy Minister, Department of Tourism, he went to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on an autorickshaw.
• In the mid-1980s, when the controversial godman Chandraswami started developing closeness with the Indian National Congress Party, Gehlot had opposed him strongly.

• In 1989, Ashok Gehlot also served as the Home Minister of Rajasthan.

• Ashok has served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan twice, first from 1998 to 2003 and then again, from 2008 to 2013.

• In 2013, when Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, hugged Gehlot at a public function on stage; the incident had created a buzz in the media. Talking about the incident, Mr. Gehlot explained-
  

  Mere to haath niche hi reh gaye the. Socha yeh ekdum se kya ho gaya aur log kya sochenge (My hands were left down as I was taken aback…I thought what people will think).”

  

• He has founded the Bharat Seva Sansthan, which provides free books through the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Book Bank and also gives ambulance services.

• Reportedly, in 2013, when Ashok Gehlot was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, he had given strict instructions to the Rajasthan Police not to come under pressure any pressure while conducting its probe into allegations of sexual assault against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.

• In 2018, Ashok Gehlot was trolled online for making a statement, after which people started mocking him as #ScientistGehlot. The video was apparently an incomplete and trimmed clip of his speech. As soon as Gehlot came across the trolls, he took to the Twitter and posted the real video of his speech.

• Click Here to view the video of Ashok Gehlot’s biography.