Gopal Rai Age, Caste, Wife, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gopal Rai

• Gopal Rai grew up in the Mau district of Uttar Pradesh.

• He is a member of the Delhi Assembly from Babarpur Constituency. He won the MLA elections in 2015 as an AAP candidate.

• He is the coordinator of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Delhi state.
  

  Gopal Rai with Arvind Kejriwal

• Gopal Rai is a cabinet minister in the Delhi government and under him, there are a few departments like Environment, Forest & Wildlife, Development & General Administration.

• During graduation, he started preparing for IAS.

• In 1992, the incidents of temple-mosques conflicts and reservation support and opposition started all over India. The incidents of human massacre disturbed him so much that he gave up his dream of becoming an IAS and decided to work for the unity of society and nation.

• During his graduation, he joined the All India Students Union. As a student leader there, he campaigned against corruption and crime in college campus.

• In 1997, he went on a hunger strike along with other students against increased fees and crime in universities, after which the government had to fulfil their demands. Later, 14 criminals were expelled from the university. The Vice-Chancellor was removed and an investigation was started against him.

• On 18 January 1999, the criminals who were expelled took revenge from him and shot Gopal. The bullet got stuck in his spinal cord. Even after 7 years of treatment, there was no complete recovery. The bullet is still stuck in Rai’s neck. He survived but the part below his neck became completely inactive.

• In 2009, he fasted for around 15 days after the government officials did not mention the name of the martyrs on 15 August at the India Gate.

• He fasted for 5 days with Anna Hazare in the movement that started on 5 April 2011 in support of the Jan Lokpal Movement. He also did a 10-day fast unto death along with Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia against not forming a Jan Lokpal despite promises by the Government.

• After being elected MLA from Delhi’s Babarpur Legislative Assembly and becoming a cabinet minister, he worked to increase the minimum wages of workers. Earlier, the minimum wage in Delhi was Rs 9,000 which was raised to Rs 14,052, for unskilled workers and for semi-skilled and skilled people it was increased from Rs 15,471 and Rs 17,033 respectively.

• On 13 December 2013, Gopal Rai got into a verbal fight with V. K. Singh on the fourth day of the indefinite hunger strike launched by Anna Hazare at Ralegan-Siddhi to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill, after which Anna Hazare asked Rai to leave Ralegan.

• In the 2013 Delhi Assembly election, he came third from Babarpur Constituency with 25723 votes, but in the Delhi Assembly Elections held on 10 February 2015, he was elected MLA from Babarpur Constituency with 35 thousand more votes and was made the Minister of Transport and Labor.

• He led the ‘Main Bhi Aam Aadmi’ movement from 10 January 2014 to 26 January 2014 to handle fund collection, association, and management of other political groups.

• On 22 May 2016, while being the Transport Minister of Delhi, a case was registered against Gopal Rai’s brother Yogendra Rai in Jafrabad Police Station on charges of molestation. At the same time, a female worker and ward chief of Delhi present with Yogendra also made similar allegations against the girl’s father. After receiving complaints from both parties, the police registered a cross-complaint case and started investigating the case.

• On 25 October 2022, Gopal Rai flagged off 150 Mobile Anti Smog Gun Vehicles to work on dust and pollution in Delhi.
  

  Gopal Rai giving a green flag to Mobile Anti Smog Gun Vehicle

• While being the environment minister of Delhi, he started the Upgrade Green War Room under the Winter Action Plan. Gopal Rai also deployed a 12-member team of scientists and other officials to take measures to control pollution in Delhi.