Thakur was married to the daughter of veteran RSS leader from Jaipur, Shrinath Rao in 1995
There is joy and celebration in the air. Thumping beat of the drum, happily dancing people and endless rounds of mithai are all indications of the joy the Rao family in Jhotwara feels as their son-in-law is all set to take charge as CM of Himachal Pradesh. The entire neighbourhood is celebrating because, for them, Jai Ram Thakur is Jijaji, the humble, affable and friendly son-in-law of the family who has a friendly smile and a warm word for all.
Thakur was married to the daughter of veteran RSS leader from Jaipur, Shrinath Rao in 1995. The doyen leader who had joined Sangh in 1942, is now 87 and watches the celebration with a look of satisfaction. Speaking to DNA he said, “The ideology for which we struggled all our lives is being taken forward. It is heartening to see people who believe in the ideology for which we struggled all our lives taking up responsible positions across the country.” He then mumbled a few lines of a song, “Wo adhoori sadhna purn bas ho jaaye...”
Thakur had lost his first election in 1993 by mere 400 votes. But he has been winning the same seat since 1998. He had been in contact with Narendra Modi when Modi was in charge of HP from 1997 to 2002. “The alliance between him and my sister Dr Sadhna was suggested by senior RSS leaders and had blessings of Sheshadri Ji,” recalls Pramod Rao, Thakur’s brother in law. “We had gone to Mandi for the wedding and all arrangements were made by his friends,” he adds. “My late mother was very apprehensive and sent my father to HP to check on the boy and the family. But over years he was her favourite jamai,” recalls Praveen Rao.
Dr Vrinda Rao, the daughter in law of the family recalls, “My husband’s younger brother had a spinal injury and he was being treated at the ISIC, New Delhi. The family would sit and even sleep in the corridors on durries. Jai Ram Ji who was then a minister in HP would do the same. When the members of the staff hailing from HP came to know that it was their minister, they went out of their way to help us.”
The children of the family though are a worried lot. Their favourite Phoopha Ji always take them out to watch movies, visit malls and tourist places whenever he came to Jaipur or they visited Shimla. But now they know he is poised for larger responsibilities, and they wonder if would be able to spare time for them.
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