Locked On Target

From a colonel in the Indian Army and an Olympic medallist to the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs & Sports, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s journey is both inspiring and commendable. MARWAR met the MP from Jaipur Rural in his plush office in Delhi to know what prompted his transition from an unassuming army man to a key cog in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.

It’s 1pm on a muggy Tuesday afternoon, and we are outside Delhi’s Shastri Bhawan, which houses the offices of several ministries of the Government of India. As we make our way to the area occupied by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, we sense a flutter. There is busy-ness in the air. At first, we are asked to wait in the visitor’s room, sipping on a cup of hot coffee. After spending an impatient hour in the room, we are taken to the swanky part of the office—replete with an Apple iMac and an amazing view—to meet our interviewee, Col (retd) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

Till about 13 years ago, this name would probably not have rung a bell. But a lot has changed since then. In 2004, the Indian Olympic Association sent a contingent of 73 athletes to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The then 34-year-old Col Rathore grabbed the attention of both the Indian and the international media by bagging a silver medal in the double trap category. It was the only medal won by an Indian that year. In his words, things were never the same again. “Suddenly there was immense spotlight on me, something I wasn’t used to,” he says.

Early life

Col Rathore was born in Jaisalmer on January 29, 1970. He is a proud Rajput, whose family hails from Bikaner. “My father was in the army and was posted around the deserts of Rajasthan at the time when I was born. My grandfather was an IPS officer. He was posted in Jaisalmer. So, I was born there. But we kept moving to different places since my father was in the army. I have studied in many schools— from convents to Kendriya Vidyalayas,” he says.