Kavinder Gupta Appointed as Ladakh LG: A BJP Veteran with Deep RSS Roots

SRINAGAR: The President of India has appointed Kavinder Gupta, a seasoned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, as the new Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Ladakh. Gupta replaces Brigadier (Dr) B D Mishra (Retd), whose resignation has been formally accepted.

A political figure with deep roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Gupta has been associated with the Sangh Parivar since the age of 13. During the Emergency, he spent over a year in jail, aligning him with the generation of BJP leaders who emerged from that tumultuous period.

Gupta’s rise in public life began in Jammu municipal politics, where he created history by serving three consecutive terms as mayor between 2005 and 2010. He was also the general secretary of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit, and in 2014, he won his first assembly election from Gandhi Nagar, defeating senior Congress leader and then-minister Raman Bhalla.

Following the PDP-BJP alliance’s victory in the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Gupta was unanimously elected Speaker of the House. In 2018, he replaced Nirmal Singh as Deputy Chief Minister, assuming office during a turbulent phase marked by unrest over the Kathua gang rape case and growing tensions within the ruling coalition.

Known for his low-key demeanour, Gupta has consistently maintained that his priority is balanced development across all three regions—Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. “The party has given me a responsibility, and I will dedicate myself to fulfilling the aspirations of the people,” he had said upon taking charge as Deputy CM in 2018.

Born on December 2, 1959, Gupta is a graduate and father of three children. In his early years, he was also active in youth and religious organisations, serving as secretary of the Punjab Vishav Hindu Parishad in 1978–79 and later as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Jammu and Kashmir for two consecutive terms from 1993 to 1998.