Lakshman Acharya

Lakshman Prasad Acharya (born 3 October 1954) is an Indian politician, serving as the 17th Governor of Sikkim. Being affiliated to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), he was a member of Legislative Council from Uttar Pradesh elected by the members of Legislative Assembly from 2015 to 2023.

He was also Vice-President of Uttar Pradesh state unit of the BJP and the President of Uttar Pradesh Kashi Kshetra BJP.

He was appointed BJP’s election convener of Varanasi parliamentary seat being contested by Shri Narendra Modi for the 2019 General elections.

Personal life
Acharya was born on 3 October 1954 as the second son of Late Shri Kalidas Kharwar and Late Smt. Pyari Devi in a lower middle-class family in Varanasi, UP. His grandfather Late Shri Kanhaiya Prasad worked in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as a security person. He has two brothers: Shriram Prasad and Shitla Prasad; and one sister: Vindhvasini Verma. He belongs to the Kharwar caste.

Acharya started his career as a teacher in Bhartiya Shishu Mandir schools. Having a penchant for teaching and a mission for imparting education to all sections of society, Acharya started many schools in various remote areas deprived of education. He married Kumud Devi in June 1987. He has a daughter Shraddha, who is married to social entrepreneur Baran Roy.

Social life and journey
From his early life Acharya became a swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In 1973 he started as a teacher at Bhartiya Shishu Mandir, Ramnagar Varanasi where he worked till 1975. In 1972, under the leadership of Shri Subramanium Swamy, Acharya participated in the agitation against “Shimla Agreement”, wherein he was arrested along with the other agitators.

In the same year Acharya became the coordinator of Swadeshi Jagran Manch for Ramnagar, Varanasi. In 1974, he completed his First Year OTC of RSS.

During the Emergency in India from 1975 to 1976, Acharya became an active member of the broad spectrum of opposition under the leadership of Jai Prakash Narayan. On the directions of the upper command, he went underground to avoid arrest, and continued to actively work for the cause.

On 22 June 1977, Acharya started a campaign “शिशु शिक्षा गांव की ओर” (Child Education in the Village), with the sole aim establishing schools in remotest villages. Consequently, he earned the reputation of becoming the first person to open private primary schools in villages in Eastern UP.

In 1980s Acharya became an active member of the Shri Ram Janambhoomi Andolan as a member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Political life and career
From his early life, Acharya was always associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bhartiya Jana Sangh and consequently with the Janata Party. With the dissolution of the Janata Party and the formation of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), he became actively involved in politics as a member of the BJP.

In 1990, Acharya became the divisional president of the BJP Ramnagar area, Varanasi. In 1995, he became the General Secretary of the erstwhile combined district of Varanasi (Varanasi and Chandauli) of BJP.

In the year 1996, Acharya was appointed the District President of BJP for the Varanasi district. Owing to his performance in this role, he was appointed the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Development Corporation Limited (UPFDC) by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh and continued in his role even when Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh took over as the state’s Chief minister. The ruling party in the state at that time was BJP. As the Chairman of the UPFDC, Acharya’s rank was equivalent to State Minister.

In 2002, Acharya was promoted within the BJP ranks as the Regional Minister of the Kashi Kshetra.

In the year 2004, Acharya was appointed the State President of the BJP SC/ST Wing for the state of Uttar Pradesh. In this role, Acharya worked extensively for the upliftment of the SC/ST population of the state and raised their issues at different platforms for resolution and for the concerned government agencies to take notice. Post the completion of his term as the State President of BJP SC/ST Wing, Acharya continuously served at different positions within the BJP cadres.

From 2004 to 2014, Congress led UPA government stayed in the power at the Centre. The 2014 General election was a very important event for the country and for both the political parties – BJP and the incumbent Congress. For the 2014 general elections, since Shri Narendra Modi was the face of the party as the Prime Minister candidate, talks were high that he might contest from the religious capital of the country “Kashi”. Just before the general elections, in 2013, on the recommendation of the then State BJP President Dr. L.K. Bajpai, the party trusted Lakshman Prasad Acharya with the very crucial responsibility of President of the Kashi Region, BJP having the responsibility of 71 seats spanning over 16 districts. Acharya worked tirelessly as per the directions of the BJP central leadership and Shri Amit Shah – who was in-charge of UP for the 2014 elections.

The BJP won almost all parliamentary seats in the Kashi Region in the 2014 elections. In Varanasi district, Narendra Modi won by a huge margin with 56.37 % votes which was more than double of the runner up candidate who could secure only 20.30 % votes.

Being one of the most senior and popularly accepted leaders in the party UP cadre, the BJP fielded Acharya as a candidate for the UP MLC (Member of Legislative Council) 2015 elections from the Legislative Assembly constituency against its only seat; and he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Upper House on 31 January 2015. As a member of the UP Legislative Council, Acharya served as member and Chairman of key committees:

During the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Acharya was still the President of Kashi Kshetra BJP. Under Acharya, the BJP performed exceptionally in the 16 districts of Kashi Kshetra winning 54 out of 71 seats, which forms roughly a 76 % winning rate.

In February 2018, Acharya was promoted to the position of Vice-President of BJP Uttar Pradesh. The same year he was also named as the convener of Narendra Modi’s parliamentary seat Varanasi for the 2019 general elections. Narendra Modi won the Varanasi seat with 4.80 lakh votes.

In August 2020, Lakshman Prasad Acharya became the Deputy Leader of the House (Legislative Council) for the BJP. On 15 January 2021, Acharya was appointed the Deputy Leader of the House for a second term. He stayed in office till 15 February 2023, when he resigned from the Legislative Council to take oath as the Governor of Sikkim.

Governorship
On 16 February 2023, Lakshman Prasad Acharya took oath as the 17th Governor of Sikkim. He was preceded by Ganga Prasad.