HN Dikshit elected UP Assembly Speaker

NEW DELHI: BJP veteran Hriday Narayan Dikshit, who was on Thursday unanimously elected the speaker of UP legislative assembly, is known for his knowledge of parliamentary affairs and cordial relations with leaders across the political spectrum.

Dikshit, 70, has been the party’s spokesperson in the state for several years and was minister for parliamentary affairs and panchayati raj in the previous BJP government in UP. The winner from Bhagwantnagar seat of Unnao district in the recent election, Dikshit has won his fifth assembly election, having entered the state assembly for the first time in 1985. He has also been a member of the UP legislative council.

He began his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1967, became a member of zila parishad in his native district of Unnao in 1973 and during Emergency he was arrested and put behind bars for about 18 months. In 1980, he was president of the BJP’s Unnao district unit.


Apart from his close association with the RSS, Dikshit has been continuously highlighting the philosophy and research works of Jan Sangh’s ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya through his writings. He has authored several books, including ‘Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Darshan’, ‘Sanskritik Rashtra Darshan’ and ‘Bhartiya Sanskriti Ki Bhumika’. He has a master’s degree in economics and has been writing articles for newspapers since the beginning of his political career.