Ramdev follower Acharya Dev Vrat is HP Governor

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Shimla/ Kuruskshetra, August 8 

Considered close to yoga guru Ramdev and principal of Kurukshetra-based Gurukul, Acahrya Dev Vrat, will be the 26th Governor of Himachal Pradesh, relieving Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh of the additional charge.

Himachal will get a regular Governor after over six months since Urmila Singh completed her five-year term on January 24. Acahrya Dev Vrat thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior BJP leadership. "I am yet to get any official information. I had no idea that I was going to be given such as important responsibility," he said.

About Ramdev's role in his appointment, he said: "He has always been a guide and his blessings are with me. Gurukul is my family as I have spent 34 years of my life there. I feel it was the result of my hard work that has given me this opportunity."

A Kurukshetra report said Gurukul students played musical instruments to express their happiness. They were joined by dhol players, but Acharya Dev Vrat sent out a message not to play the dhol, saying "it was against our culture."

Born on January 18, 1959, Acharya Dev Vrat belongs to Pauti village of Samalkha, Haryana, and has been the principal of the Gurukul since 1981. The institution is run by Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Rohtak, without any financial aid from the government, says its website.

Acahrya Dev Vrat said "Good gurukuls would be opened in Himachal so that the future generation could learn Indian culture and feel honored."

It is learnt that Ramdev tried to get the BJP Lok Sabha ticket from Kurukshetra for Vrat in the last elections. Ramdev has been facing trouble in Himachal as the state government cancelled the land lease of Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust run by Ramdev at Sadhupul in Kandaghat. 

Vrat completed his post-graduation in Hindi from Panjab University in 1984. He has been working for a pollution free environment. He has been closely associated with campaigns against female foeticide and the "Beti Padhao-Beti Bacahao" campaign. He has travelled to Europe and South East Asia for propagating Indian culture.