Member of Parliament (Asansol) & Minister of State of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
NAME- Babul Supriyo Baral
PROFESSION- Politician, Actor, Playback Singer
BORN – 15 September 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH – Uttarpara, West Bengal, India
FATHER’S NAME – Sunil Chandra Baral
MOTHER’S NAME – Sumitra Baral
SPOUSE (s) – Riaa (m 1995; div 2015) Rachna Sharma (m 2016)
SIBLINGS- NA
CHILDREN – 2 (Both Daughters)
EDUCATION– Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com) from Serampore College, Calcutta University
POLITICAL PARTY- Bharatiya Janata Party
OFFICIAL WEBSITE- babulsupriyo.com
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT-
AWARDS- 2002- Honorary Citizenship by State Council of Atlanta; 2002- Best Male Playback Singer for “Tak Jhal Mishti” by Bengal Film Journalists’ Association; 2003- Best Playback Singer for “Kasautii Zindagii Kay” by Kalakar Awards; 2004- Best Playback for “Mayer Anchal” by Kalakar Awards; 2006- Best Male Playback Singer for “Subho Drishti” by Bengal Film Journalists Associations; 2007- Best Playback Singer for “Kasautii Zindagii Kay” by Zee Gold Awards; 2016- Walked at Grand Finale of Indian Federation for Fashion Development’s Indian Runway Week Season 6 for Designer Agnimitra Paul
Babul Supriyo is a playback singer, actor, television host, and politician. He currently a Member of the Parliament (Asansol) and Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change since 2019. He made a career as a playback singer in the mid-nineties and has done playback singing in 11 different languages. He’s politically affiliated to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BACKGROUND- Babul Supriyo was born in a suburb town of Kolkata to Sunil Chandra Baral and Sumitra Baral. He attended Don Bosco School and completed his graduation from Serampore College. He got married to Riaa in 1995 and had a daughter (Sharmilee) in 1996. He got divorced in 2015 and got remarried to Rachna Sharma in 2016. He had another daughter (Naina) with Rachna in 2017.
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION– Babul Supriyo was brought up in a musically skilled family and he was greatly inspired by his grandfather, Banikantha NC Baral who was a Bengali vocalist and composer. Babul’s musical skills were appreciated right from the start. He received several awards at inter-school and inter-college music competitions and also performed at All India Radio and Doordarshan. He was also awarded “All India Don Bosco Music Champion” and “The Most Enriching Talent” during his school life.
WALK OF LIFE- Babul Supriyo worked as a banker at the Standard Chartered Bank, after completing his graduation. Only after a year he left his job and relocated to Mumbai to make a career in Bollywood. Director and composer, Kalyanji gave him his first break. He was chosen to tour the USA and Canada to perform live shows with Amitabh Bachchan and later with Asha Bhosle.
He did playback singing for a number of songs but rose to fame with “Dil Ne Dil Ko Pukara” from the movie “Kaho Na Pyaar Hai”. He also sang in Bollywood hits like “Hum Tum” and “Fanna”. When he entered the entertainment industry, he changed his name from Supriya Baral to Babul Supriyo.
Being a keen admirer of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi, Babul joined BJP in March 2014. Later that year he was inducted as the Union Minister of State in the Ministries of Urban Development and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, making him the youngest minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.
In 2016 he was promoted to the position of Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and is currently serving as the Member of Parliament, representing Asansol and Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. In 2017 Supriyo was also appointed as the Vice President of the U-17 FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN- Supriyo has taken a keen interest in the under-construction East-West Metro Railway Project for years now and has monitored it every step of the way. Under his leadership of the Heavy Industries Ministry, various initiatives regarding electric vehicles and restructuring and selling off loss-making PSUs were taken.
CARRIER TIMELINE-
1991- Banker at the Standard Chartered Bank
1992- Started a career as a playback singer
2014- Member, Bharatiya Janata Party
May 2014- Elected to 16th Lok Sabha as Member of Parliament (Asansol)
2014-2016- Union Minister of State for Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
2016-2019- Union Minister of State for Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
May 2019- Elected to 17th Lok Sabha as Member of Parliament (Asansol)
2019 to present- Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change
CONTROVERSIES-
- In 2017, a case under section 309. IPC (use of obscene words or gestures against a woman) was filed against Supriyo by the Trinamool Congress MLA, Mahua Moitra, for using the word “drunk” for her in a debate on a TV channel.
- In 2018, Supriyo also became part of a controversy when he proposed a temporary ban on Pakistani artists in Bollywood.
- In March 2018, during his visit to Kalyanpur in Asansol, the politician lost his temper on hearing slogans against him and threatened people to rip their skin off.
