113 Facts About Bobby Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal was born on June 10,1971 and is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016.

The only living former Louisiana governor, Jindal served as a member of the US House of Representatives and Chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

In 1995, Bobby Jindal was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

At 28, Bobby Jindal became the youngest person to hold the position.

Bobby Jindal first ran for governor of Louisiana in 2003, but narrowly lost in the run-off election to Democratic candidate Kathleen Blanco.

Bobby Jindal ran for governor again in the 2007 election and won.

Bobby Jindal was re-elected in 2011 in a landslide, winning more than 65 percent of the vote.

Bobby Jindal was the first Indian American governor, and the only one until Nikki Haley became Governor of South Carolina in 2011.

On June 24,2015, Bobby Jindal announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.

Bobby Jindal suspended his campaign in November 2015, subsequently announcing his support for Marco Rubio.

Bobby Jindal finished his term as governor in January 2016.

Piyush Bobby Jindal was born on June 10,1971 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to immigrant Punjabi Hindu parents.

Bobby Jindal's father is a civil engineer and graduate of Guru Nanak Dev University and Punjab University.

Bobby Jindal's mother is a graduate of Rajasthan University and worked in nuclear physics at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.

At the time of their move to the US, Raj Bobby Jindal was to be a doctoral candidate in physics.

Bobby Jindal's paternal grandfather was a merchant from Khanpur, Samrala and his maternal grandfather was a Ferozepur banker.

Bobby Jindal attended Baton Rouge Magnet High School, graduating in 1988.

Bobby Jindal spent free time working in the stands at LSU football games.

Bobby Jindal graduated from Brown University in 1992 at the age of 20, with honors in two majors, biology and public policy.

Bobby Jindal was admitted to the Program in Liberal Medical Education, guaranteeing him a place at Brown Medical School.

Bobby Jindal has been credited with leading Brown University's College Republicans student group.

Bobby Jindal was named to the 1992 USA Today All-USA Academic Team.

Bobby Jindal applied to and was accepted by both Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, but studied as a Rhodes Scholar where he received an MLitt in political science with an emphasis in health policy from New College, Oxford in 1994.

Jim McCrery of Louisiana, where McCrery assigned him to work on healthcare policy; Bobby Jindal spent two weeks studying Medicare to compile an extensive report on possible solutions to Medicare's financial problems, which he presented to McCrery.

In 1998, Bobby Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare.

In 1999, at the request of the Louisiana governor's office and the Louisiana State Legislature, Bobby Jindal examined how Louisiana might use its $4.4 billion share of the tobacco settlement.

In 1998, Jindal received the Samuel S Beard Award for greatest public service by an individual 35 years old or under, an award given annually by Jefferson Awards.

At 28 years of age in 1999, Bobby Jindal was appointed to become the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana System, the nation's 16th largest system of higher education with over 80,000 students.

Bobby Jindal was later unanimously confirmed by a vote of the United States Senate and began serving on July 9,2001.

Bobby Jindal resigned from that post on February 21,2003, to return to Louisiana and run for governor.

Bobby Jindal was assigned to help fight the nurse shortage by examining steps to improve nursing education.

Bobby Jindal came to national prominence during the 2003 election for governor of Louisiana.

In what Louisianans call an "open primary", Bobby Jindal finished first with 33 percent of the vote.

Bobby Jindal won the 2004 election with 78 percent of the vote.

Bobby Jindal was only the second Indian-American to be elected to the United States Congress, after Dalip Singh Saund was elected in November 1955.

Bobby Jindal was the second Indian American elected to Congress.

Bobby Jindal has reportedly lived in Kenner, Metairie, and Baton Rouge.

In 2005, Bobby Jindal criticized Bush's budget for not calling for enough spending cuts.

Bobby Jindal was made vice-chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks.

Bobby Jindal served as president of the incoming freshman class of congressmen, in 2004.

Bobby Jindal was elected to the position of House assistant majority whip, a senior leadership role.

Bobby Jindal served in this capacity from 2004 to 2006.

On January 22,2007, Bobby Jindal announced his candidacy for governor.

Bobby Jindal assumed the position of governor when he took the oath of office on January 14,2008.

Additionally, Bobby Jindal became the first Indian American to be elected governor of any state in the United States.

Bobby Jindal responded by saying that he is opposed to the pay increase, but that he had pledged to let the legislature govern themselves.

On June 30,2008, Bobby Jindal reversed his earlier position by vetoing the pay raise legislation, stating that he made a mistake by staying out of the pay raise issue.

Bobby Jindal negotiated an agreement whereby Foster Farms, a private chicken processor, would receive $50 million in taxpayer funds to purchase a chicken processing plant owned by bankrupt Pilgrim's Pride.

Bobby Jindal however released a statement saying that this legislation saved over 1,000 jobs, serves as a stimulus to Louisiana's economy, and had wide bipartisan support.

Bobby Jindal oversaw one of the largest evacuations in US history in late August 2008 prior to the Louisiana landfall of Hurricane Gustav.

Bobby Jindal issued mandatory evacuation orders for the state's coastal areas and activated 3,000 National Guardsman to aid in the exodus.

Bobby Jindal ordered the state to purchase generators to provide needed power to hospitals and nursing homes without power.

Bobby Jindal had been scheduled to address the Republican National Convention, but cancelled his plans in order to focus on Louisiana's needs during the storm.

On October 25,2011, in preparing for his second term, Bobby Jindal tapped Republican state representative Chuck Kleckley of Lake Charles and State Senator John Alario of Westwego as his choices for Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives and Louisiana Senate President, respectively.

In January 2012, Jindal elevated John C White, the short-term superintendent at the Recovery School District in New Orleans, to the position of state superintendent of education.

In January 2013, Bobby Jindal released a plan that would eliminate the Louisiana state income tax, which he felt would expand business investment in the state, and then raise sales taxes in order to keep the plan revenue-neutral.

Bobby Jindal announced, in September 2014, a six-point energy platform that would, among other things, open up energy production on federal land and eliminated proposed carbon restrictions.

In 2017, Bobby Jindal took a position as an operating adviser for Ares Management, a global investment firm based in Los Angeles.

On February 8,2008, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh mentioned on his syndicated show that Bobby Jindal could be a possible choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination in 2008.

Bobby Jindal said that Jindal might be perceived as an asset to John McCain's campaign because he has wide support in the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party and his immigrant past offsets McCain's white heritage.

However, on July 23,2008, Bobby Jindal said that he would not be the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008.

On February 24,2009, Bobby Jindal delivered the official Republican response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress.

Bobby Jindal called the president's economic stimulus plan "irresponsible" and argued against government intervention.

Bobby Jindal used Hurricane Katrina to warn against government solutions to the economic crisis.

On February 27,2009, a spokesman for Bobby Jindal clarified the timing of the meeting, stating that the story took place days after the storm.

Bobby Jindal had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election.

On December 10,2008, Bobby Jindal indicated that he would likely not run for president in 2012, saying he will focus on his re-election in 2011 and that this would make transitioning to a national campaign difficult, though he did not rule out a possible 2012 presidential bid.

Speculation increased when Republicans chose Bobby Jindal to deliver the response to President Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress.

Bobby Jindal has stated that he has no involvement with the PAC.

In 2012, Bobby Jindal traveled across the country in support of the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket.

In November 2012, after the election, Bobby Jindal was featured in a Time magazine article titled "2016: Let's Get The Party Started", where he was listed as a possible Republican candidate for the presidency in 2016.

In October 2013, Bobby Jindal told Fox News Sunday that he was still mulling a 2016 presidential run.

On May 18,2015, Bobby Jindal formed a presidential exploratory committee to determine whether he would run as a candidate in the 2016 presidential election, and he announced his candidacy on June 24.

Bobby Jindal opposes abortion in general, but does not condemn medical procedures aimed at saving the life of the mother that indirectly result in the loss of the unborn child, such as salpingectomy for an ectopic pregnancy.

Bobby Jindal opposed and voted against expanding public funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Bobby Jindal opposed the legalization of both same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Bobby Jindal voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007.

In December 2008, Bobby Jindal announced the formation of the Louisiana Commission on Marriage and Family.

Bobby Jindal vetoed state legislation to increase pay for state legislators.

Bobby Jindal is a fervent supporter of the Second Amendment and generally opposes gun control.

Bobby Jindal has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association and received an A rating from Gun Owners of America while he was in Congress.

In July 2015, during an interview with CBS, Bobby Jindal stated that he supported stricter background checks, and that every state should begin to enact tougher background checks on gun buyers.

In January 2013, Bobby Jindal said he wanted to eliminate all Louisiana corporate and personal income taxes, without giving details for his proposal.

In 2008, Bobby Jindal came out in favour of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which Louisiana adopted in 2010.

Bobby Jindal proposed budgets that impose cuts on higher education funding in Louisiana, leading to protests from students and education advocates.

Bobby Jindal proposed several controversial education reforms, including vouchers for low income students in public schools to attend private institutions using Minimum Foundation Program funds.

Bobby Jindal voted to extend the Patriot Act, voted in favor of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, supported a constitutional amendment banning flag burning, and voted for the Real ID Act of 2005.

Bobby Jindal criticized illegal immigration as a drain on the economy, as well as being unfair to those who entered the country by legal means.

Bobby Jindal voted to build a fence along the Mexican border and opposed granting amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Bobby Jindal refused to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, costing his state $1.65 billion in federal health-care assistance for the poor.

Bobby Jindal supported increased health insurance portability; laws promoting coverage of pre-existing medical conditions; a cap on malpractice lawsuits; an easing of restrictions on importation of prescription medications; the implementation of a streamlined electronic medical records system; an emphasis on preventative care rather than emergency room care; and tax benefits aimed at making health insurance more affordable for the uninsured and targeted to promote universal access.

Bobby Jindal opposed a federal government-run, single-payer system, but supported state efforts to reduce the uninsured population.

Bobby Jindal has supported expanding services for autistic children, and promoted a national childhood cancer database.

In collaboration with Health Secretary Alan Levine, Bobby Jindal drafted the Louisiana Health First Initiative.

Bobby Jindal issued an executive order increasing office recycling programs, reducing solid waste and promoting paperless practices, offering tax credit for hybrid fuel vehicles, increasing average fuel economy goals by 2010, as well as increasing energy efficiency goals and standards for the state.

Bobby Jindal has stated his opposition to and voted for the criminalization of oil cartels such as OPEC.

Bobby Jindal signed bill SB 469 that would limit actions aimed at oil and gas companies operating along the coast.

In September 2014, Bobby Jindal stated that global warming was more about increasing government regulation, and released an energy plan that was critical of the Obama Administration's policies.

In 2007, Bobby Jindal led the Louisiana House delegation and ranked 14th among House members in requested earmark funding at nearly $97 million.

Bobby Jindal vetoed over 250 earmarks in the 2008 state budget, twice the total number of such vetoes by previous governors in the preceding 12 years.

Bobby Jindal has been an opponent of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Bobby Jindal intended to accept at least $2.4 billion from the stimulus package.

In 2015, Bobby Jindal traveled to the UK to speak at an event by the neoconservative Henry Jackson Society.

Bobby Jindal later added that some Muslim immigrants are trying to "colonize" cities in Europe and "overtake the culture", and that it could happen next in the US.

Bobby Jindal is of Indian descent and is a US citizen by birthright.

Bobby Jindal converted to Christianity while in Baton Rouge Magnet High School.

Mike Foster Bobby Jindal has a younger brother, Nikesh, who is a registered Republican and supported his brother's campaign for governor.

Bobby Jindal has been known by his nickname ever since, although his legal name remains Piyush Jindal.

In 1997, Bobby Jindal married Supriya Jolly, who was born in New Delhi, India while her mother was visiting family there.

Bobby Jindal's parents lived in Baton Rouge at the time she was born.

Bobby Jindal created The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana's Children, a non-profit organization aimed at improving math and science education in grade schools.

However, Bobby Jindal questioned whether what he saw was actually an example of "spiritual warfare".

In November 2010, Bobby Jindal published the book Leadership and Crisis, a semi-autobiography significantly influenced by the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.