section_path: Early life and student politics
section_name: Early life and student politics
paragraph_text: Early life and student politics
  
  Vijay Rupani was born on 2 August 1956, in Rangoon, Rangoon Division, Burma, to a Gujarati Sthanakwasi Jain Bania family. He was the seventh and youngest son of the couple. In 1960, his family moved to Rajkot, Gujarat, India, due to political instability in Burma. His father, Rasiklal Rupani, who had been a grain merchant in Burma, became a trader of ball bearings in Rajkot.
  
  Vijay Rupani graduated with a BA from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College and an LLB from Saurashtra University. Active in student politics, Rupani joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva organisation, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student body affiliated with the RSS. In 1971, Rupani joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a far-right political party that served as the political arm of the RSS and was the precursor to the BJP.
  
  Vijay Rupani was born on 2 August 1956, in Rangoon, Rangoon Division, Burma, to a Gujarati Sthanakwasi Jain Bania family. He was the seventh and youngest son of the couple. In 1960, his family moved to Rajkot, Gujarat, India, due to political instability in Burma. His father, Rasiklal Rupani, who had been a grain merchant in Burma, became a trader of ball bearings in Rajkot.
  
  Vijay Rupani graduated with a BA from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College and an LLB from Saurashtra University. Active in student politics, Rupani joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindutva organisation, and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student body affiliated with the RSS. In 1971, Rupani joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a far-right political party that served as the political arm of the RSS and was the precursor to the BJP.