List of Bhojpuri people explained

This article provides lists of famous and notable Bhojpuriya-sawb or Bhojpuri people in the Indian subcontinent and other countries like Suriname, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana and people with Bhojpuri ancestry or people who speak Bhojpuri as their primary language.

President

Presidents of India

• Mohammad Hidayatullah, (20 July 1969 – 24 August 1969; 6 October 1982 – 31 October 1982), Acting President of India
• Rajendra Prasad, (26 January 1950 – 13 May 1962), 1st President of India. He was born in Ziradei, a village in Chhapra, Bihar. Chhapra is a Bhojpuri speaking district.^[1]

Presidents of Seychelles

• Wavel Ramkalawan, 5th President of Seychelles

Presidents of Mauritius

• Anerood Jugnauth, (7 October 2003 – 31 March 2012), 4th President of Mauritius
• Kailash Purryag, (21 July 2012 – 29 May 2015), 5th President of Mauritius

Presidents of Guyana

• Mohamed Irfaan Ali, (2 August 2020 –), 10th President of Guyana
• Cheddi Jagan, (9 October 1992 – 6 March 1997), 4th President of Guyana
• Bharrat Jagdeo, (11 August 1999 – 3 December 2011), 7th President of Guyana
• Donald Ramotar, (3 December 2011 – 16 May 2015), 8th President of Guyana

Presidents of Suriname

• Fred Ramdat Misier, (8 February 1982 – 25 January 1988), 3rd President of Suriname
• Chan Santokhi, (16 July 2020 –), 9th President of Suriname
• Ramsewak Shankar, (25 January 1988 – 24 December 1990), 4th President of Suriname

President of Trinidad and Tobago

• Noor Mohamed Hassanali, (20 March 1987 – 17 March 1997), 2nd President of Trinidad and Tobago

Prime Ministers

Prime Ministers of India

• Lal Bahadur Shastri, (9 June 1964 – 11 January 1966), 2nd Prime Minister of India
• Chandra Shekhar Singh, (10 November 1990 – 21 June 1991), 8th Prime Minister of India

Prime Ministers of Mauritius

• Anerood Jugnauth, (17 December 2014 – 23 January 2017), 2nd Prime Minister of Mauritius
• Pravind Jugnauth, 5th Prime Minister of Mauritius^[2]
• Navin Ramgoolam, (5 July 2005 – 17 December 2014), 3rd Prime Minister of Mauritius
• Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, (12 March 1968 – 30 June 1982), 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius

Prime Minister of Suriname

• Pretaap Radhakishun, (17 July 1986 – 7 April 1987), 6th Prime Minister of Suriname

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

• Basdeo Panday, (9 November 1995 – 24 December 2001), 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• Kamla Persad-Bissessar, (26 May 2010 – 9 September 2015), 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

Chief Ministers

Chief Ministers of Bihar (India)

• Harihar Singh (1969-1969)
• Lalu Prasad Yadav (1990-1995)
• Rabri Devi (1997-2005)
• Daroga Prasad Rai (1970, for 10 months)
• Kedar Pandey (1972-1973)
• Abdul Ghafoor (1973-1975)
• Ram Sundar Das (1979-1980)
• Bindeshwari Dubey (1985-1988)

Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (India)

• Sampurnanand (1954-1960)
• Kamlapati Tripathi (1969-70)

Governor of Indian States

• Anant Sharma, (10 March 1983 – 14 August 1984), 11th governor of West Bengal
• Chandeshwar Prasad Narayan Singh, 18th governor of Uttar Pradesh and 2nd governor of Punjab.
• Kailashpati Mishra, (7 May 2003 – 2 Jul 2004), 15th Governor of Gujarat

Politicians

Deputy Prime Ministers of India

• Jagjivan Ram, First Labour Minister of India, first Dalit Deputy PM of India and founder of All India Depressed Classes League & Congress (Jagjivan).

Deputy Chief Ministers

• Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar (2015-2017)
• Ram Jaipal Singh Yadav, Bihar (1971-1972)
• Renu Devi, Bihar (2020-2022)

Governors and Governors-General

• Lallan Prasad Singh, Governor of Assam (1973–80), Manipur (1973–80, 1982–83), Meghalaya (1973–80), Nagaland (1973–81), and Tripura (1973–80).
• Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand (2006-2011)
• Ram Dulari Sinha, Governor of Kerala (1988-1990)

Lok Sabha Speakers

• Meira Kumar (2009-2014)
• Bali Ram Bhagat (1976-1977)

Cabinet Ministers

• Ram Subhag Singh
• Tej Pratap Yadav

National and International Award winners

Ashok Chakra

• Jyoti Prakash Nirala

Bharat Ratna

• Bismillah Khan
• Jayaprakash Narayan
• Rajendra Prasad

Magasaysay Award

• Jayaprakash Narayan
• Ravish Kumar

Padma Shree

• Narendra Kumar Pandey
• Ramchandra Manjhi

Freedom Fighters

• Babu Amar Singh
• Indradeep Sinha
• Jayaprakash Narayan
• Kunwar Singh
• Mangal Pandey

Journalists

• Amitava Kumar
• Anjana Om Kashyap, managing editor of Aaj Tak
• Ravish Kumar,^[3] former NDTV journalist
• George Orwell, born in Motihari
• Afroz Alam Sahil
• Upendra Rai, Chairman, M.D and Editor-in-Chief of Bharat Express
• Ram Bahadur Rai, former editor in Jansatta
• Shaukat Pardesi, poet writer & lyricist
• Vidya Niwas Mishra, Padma Bhushan awardee and journalist
• Zafar ul Islam Khan, editor in The Milli Gazette

Scholars

• Ananda Prasad, biochemist
• Gupteshwar Pandey, former DGP of Bihar
• Kapil Muni Tiwary, linguist
• Sachchidananda Sinha, lawyer and parliamentarian

Actors

Bhojpuri cinema

See main article: List of Bhojpuri actors.

• Nazir Hussain, Bollywood actor and pioneer of Bhojpuri fim industry
• Dinesh Lal Yadav, Bhojpuri actor, singer and politician.
• Khesari Lal Yadav, Bhojpuri actor and singer
• Manoj Tiwari, former Bhojpuri actor, singer and politician
• Pawan Singh, Bhojpuri actor, singer and politician.

See main article: List of Hindi film actors.

• Ravi Kishan, Hindi-Bhojpuri film actor and politician
• Kunal Singh, Bollywood-Bhojpuri actor
• Akhilendra Mishra, Hindi film & TV actor
• Abhimanyu Singh
• Vinay Pathak
• Siddhant Chaturvedi
• Manoj Bajpayee
• Pankaj Tripathi
• Satyakam Anand
• Sujit Kumar
• Vishal Aditya Singh

Actresses

Bhojpuri cinema

See main article: List of Bhojpuri actresses.

Singers

See main article: List of Bhojpuri singers.

• Baleshwar Yadav, Bhojpuri folk singer
• Bihari Lal Yadav, founder of Biraha genre
• Chandan Tiwari, Bhojpuri singer
• Hiralal Yadav, birha and kajri
• Raj Mohan, Bhojpuri singer
• Ramdew Chaitoe, Bhojpuri folk singer
• Ritesh Pandey, Bhojpuri singer and actor
• Sundar Popo
• Krishna Kant Shukla, physicist, musician, poet, ecologist and educator
• Rajan and Sajan Mishra, singers of the khyal style of Indian classical music
• Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, Hindustani classical singer
• Husna Bai, Thumri singer from Banaras
• Rajkumari Dubey, playback singer worked in Hindi cinema of 1930-40s
• Nirmala Devi, Indian actress, Hindustani classical vocalist and mother of Bollywood actor, Govinda
• Rasoolan Bai, Indian Hindustani classical musician
• Siddheswari Devi, legendary Hindustani singer
• Girija Devi, Indian classical singer of the Seniya and Banaras gharanas

Writers

See main article: List of Bhojpuri writers.

• Kabir, poet, saint and social reformer
• Ravidas, poet, saint and social reformer
• Lachhimi Sakhi, saint and poet
• Dariya Saheb, saint, poet and the founder of Dariya or Dariyadasi sect
• Dharani Das, Ramanandi saint and poet
• Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Hindi and Bhojpuri
• Bhikhari Thakur, Bhojpuri dramatist and writer
• Heera Dom, Bhojpuri writer and pioneer of modern Bhojpuri Dalit literature
• Rahul Sankrityayan, Bhojpuri and Hindi
• Raghuveer Narayan, Bhojpuri, English and Hindi
• Ram Karan Sharma, Sanskrit and English
• Teg Ali Teg, Bhojpuri writer
• Rameshwar Singh Kashyap, playwright, screenwriter and professor
• Premchand, one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent
• Agyey, poet, literary critic, journalist and pioneer of the experimentalism movement in modern Hindi literature
• Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, novelist, essayist, critic
• Doodhnath Singh, poet, writer and critic
• Amarkant, Hindi writer
• Kedar Nath Pandey, CPI leader and writer
• Atul Kumar Rai, novelist and screenwriter
• Baldev Upadhyaya, Sanskrit writer
• Viveki Rai, Bhojpuri writer
• Namvar Singh, literary critic, linguist, academician, theoretician and founder of Centre of Indian Languages at Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi)

Lyricist

• Shailendra, famous Hindi film lyricist
• Sameer Anjaan, a Guinness World Record holder lyricist from Bollywood
• S. H. Bihari, lyricist

Musicians

• Bismillah Khan, Shehnai player
• Chitragupt, music director
• Shri Nath Tripathi, music composer
• Anokhelal Mishra, tabla artist

Dancers

• Ramchandra Manjhi

Sports Persons

Cricketers

• Sakibul Gani, first player in the world to score a Triple century on First class debut.
• Akash Deep, plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL
• Mukesh Kumar, plays for Delhi Capitals in IPL
• George Wyatt, English first class cricketer
• Rahul Shukla, plays for Mumbai Indians in IPL

Footballers

• Mobashir Rahman
• Ansha Singh, defender in women's national football team

Field Hockey

• Preeti Dubey, played in 2016 Summer Olympics
• Sumit Kumar, played in Sultan of Johor Cup
• Raj Kumar Pal, played in 2020–21 Men's FIH Pro League and 2024 Summer Olympics
• Mohammed Shahid, Arjuna Awardee and won gold in 1980 Olympics
• Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, won bronze in 2020 Olympics and gold in 2022 Asian Games
• Vivek Singh, played in 1988 Summer Olympics

Athlete

• Rakesh Kumar Yadav, Indian hammer thrower
• JCO Shivpal Singh, javeline thrower
• Shivnath Singh, one of the greatest long-distance runners in India.

Notes and References

1. News: First President Rajendra Prasad instrumental in first Bhojpuri film. The Indian Express.
2. Web site: Indian-Origin Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth Has A UP Connect . 2024-11-12 . NDTV.com.
3. News: Ravish Kumar anchors in Bhojpuri on international mother language day. NDTV.