"I DID NOT COME INTO POLITICS WITH ANY AGENDA"

In an interaction with BW Businessworld, MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY, Union Minister of Heavy Industries speaks about his political journey, and work done by the government in the electric vehicle segment By Urvi Shrivastav

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You are a postgraduate in journalism and a PhD in Hindi. How did you enter politics? 

I did not come into politics with any agenda. When I was a student I started working with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). During this time period, the Emergency was declared in the country, and I along with others was vocal in our protests about the same. Due to this, we were imprisoned for six months as well. After our release, the Emergency ended, following which I was elected student president at Banaras University.

This was a time when people like Vijay Goel, and Rajat Sharma had won elections along with me and my contemporaries in Delhi. Our seniors Arun Jaitley, Mahesh Sharma, Ram Bahadur Rai served as a guiding light for us. We were deeply influenced by them as students.

Nanaji Deshmukh introduced a new concept of ‘Gram Utthan Prakalp’ (raising a village), due to which we worked extensively in villages. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into being around 1980, and we joined it as political workers. It was a natural transition for us, and we did not come with any agenda into politics.

As we got fully engaged in working for the people, I was elected in Uttar Pradesh as a minister across positions in BJP, under the aegis of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I subsequently assumed the position of union minister.

You have recently inaugurated a school of wielding. What is missing in our tertiary education that we need such a niche institution?