Newly-appointed Ashwini Vaishnaw may have already become a favourite on Twitter. Vaishnaw joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s team on Wednesday, emerging as a star player with responsibilities of Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. A video of newly-appointed Information Technology and Railways Minister, Ashwini Yadav, is going viral on social media. In it, the minister can be seen hugging an employee after finding out that the latter was an alumnus of the college which the minister attended. In the video, Vaishnaw asks the employee to give him a hug when he is told that the latter also passed out from MBM Engineering College in Jodhpur (Rajasthan). “Aao aao gale lagte hain bhayi (come, let’s hug)," Vaishnaw tells him. He is also heard jokingly telling the employee to call him “boss", a term by which was how juniors of the MBM Engineering College hailed their seniors.
Many on Twitter praised the gesture, with one user writing, “This is why India is in safe hands!"
Meet India's Railways Minister Ashwini VaishnawThis is why India is in safe hands! pic.twitter.com/yhxdiytnJ2
— Mahesh Vikram Hegde 🇮🇳 (@mvmeet) July 9, 2021
“Great sight for entire Nation," another user wrote, responding to the video.
Great sight for entire Nation.What a way our Minister is interacting.Super motivator.Jai Ho.— Udit Sankar Mookerjee (@mookerjee_udit) July 10, 2021
An M.Tech from IIT Kanpur and MBA from Wharton School, Pennsylvania University, Vaishnaw is known for his contribution to the public-private partnership (PPP) framework in Infrastructure.
The appointment of Vaishnaw, who made a surprise entry straight into the Union Cabinet without any stint as Minister of State, came following the shock exit of Ravi Shankar Prasad, one of the government’s loudest defenders.
Born in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, Vaishnaw managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp. Patnaik gave him outright support after PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah made it clear that they want the ex-bureaucrat in the Upper House. He was inducted into the BJP barely six days ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on June 28, 2019. Two years later, he landed himself a job in India’s cabinet ahead of veteran saffron leaders from the state of Odisha.
Political experts say that it is his wide experience in both public and private sectors that brightened his prospects and turned tables in his favour when Modi was finalising the names of ministers to be inducted in Wednesday’s reshuffle.
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