New Delhi: From an investment banker to qualifying for the civil services, to returning to the finance sector, before finally taking the plunge into politics to “serve society” — that has been the career trajectory of Saket Misra, BJP’s candidate from Shravasti constituency in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Saket is the son of Nripendra Misra, who was principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from 2014 to 2019 and was once considered among the most powerful civil servants in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
While he has donned many hats in the past, Saket, currently a nominated member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, appointed last year, now wants to focus on his “passion to serve the people through politics”, he told ThePrint.
Saket studied economics at Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, following which he obtained a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, in 1993. He then joined Deutsche Bank and appeared for the civil services examination a year later.
He qualified for the Indian Police Service (UP cadre) in 1994 but “never joined it”, instead choosing to pursue a career in investment banking.
Saket subsequently accumulated over 20 years of experience in international investment banking and held various Asia Pacific leadership positions at Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore and Hong Kong.
He moved to India in 2016 and shifted his focus on development and poverty alleviation, especially in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Purvanchal region, he said.
A year after he officially joined the BJP in 2018, Saket was appointed adviser to the Purvanchal Vikas Board to advise the government on holistic development of eastern UP, covering around 27 districts. “In this role, I provided holistic development inputs to the state government, focusing on sustainable poverty alleviation,” he told ThePrint.
He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, under the corporate affairs ministry.
“For over 18 years, I served as an investment banker and finally, I decided to come back to India and follow my passion, which is social service. Earlier too, I used to come to eastern UP as it is my nanihaal (maternal grandmother’s birthplace). I decided to take the plunge into politics to serve the people, inspired by PM Modi’s vision of a new, vibrant and meritocratic India,” Saket told ThePrint.
His father Nripendra Misra was appointed chairman of the temple construction committee of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in February 2020.
Terming the construction of the Ram Mandir as a “great achievement” of the Modi government, Saket asserted that it had “corrected the historical anomaly in our country”.
“I spend at least 20 days in a month in Shravasti. I am fortunate to have a wife who believes that we should follow our dreams and passion. My family, my father and mother have always encouraged me,” he added.
Asked whether his family members would campaign for him, Saket said that “my mother will surely do as she hails from there (Shravasti)”.
Saket’s maternal grandfather Badlu Ram Shukla was a Lok Sabha MP from UP’s Bahraich.
A BJP functionary told ThePrint that “his (Saket’s) father’s cordial relationship with PM Modi is well known”.
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had appointed him (Saket) as adviser to the Purvanchal Vikas Board. The party took feedback from the ground as well as the state and Saket was finally given the ticket,” he added.
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A look at Shravasti
Shravasti Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh comprises five assembly constituencies — two from Shravasti district and three from Balrampur district.
The Shravasti seat, which comprises most of the erstwhile Balrampur seat, is considered a high-profile one since Balrampur is from where former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee won his first Lok Sabha election in 1957. Shravasti is also considered the abode of the Lord Buddha.
Lok Sabha elections were held in Shravasti for the first time in 2009 as the seat came into existence in 2008 as a result of a delimitation exercise. Vinay Kumar Pandey of the Congress won the seat in 2009.
In 2014, Samajwadi Party declared gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed as its candidate from Shravasti but he lost to the BJP’s Daddan Mishra. In 2019, Ram Shiromani Verma won the seat, contesting on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Saket ji,
You have taken a great step I’m from Gonda permanently settled in Lucknow. Wish you a Happy political life