New Delhi: The official website of the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) describes Vinai Kumar Saxena — whose name was announced as that of the new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Monday — as a “man with the vision”.
For the past seven years, between 2015 and 2022, Saxena has been serving as the chairman of the KVIC. According to a senior KVIC official, who has worked closely with Saxena, his stint here is seen as defining years for the agency, that transformed the perception about khadi, making it internationally popular.
His work at KVIC also brought him close to Prime Minister Modi, the official added.
While the names of several retired bureaucrats and politicians had been doing the rounds for days for the post of Delhi L-G, it was Saxena’s name which was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind’s office Monday.
“PM Modi is impressed with Saxena’s work in Khadi and the way he made Brand Khadi internationally acclaimed in just seven years,” said a senior official in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), while talking of his appointment as the new L-G of Delhi.
The second official added: “The PM always carries some items of Khadi India while on his foriegn trips and presents them as gifts to his international allies, friends and guests. It was the PM’s vision to promote the cottage industry of India, which Saxena implemented.”
Indeed the Prime Minister was also seen endorsing Khadi during a speech in Tokyo Monday, on the sidelines of his Quad Summit attendance in Japan. “Khadi, which after independence had become just a costume for politicians, has seen a resurgence,” said Modi. He added that today Khadi has gone global.
Transforming Khadi
Born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh, Saxena graduated from Kanpur University in 1983.
He started his career as an assistant officer in a private company in Rajasthan, before relocating to Gujarat in 1995, as general manager of the proposed Dholera port project, being developed by Adani Ports Ltd and JK White cement. He was subsequently elevated to the position of CEO, and then director, of the project.
According to sources in the BJP, he drew the attention of senior BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionaries — including that of PM Modi — when an NGO, National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), started by him, built a counter movement against Medha Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan, against the construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat, and in support of families affected it.
The KVIC website, in its introduction of Saxena, refers to the Patkar’s movement as an “evil design” that was “exposed” by Saxena.
In 2015, a year after Modi first assumed office as the PM, Saxena was made the chairman of KVIC.
In the last financial year, 2021-2022, Khadi beat all Indian FMCG companies with a turnover of over Rs 1 lakh crore. According to the organisation’s annual reports, it’s turnover during the 2012-2013 financial year had been only around Rs 1,000 crore.
Hours before, Saxena’s name was announced as that of the Delhi L-G, the KVIC chairman had tweeted his gratitude for PM Modi, for the “resurgence of Khadi”.
The resurgence of Khadi & its soaring global popularity is a result of the Hon’ble PM's support & the persistent appeal for "Swadeshi". Thanks sir for inspiring the generation & supporting Khadi like never before @PMOIndia @MeNarayanRane @minmsme pic.twitter.com/ynwK9xj3Bo
— Chairman KVIC (@ChairmanKvic) May 23, 2022
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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