From 'Javed bhai' to BJP leader: The story behind Prakash Javadekar's Muslim mix-up
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): An impeccable and hardworking worker who has accompanied the BJP from its inception to its peak. His journey as an ordinary worker continues. We are talking about senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, who has served as a Union Minister. He has held numerous roles in the party and government, fulfilling all responsibilities with complete honesty and dedication.
Born on January 30, 1951, in Pune, Maharashtra, Prakash Javadekar has been a stalwart in the BJP throughout his life. There's an anecdote from his life where people mistook him for a Muslim and he was presented in newspapers as a new Muslim face. This story resonated during the Citizenship Act's passage.
When public outrage against the Citizenship Act was evident, and people were ready to riot on the streets without knowing the full scope of the law, the government and the BJP decided to send some leaders among the Muslims to explain that the Citizenship Act would not take away the citizenship of any Indian. A meeting was held in Delhi regarding this. Many senior BJP leaders were present at the meeting, and a funny incident involving Prakash Javadekar was heard.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain was also present at the meeting. He was addressing Prakash Javadekar as "Javed Bhai." People in the meeting were surprised as to why Shahnawaz Hussain was calling him "Javed Bhai Jaan." Shahnawaz Hussain recounted an anecdote. According to Hussain, the two had the opportunity to visit Jammu and Kashmir together. They had gone there as part of a delegation. When Shahnawaz Hussain and Prakash Javadekar arrived in Jammu, local newspapers misread Javadekar's name as "Javedkar." They also wrote that this was the BJP's new Muslim face, whom the party wanted to field in Jammu and Kashmir.
Prakash Javadekar thus became "Javed." Shahnawaz Hussain often jokingly calls him by this name. Some other BJP leaders also began to quip that Javadekar should be sent among the Muslims because he is "Javed Bhai." News articles often refer to this incident as being attributed to Shahnawaz Hussain.
Prakash Javadekar's political journey began with the ideas of the RSS. His association with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1969 was a significant stepping stone in his political journey. In 1972, he was secretary of a student committee led by Gopinath Munde that honored Jayaprakash Narayan. During his college days at MES College of Commerce, Pune, he came into contact with renowned history professor Shripati Shastri and RSS pracharak Damu Anna Date, who played a key role in shaping his political ideology. ABVP professors Yashwantrao Kelkar and Bal Apte were also very influential for him during those days.
During these years, as an active student leader, he successfully led various student movements. Given his popularity among students due to his selfless and dedicated work, he was elected as a Senate member of the University of Pune in 1975. Under his leadership, the ABVP organized a Satyagraha in 11 colleges of Pune on December 11, 1975, at 11 a.m. to protest against the Emergency regime. As a student leader and Senate member, he himself led the Satyagraha on the Pune University campus. He was soon arrested and imprisoned in Yerwada Jail.
Even in prison, he and his fellow activists started a weekly magazine called "Nirbhay," which became extremely popular among the approximately 400 political prisoners there. Inspired by Balasaheb Deoras, the then RSS chief imprisoned in Yerwada Jail, he and his colleagues organized several protests against the Emergency inside the prison. This proved to be a turning point in Prakash Javadekar's life. Since then, he has remained active in public life. He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party at its inception in 1980.
To focus on party work, Prakash Javadekar resigned from the Bank of Maharashtra in 1981 and began working as a full-time party worker. He was appointed General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). He worked tirelessly in the state of Maharashtra, and the following year, he was appointed a member of the BJYM's National Executive and the National Convener of the BJYM's Unemployment Cell. He wrote extensively on unemployment issues and organized various protests on the issue at the state and national levels.
Prakash Javadekar, along with other leaders, led the "Sangharsh Rath" march across Maharashtra, gathering thousands of young people in Mumbai on March 10, 1989. According to information available on PrakashJavdekar.com, this was the first "rath" of its kind organized by the BJYM or BJP.
In 2008, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. A loyal party member, he vacated his Rajya Sabha seat for coalition partner Ramdas Athawale in 2014, but the party returned him to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. He was first given independent charge as Minister of State for Environment in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first cabinet.
He later held the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a short time and was finally appointed Cabinet Minister for Human Resource Development. Known as a troubleshooter within the BJP, he was given responsibility during the Karnataka Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan.