AAP Senior Leader Raghav Chadha, Educationist Ashok Mittal and Industrialist Sanjeev Arora take charge as Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab
Right after taking his oath as a Rajya Sabha MP, Raghav Chadha pledges to use the platform to raise the problems of Punjab and the whole country
NEW DELHI / PUNJAB
Monday marked a day to be remembered for the times to come as it saw the Aam Aadmi Party’s strength double in the Rajya Sabha. Three out of AAP’s five Punjab MP-elects, Senior AAP Leader Shri Raghav Chadha, Industrialist Shri Sanjeev Arora and Educationist Shri Ashok Mittal took their oath of office today. The oath ceremony was organised in the presence of the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the family members of the new MPs. Notably, Dr Sandeep Pathak and Shri Harbhajan Singh, AAP’s other two MP-elects from Punjab will soon be taking oath per due protocols and schedules of the Rajya Sabha. Right after taking his oath as a Rajya Sabha MP, Shri Raghav Chadha pledged to use the platform to raise the problems of Punjab and the whole country.
From an ordinary volunteer to a battle-hardened General — Raghav Chadha’s rise to the house of elders
AAP Senior Leader Raghav Chadha took oath as a member of the upper house of the parliament on Monday. Raghav is often labelled as a young scion honed with creativity & resilience who is leading the Aam Aadmi Party’s efforts in Punjab, after registering his mark in Delhi. He is not just seen reflecting his political acumen towards nation building, but also empowering the organisation, structuring & executing the campaigns for the party across several states particularly, New Delhi & largely in Punjab.
His long standing mission has also been towards empowering the youth of India and bringing them to the forefront of politics. He came to limelight as the youngest national spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party who was seen debating seasoned politicians on news channels daily. It is these appearances that have given him a fan base of masses declaring love for him on social media.
There is an interesting story about how AAP happened to Shri Raghav Chadha. He went to Modern School, Barakhamba & pursued B.Com from Delhi University & then Chartered Accountancy. Immediately after completing education, he started working at firms like Grant Thornton, Deloitte, amongst others. He then went to the London School of Economics, and had set up a boutique wealth management firm there. He was at the juncture right after qualifying as a chartered accountant & exploring a life outside of India. It was during those years that the Anna Aandolan was on and towards its last leg, the decision of whether to form a party or not was being taken, and he ended up meeting Shri Arvind Kejriwal, who wanted him to get involved in the drafting of the Delhi Lokpal Bill, back in 2012, as his first task.
At the onset of his political journey, he fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully but came second on his seat, being the highest vote scorer among all AAP candidates in New Delhi. In February 2020, he contested from the Rajinder Nagar constituency in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections and recorded a commendable win against BJP’s behemoth candidate RP Singh, with a margin of 20,058 votes. Following the elections, he was awarded with an additional charge of being the Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and assigned the task of providing clean water to Delhiites. He immediately took to his office and announced Delhi Jal Board’s key priorities being 24×7 supply of clean piped water to all households and cleaning the Yamuna within the stipulated timeline of his tenure. He also started a 24×7 helpline in Rajinder Nagar Vidhan Sabha, as a direct way to connect with the assembly’s MLA Raghav Chadha, but it soon turned into a ‘lifeline’ for the residents of the area during the lockdown which resolved issues for over hundreds of residents in real-time during the day.
A bona fide Youth Icon, Shri Raghav Chadha, under the charismatic guidance of Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, strongly propels the ideals of clean politics, affordable politics & volunteerism. He was soon appointed as the party’s co-incharge for the Punjab unit ahead of assembly polls in the state in 2022. Punjab was going through challenging times, and with efforts towards ensuring education and prosperity for the masses, he undertook a responsibility to change Punjab’s circumstances, and succeed in making the Punjab state Rangla and Sunehra. It was a mammoth of a job to breach the fortress of conventional parties and nurture giant-slayers in the cradles of humble honest politics. Following the footsteps of CM Arvind Kejriwal, his guide & mentor as he calls him, who has truly transformed the way politics functions, Chadha went head-on to the challenge. He drove the party’s campaigns to an unmatchable and unprecedented victory, winning 92 seats in an assembly of 117.
Netizens lovingly call him the face of changing politics of India. His rise, in the party ranks, and in the political arena is a testament to that change itself. Soon after the Punjab triumph, the blue eyed boy of AAP was entrusted to represent the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha.
Ashok Mittal, an educationist who fought his way up the ladder
Shri Ashok Mittal is a renowned academic, reformer and social worker. He is the founder and chancellor of the prestigious educational institution, Lovely Professional University. As a son of a “Halwai”, Ashok Mittal started from an extremely humble background. In his early days, he worked in his father’s modest sweet shop in Jalandhar Cantt. He studied in a local government school but his keen interest in studies led him to graduate from GNDU with top honours. Soon after his studies, he ventured into the automobile sector, which not only provided employment opportunities to the Doab region of Punjab but also improved access to the latest automotive technology in the region. After finding tremendous success as an automotive entrepreneur, and as a way to pay back to the Punjabi community, he founded the Lovely Professional University, which soon became amongst one of the largest universities in India with students from across all the states of India and 50 countries. Since its founding, LPU has pioneered India’s largest private scholarship scheme which has given out annual scholarships of over Rs. 100 crores not only to meritorious students but also to the physically disabled. Shri Mittal has said their only aim behind setting up the university was to provide quality education accessible to students across the world. The university was established on a few acres of land as Punjab’s first private university and has now been expanded to 600 acres. Currently, there are more than 30,000 students from India and all over the world and over 3,000 faculty and staff members at the university.
Sanjeev Arora, a successful industrialist who is a philanthropist at heart
Shri Sanjeev Arora, is a renowned businessman who runs a successful export house in Ludhiana. He runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust which was established after his parents lost their lives due to cancer. He formed the Trust in 2005 in the name of his parents who had died due to cancer. Over 160 cancer patients have been treated free of cost through the Trust. Cancer patients once adopted by Trust are treated as long as treatment is required in their life. At any given time, treatment of around 30 patients is regularly being taken care of by the trust.
He has been a businessman and industrialist since 1986 and is a renowned business leader of the state. He has received several accolades for his service to the society including a state-level award. He is also on the governing board of Dayanand Medical College & Hospital. Besides, he is member of the Apex Council of Punjab Cricket Association, and Ved Mandir Trust, Daresi. The businessman has also been the secretary of the Sutlej Club for two consecutive terms.