Wed Dec 04 16:22:21 UTC 2024: **From Shy Backbencher to Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis’s Unlikely Rise**
Nagpur, Maharashtra – Devendra Fadnavis, the newly appointed Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has an unlikely backstory. His teachers at Saraswati Vidyalaya in Nagpur’s Shankar Nagar recall a quiet, shy student who always sat at the back of the classroom. This unassuming schoolboy, who completed his 8th to 10th standard from the same last bench, now occupies the state’s highest office.
Principal Pushpa Anant Narayan recounted that even at a 25-year reunion of his 10th-grade class in 2010, Fadnavis chose to sit on his old backbench. His former class teacher, Savitri Subramaniam, described him as a quiet and serious student, though incredibly popular among his classmates. She shared an anecdote about the class collectively facing punishment for misdeeds, the culprit always remaining unidentified. Despite his father, Gangadhar Rao Fadnavis, being an MLC/MLA during his schooling, Fadnavis remained unassuming, often seen in simple slippers, a cloth bag, and curly hair.
After graduating in 1985, Fadnavis maintained ties with his alma mater, frequently attending school events. Saraswati Vidyalaya is immensely proud of its distinguished alumnus’s achievement. The story highlights Fadnavis’s remarkable transformation from a reserved backbencher to a powerful and influential leader in Maharashtra.
First Piper 