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This union minister was rusticated from SRCC
The stories of DU’s Bollywood alumni have been told many a times. But there are many ministers who have walked the hallowed path of Delhi University as students, and have interesting tales to share. Vijay Goel, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, is one such.
Vijay Goel, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports is an alumni of Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC). And he has quite an interesting college life. He shares some of the anecdotes with us.
Goel always wanted to lead the crowd and bring about a change. In the first year of college, he contested the students’ union election. “During my initial days of college, Arun Jaitley used to be the students’ union president. Then, I became the president of Delhi University Students’ Union in 1977 as a candidate of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the same party to which Jaitley belonged. And Rajat Sharma was the general secretary,” says the BJP leader, who is a Shri Ram College of Commerce graduate.
Recalling the political scenario of his time, Goel says, “Bada jabardast mahaul hota tha us time. We used to hangout at the law faculty campus. Vo politics ka adda hota tha. Youth organisation ke log bhi vahi aate the. There was a lot of agitation and due to one of the demonstrations; I was rusticated from the college. We were demanding postponing of exams because of the tornado and it turned violent.”
Not may know that Goel was also a national level kho-kho player. “Apart from studies, I was good in sports as well. And I won almost all debate competitions,” he says. Interestingly, besides Goel, many generations of his family went to the same college. “My whole family is from SRCC. Right from my father to my brother to my kids, we are proud SRCC graduates,” says the minister, who is also known as a lover of verse and art.
