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Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw embraces engineer on finding out they are alumnus of the same college

Ashwini Vaishnaw also talked about how the juniors in his college referred to their seniors as “boss”, and jocularly asked his former college mate to refer to him as the boss.

Published on: Jul 10, 2021, 13:33:38 IST
By | Written by | Edited by , Hindustan Times, New Delhi
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Ashwini Vaishnaw, who took charge as the Union railway minister on July 8 after the cabinet reshuffle, was seen embracing an engineer form the Indian Railways signal department after finding out they both belonged to MBM Engineering College in Jodhpur.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, 51, will also be heading the ministries of Electronics and Information Technology and Communications along with the Railways (PTI Photo) (PTI)
Ashwini Vaishnaw, 51, will also be heading the ministries of Electronics and Information Technology and Communications along with the Railways (PTI Photo) (PTI)

In a video clip, the new minister can be seen embracing a Railways employee, after someone from the department pointed out that they both belong to the same college. Vaishnaw can be heard saying “Come, let us hug”.

Vaishnaw, a former Indian Administrative Services officer of the 1994-batch, graduated with a B.Tech degree from MBM Engineering College in Jodhpur and a M.Tech degree from Indian Institute Technology, Kanpur. He is also an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business.

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Vaishnaw also talked about how the juniors in his college referred to their seniors as “boss”, and jocularly asked his former college mate to refer to him as the boss. “You should call me boss from today," the minister joked.


Vaishnaw, 51, will also be heading the ministries of Electronics and Information Technology and Communications along with the Railways. He has built an illustrious career working for General Electric Co. and Siemens AG before becoming an entrepreneur. After venturing into politics, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and has also been a part of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s administration.

His classmate from Wharton, Nipun Mehta, who is the chief executive officer of a fintech start-up Ula was all praises for his batchmate. He told Bloomberg that “Ashwini was one of the most brilliant people in my Wharton MBA class. He was older than most of us and had accomplished so much before coming to Wharton so the class learned quite a lot from him,”

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