Jamnagar man gets Gujarat NSUI reins

With the announcement of Hardik Trivedi, president of Jamnagar unit of National Students Union of India (NSUI), as the Gujarat state president of the student body, on August 3, the suspense hanging over the coveted post has come to a close.

Apart from this, Gujarat state general secretary of NSUI, Shahnavaz Shaikh, who was also amongst top four final candidates for the state president’s post, has been promoted to all-India level and given responsibility as the all India general secretary. Interestingly, both Shaikh and Trivedi come from non-political backgrounds.  Rahul Gandhi had taken personal interest in the selection of the candidates for the two posts and was closely monitoring the process. The whole exercise covered a long span of nearly 12 months.

Trivedi’s father is a state government employee. Many insiders of the NSUI believe that Trivedi is a close aide of Vikram Madam, sitting member of parliament from Jamnagar. Sources also allege that Trivedi did not have much experience, at least the amount required for such a top post. On the other hand, Shaikh is a student of third-year BCom and associated with NSUI for the last six years, his father Dr Abdul Raheman is a practicing general physician in Vadaj.

In the selection process for NSUI state president, 70 members were shortlisted after rounds of talent hunt and after further filtration process and training, 13 and eight candidates, respectively, were shortlisted.

“In final round of selection four candidates that included NSUI Ahmedabad city unit president Vinaysinh Tomar, Shahnavaz Shaikh, Hardik Trivedi and Devsi Modhwadia from Porbandar, were shortlisted. Rahul Gandhi had interviewed all four candidates and finally selected Trivedi for the top post.”