My name is Shaikh: UPSC rank holder says he had to give Hindu name to find accommodation

21-year-old Ansar Ahamad Shaikh has made himself and his family proud. Securing an All-India Rank of 361 in his first attempt to crack the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, Shaikh has battled against tough odds to achieve this feat.

Shaikh belongs to Jalna's Shedgaon village and is the son of an autorickshaw driver. A graduate in political science from Fergusson College, Pune, he has also revealed the kind of discrimination he faced in the city while looking for a PG accommodation.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Shaikh was forced to adopt a non-Muslim surname in order to find a room. He told the daily that he was once refused accommodation, which then prompted him to give a different name the next time. After securing a high rank in UPSC however, Shaikh says he will be proud to reveal his true name henceforth and not hide behind another identity. "I had said that my name was Shubham, which was actually my friend’s name. Now I don’t have to hide my real name,” said Shaikh.

Shaikh says that one of the things he would like to work on in future is reducing differences between Hindus and Muslims. 

Talking about the difficult circumstances he grew up in, Shaikh says education was not given too much importance in his family, with his younger brother dropping out of school and his two sisters being married off at an early age. Asserting that there was no short cut to success, he told the daily that he prepared for almost 10-12 hours every day, for a period of three years. Students need to question themselves as to why they want to be in the system, he believes.