Madhukeshwar Desai
Vice President Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
Assumed office
2013
Personal details
Born25 August 1987 (1987-08-25) (age 36)
Mumbai
NationalityIndian
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Alma materChrist College
ProfessionLawyer

Madhukeshwar Desai (born 25 August 1987) is an Indian lawyer and politician, he is the great grand son of former Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai. In 2013, he was appointed the National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party[1][2] at 25, making him the youngest Vice President in the history of the party.[3] He was re appointed National Vice President for a second and third term in 2017 and 2021.[4][5][6]

Madhukeshwar set up the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration in 2016 and currently serves as its CEO.[7] He was named one of the 50 most influential young Indians for the year 2017 by GQ Magazine.[8][9][10] His journey was captured in a biographical account along with eight political leaders in the book, 'The Young And the Restless'[11] and subsequently in the book, 'India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next Generation of Political Leaders' by authors, Prof. Pradeep Chhibber and Harsh Shah.[12]

The World Economic Forum named Madhukeshwar one of the 100 Young Global Leaders for the year 2023.[13][14]

Personal life

Madhukeshwar Desai did his schooling from G.D Somani and Kensri School, subsequently completing his education in Law from Christ College, Bangalore.

Madhukeshwar married Sneha Menon Desai a journalist by profession who hails from Bangalore.[15] They have a son. The couple currently resides in Mumbai.[16]

Political life

Madhukeshwar is the great grandson of former Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai.[17][18]

The legacy of India's first non-congress Prime Minister[19] was claimed by both The Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Prior to his entry into Indian Politics he was approached by both major political parties in India.[1][20] He chose the BJP because of its ideology and is considered to be a close ally of current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.[17]

While in College, he organised student events under the name, The Young Leaders Collective[21] which focused on political sensitization and student related issues.[22]

In 2011, he started working with the Bharatiya Janata Party, informally. Madhukeshwar accompanied Shri L. K. Advani on his Jan Chetana Yatra for 40 days across 23 states. He assisted in the form of researching and writing on the topic of black money, corruption and inflation for his speeches as well as contributed towards the white paper on black money subsequently. He was appointed National Vice President of the BJYM in May 2013, the youngest in the history of the party and given the charge of Bihar.[19] He toured extensively across Bihar, strengthening the organization at the grass root level & fulfilled this role until 2015, after which he was given the charge of Kerala. Besides working in Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar, for the 2014 General elections, he worked specifically in the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, which the BJP won for the first time in the history of the party.[1] The BJP rewarded Madhukeshwar for his work, and re appointed him National Vice President of the BJYM in 2017 for a second consecutive term.[4]

Madhukeshwar was part of the core team responsible for bringing Global Citizen Festival to Mumbai.[23] The event saw a crowd attendance of over 80,000 people,[24] with over 5.8 Billion US Dollars committed towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.[25] The headline acts for the Festival were Coldplay and Jay Z. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi also addressed the festival.[26]

In 2017, Madhukeshwar was elected Vice Chair of the International Young Democrat Union. the IYDU is a union of 71 democratic countries, bringing together young leaders from across the world. With his election to the IYDU board, this will be the first time that India will find representation at this forum.[27]

Madhukeshwar's YouTube interview with comedian Kunal Kamra went viral on the internet in 2017, creating a new genre of political communication.[28][29][30]

Madhukeshwar was included in the Lok Sabha strategy committee for the 2019 General elections by BJP National President, Amit Shah.[31]

During the 2019 elections, Priyanka Sharma a BJYM activist in Kolkata was illegally arrested for sharing a meme of West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee on Facebook.[32] Madhukeshwar and his team filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India, challenging her arrest, leading to her immediate release and strictures being passed against the West Bengal government.[33]

Professional life

An Advocate by profession, Madhukeshwar works with the Government of Maharashtra on the International Financial Services Centre coming up at the BKC, and established the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, where he currently serves as its CEO.[34][35] The MCIA is the product of a joint effort between the international and domestic arbitration community and the business community.[7]

Madhukeshwar was elected Vice President of the Maharasthra Basketball Association in March, 2019.[36]

Desai serves as a Director on the Dravid-Padukone Centre for Sports Excellence in Bangalore, the largest private sports facility in the country.[37]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Morarji Desai's great grandson Madhukeshwar Desai joins BJP's youth wing as vice-president". timesofindia-economictimes. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  2. "Srinivasan's woes compound - Mumbai Mirror -". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  3. "BJP makes Morarji great grandson youth wing V-P - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Face value - Ahmedabad Mirror". Ahmedabad Mirror. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  5. "Tejasvi Surya announces his new BJYM team, Raju Bista made gen secy". Sify. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  6. NYOOOZ. "Tejasvi Surya names new BYJM team Chandigarh s Amandeep is media in charge | Chandigarh NYOOOZ". NYOOOZ. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  7. 1 2 "International arbitration centre to open in August at Nariman Point - Mumbai Mirror -". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  8. "GQ's Most Influential Young Indians 2017: Next Gen". GQ India. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  9. Kulkarni, Prachi (8 July 2017). "GQ 50 Most Influential Young Indians Awards: Ranveer Singh, Rajkummar Rao Graced The Ceremony With Their Style Game On Point". India.com. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  10. "100 Future Leaders: The World's Most Influential Young People in Government". Apolitical. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  11. "Book Review – The Young And The Restless, Youth And Politics In India". The Financial Express. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  12. Vij, Shivam (9 September 2020). "How politicians win and lose the trust of voters". ThePrint. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  13. PTI (14 March 2023). "Aaditya Thackeray, BJP Yuva Morcha's Madhukeshwar Desai on World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders list". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  14. "जागतिक युवा नेत्यांच्या यादीत आदित्य ठाकरे, मधुकेश्वर देसाई". Loksatta (in Marathi). Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  15. "L K Advani, Gowda Attend Wedding of Morarji Desai Kin". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  16. "Late Morarji Desai's great grandson gets married in Bengaluru - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  17. 1 2 "In Bihar, Morarji great grandson to root for Modi - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  18. "In Gujarat it's only NaMo. 1000 NSUI activists join BJP, even Congress foot soldiers don't want Rahul baba's democracy". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Can Modi follow in Morarji's footsteps? - The Times of India". The Times of India. 10 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  20. "Morarji Desai's great grandson is BJP youth wing V-P - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  21. "Platform to encourage young leaders | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  22. "YLC: Student politics sans the party line". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  23. "Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Martin meet school children in Mumbai, speak about importance of hygiene". 19 November 2016.
  24. Kanetkar, Riddhima. "Here's how the Global Citizen India movement is taking the youth by storm". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  25. "Coldplay's India concert: How to 'earn' tickets, explained by Global Citizen charity". Firstpost. 12 September 2016.
  26. "Global Citizen Festival India: PM Narendra Modi Addresses 80,000 Young Attendees". News18. 20 November 2016.
  27. "IYDU Board 2016 – 2017". International Young Democrat Union. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  28. Chatterjee, Suprateek (16 March 2018). "Kunal Kamra: The accidental revolutionary". mint. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  29. Rao, Soumya. "A new Indian comedy podcast is finally making politicians laugh. How many will say Shut Up Ya Kunal?". Scroll.in. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  30. Quint, The (18 January 2021). "Why Do I Need to Sign Consent Form for Covaxin But Not Covishield?". TheQuint. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  31. "भाजपा ने शुरू की चुनाव की तैयारी, बनाई चुनाव के लिए समितियां". Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  32. Johari, Aarefa. "BJP worker arrested for Mamata meme is free. What happens to others targeted for social media posts?". Scroll.in. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  33. Mahajan, Shruti. "Mamata Banerjee: SC censures Kolkata Police, WB Govt for not releasing Priyanka Sharma immediately". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  34. "Mumbai: Documents to float proposal for IFSC centre in BKC to be ready in couple of weeks | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  35. "Maharashtra, Gujarat in the race for India's first IAC". The Hindu. 1 April 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  36. "महाराष्ट्र बास्केटबॉल संघटनेची निवडणूक वादाच्या भोवऱ्यात!". Loksatta (in Marathi). 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  37. "Sports facility Bangalore".
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