"Polite, Cheerful, Sensitive": Teacher Recalls 'Back Bencher' Devendra Fadnavis

Devendra Fadnavis, who is set to become the chief minister of Maharashtra for a third time, was a sensitive, polite and helpful student who never boasted about his family's political background, recalls one of his school teachers.

He used to sit on the back row benches in the school as he was one of the taller students, says Savitri Subramanium, who was Fadnavis' teacher in Saraswati Vidyalaya here from Class 8 to 10.

Mr Fadnavis was on Wednesday unanimously elected as the Maharashtra BJP legislature party leader, paving the way for his swearing in as the chief minister for a third time. His first stint as the CM was for a full five-year term between 2014 to 2019, while the second one lasted just around 80 hours in November 2019.

A six-time MLA who served as the youngest mayor of Nagpur, Fadnavis completed his school education in Nagpur - the second capital of Maharashtra.

Recalling his nature, Subramanium said, "Fadnavis was average and unextraordinary in studies, but studied well. He was a very polite, cheerful and sensitive student." As he was one of the taller students, he used to sit on the back row benches in the classroom along with other taller students, she said.

His entire class batch was very understanding. Fadnavis was very sensitive and used help other students in need, she added.

"There was one polio-affected student in their class, who needed help to move around. The entire class, including Fadnavis always helped him. In fact, the entire class did not move to the upper floors so that the particular student does not face problems," Subramanium said.

She said she never thought that Fadnavis would become a good orator as he never came on stage or performed on stage during the school days.

"He may have inculcated these qualities during his participation in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as a student activist," she added.

Subramanium recalls the BJP leader as a very polite and simple student, who never boasted about his family's political background even as his father Gangadharrao Fadnavis was an MLC at that time.

"Fadnavis was always very clear in his principles and used to speak with clarity due to his parents' 'sanskars'," she said.

Subramanium remembers that after Fadnavis became the mayor of Nagpur at a very young age (of 27), he was felicitated at the school. She also recalls Fadnavis coming to school with his family during a reunion of his batch.

Expressing happiness over Fadnavis set to become the chief minister of Maharashtra again, Subramanium said she was very proud of his achievement, and advised him to take all the sections of the society along and unite the people of Maharashtra to make the state big again.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)