‘I was rusticated from the college’

Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel always wanted to lead the crowd and bring about a change. In the first year of college, Vijay Goel contested the students’ union elections. “During my initial days of the college, Arun Jaitley used to be the president. Then, I became president of Delhi University Students’ Union in 1977 as a candidate of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the same party to which Jaitley belonged. And Rajat Sharma was the general secretary,” says the BJP leader, who is a Shri Ram College of Commerce graduate.

Recalling the political scenario of his time, Goel recalls, “Bada jabardast mahaul hota tha us time. We used to hangout at law faculty campus. Vo politics ka adda hota tha. Youth organisation ke log bhi vahi aate the. There was a lot of agitation and due to one of the demonstrations; I was rusticated from the college. We were demanding the postponing of exams because of the tornodo and it turned violent.”

Not may know that Goel was also a national level khokho player. “Apart from studies, I was good in sports as well. And I won almost all debate competitions,” he says.

Not just Goel, his whole family graduated from SRCC. “My whole family is from SRCC. Right from my father to my brother to my kids, we are proud SRCC graduates,” says the minister.

PHOTO: AMAL KS/HT