Vijay Goel (politician)

Vijay Goel (born 4 January 1954) is an Indian politician and a former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Statistic and Implementation in the NDA government. A former Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Goel is affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He became president of the Delhi unit of the BJP in February 2013.[2] He was elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in 2014.[3]

Vijay Goel

MP
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
2014–2020
Succeeded byRajendra Gehlot
ConstituencyRajasthan
Minister of State Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
In office
3 September 2017 – 24 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byS.S. Ahluwalia and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Succeeded byArjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan
Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Minister of State for Statistics & Programme Implementation[1]
In office
3 September 2017 – 24 May 2019
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
In office
1 July 2002 – 1 July 2004
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of State for Planning[1]
In office
1 September 2001 – 1 November 2001
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office[1]
In office
1 Sept. 2001 – 1 July 2004
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
1998–2004
Preceded byJai Prakash Agarwal
Succeeded byKapil Sibal
ConstituencyChandni Chowk
In office
1996–1998
Preceded byJagdish Tytler
Succeeded byMadan Lal Khurana
ConstituencyDelhi Sadar
Personal details
Born (1954-01-04) 4 January 1954
Delhi, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)Prof. Preeti Goel
Children2
ResidenceDelhi, India
Alma materShri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi (M.Com.)
Law Center, University of Delhi, Delhi (LL.B.)
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionPolitical & Social Worker.
Websitewww.vijaygoel.in

He is the former Delhi University Students' Union president and an alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce.[4][5] He has been the Member of Parliament for the 11th, 12th and 13th Lok Sabha representing the Sadar and Chandni Chowk constituencies of Delhi. He also served as the Union Minister of State of Labour, Parliamentary Affairs, Statistics & Programme Implementation and Youth Affairs & Sports in the National Democratic Alliance (India) government until 2004.

Early and personal life

Vijay Goel was born to former Delhi Vidhan Sabha Speaker and BJP member Charti Lal Goel[6] and Basanti Devi on 4 January 1954. He has an M.Com. degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce and a LL.B. degree from the University of Delhi.[7] He was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and was jailed during Emergency in India.[8] After his release from jail, Goel became president of Delhi University Students' Union in 1977 as a candidate of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.[7][6] He married Preeti Goel, a professor at the University of Delhi, on 8 March 1985. The couple have a son and a daughter.[9]

Goel was the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) treasurer in 1974-1975. He exposed corruption concerning fake certificates that was then operating at the university.[8]

Political career

Goel elected to 11th Lok Sabha from Sadar and to 12th and 13th Lok Sabha from Chandni Chowk.[7]

He served as Minister of State for Labour, Parliamentary Affairs, Statistics & Programme Implementation and Youth Affairs & Sports till 2004 in the Vajpayee Government. Goel played an instrumental role in winning the bid to host 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Later, he was among the first few people to bring out financial irregularities by officials of the Games' Organising Committee.[10][11][7]

Goel had been promoted as the BJP's candidate for Chief Minister in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly election until six weeks prior to voting day. According to some source, the electoral threat posed by the recently formed Aam Aadmi Party caused him to be replaced by Harsh Vardhan.[12][13] Other sources say that he met with opposition from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an organisation that is closely associated with the BJP and who were unhappy with how he was running the party in the state.[14]

He was elected to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in 2014.[7]

He remained the Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports from 5 July 2016 to 3 September 2017.[7] In his tenure, a dedicated portal was launched to search young, talented people in sports who otherwise go unnoticed.[15] The National Talent Search Portal[16] connects potential sportsperson to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres for training and better guidance. He became the minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs on 3 September 2017.[17]

Contributions

Under the banner of Lok Abhiyan, a socio-cultural organisation, Goel initiated protests against state-sponsored lotteries in India in 1993.[7] He led a campaign supported by over 120 MPs. The lottery was banned in India on 7 July 1998.[18]

Vijay Goel established The Toy Bank, a not for profit organisation, in 1987 that collects toys from donors, refurbishes/renews them and redistributes the toys amongst the underprivileged children in Delhi.[19] The Toy Bank was co-founded by his daughter Vidyun Goel [20]

File photo of Chaudhvin ka Chand

Goel has been actively involved in heritage conservation. As a Lok Sabha representative from Chandni Chowk, Goel hosted a two-day cultural festival "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" in 1998 to get the soul back into the 350-year-old city of Shahjahanabad and turn Chandni Chowk into a major tourist attraction in Delhi.[21] For this, among other measures, electricity polls were rooted out, pavements were cleared of encroachments, and shop shutters were painted to spruce up the locality before cultural festival.[22]

Goel also restored a 200-year-old haveli named Haveli Dharampura in Chandni Chowk with his son Siddhant Goel.[23] Vijay Goel's Haveli Dharampura has recently won prestigious UNESCO Asia-Pacific 2017 Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.[24][25][26][27][28] [29] [30]

Publications
  • Delhi, The Emperor's City: Rediscovering Chandni Chowk and its Environs, by Vijay Goel. Lustre Press, 2003. ISBN 81-7436-240-1.
  • Old Delhi and the Walled City by Vijay Goel, Om Publications 2011
  • Purane Khel, Khan-Pan aur Rehan-Sehan, by Vijay Goel, Diamond Books, 2018. ISBN 978-93-5278-941-2
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References
  1. "Biographical sketch of Vijay Goel from 13th Lok Sabha". Parliament of India. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  2. "Vijay Goel is new Delhi BJP chief". The Hindu. 16 February 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
  3. "Rajya Sabha polls: Vijay Goel among three BJP leaders elected unopposed". Ndtv.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  4. "BJP names Vijay Goel as its Delhi unit chief". Indian Express. 16 February 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  5. "DUSU Election 2017: Ex-DUSU Members Who Became Famous Politicians". NDTV.
  6. "Vijay Goel gets a cabinet berth". The Times of India. 2 September 2001. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  7. "Portfolio of Modi government ministers: Vijay Goel appointed as the new Sports Minister", The Financial Express, 5 July 2016
  8. "Biographical sketch of XII Lok Sabha". Parliament of India. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  9. "Vijay Goel". Hindustan Times. 19 April 2004.
  10. "CWG cost shot up by 1500 pc, work may not be over in time: BJP". India Today. 24 July 2010.
  11. "The Hindu : India to host 2010 Commonwealth Games". www.thehindu.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  12. "It's final: Vijay Goel out, Harsh Vardhan is BJP Delhi CM candidate - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  13. "Delhi: BJP changes CM candidate 6 weeks before polls, will it work?". Ibnlive.in.com. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  14. Bhushan, Shashi (23 October 2013). "Vijay Goel loses Delhi CM candidate race as RSS calls the shots". DNA. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  15. "Talent search portal launched". The Hindu. 27 August 2017.
  16. "National Talent Search Portal - Official Website".
  17. "Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Olympic silver medallist appointed sports minister", Hindustan Times, 3 September 2017
  18. "lottery system ban in India". The Hindu. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  19. "About Toy Bank from the founder". Toy Bank.
  20. Sebastian, Kritika Sharma (19 September 2015). "A toy bank that runs like clockwork". Thehindu.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  21. "MP Vijay Goel shows how to market Mughal heritage Chandni Chowk as tourist attraction". India Today. 21 September 1998.
  22. Hindustan Times. "Time to renovate the great residences and enjoy the culture of old Delhi".
  23. Sandhu, Veenu (2 January 2016). "A must-visit Chandni Chowk haveli?". Business Standard India. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  24. "UNESCO Bangkok Announces 2017 Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation". UNESCO. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  25. "Old Delhi's Haveli Dharampura, Mumbai's Wellington Fountain Get UNESCO Recognition". Ndtv.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  26. "Haveli Dharampura, Wellington Fountain win UNESCO recognition". Outlookindia.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  27. "UNESCO recognition for Wellington Fountain". Thehindu.com. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  28. "चांदनी चौक की हवेली धर्मपुरा को मिला यूनेस्को से सम्मान". Jagran.com. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  29. "Seven Indian sites awarded by UNESCO". Mediaindia.eu. 6 November 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  30. "Mumbai wins big at UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards". Mid-day.com. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
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