HTLS 2020: Paving India’s road for improved connectivity

Few symbolise the blend of a deep and abiding commitment to a cultural institution — in this case, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh — with an equally powerful commitment to improving India’s infrastructure and material prosperity as Nitin Gadkari. It is these twin commitments that define Gadkari’s life. Politically, Gadkari rose in the Bharatiya Janata Party hierarchy, becoming a minister in his home state of Maharashtra, taking over as party chief at a time of crisis after the 2009 polls and winning the Nagpur parliamentary seat — home to the RSS — in both 2014 and 2019. In terms of governance, Gadkari first left his stamp as a public works development minister who transformed the Mumbai-Pune expressway and, over the last six years, as a minister who has shaken India’s slow bureaucracy to deliver better outcomes in terms of infra creation. Seen as a doer, Gadkari is among the senior-most ministers in the Narendra Modi government and the man on whom rests the fate of India’s connectivity.