Vinai Kumar Saxena’s long and steady climb to L-G Delhi’s hot seat, and the fireworks since

Here are some of the instances in which Saxena and the AAP have wrangled:

🔴 The new excise policy that the Delhi government launched in November 2021 was rolled back last July, with Saxena recommending to the Centre that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe the role of Kejriwal’s number two Manish Sisodia in making changes to the excise policy without the Delhi Cabinet’s assent and in waivers worth Rs 144 crore allegedly given to vendors. The CBI arrested Sisodia last month and over a week ago the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took his custody in connection with the case.

🔴 Last July, Saxena returned Kejriwal’s proposal for a foreign visit to Singapore for a summit saying the World Cities Summit prima facie seemed to be a conference of mayors and therefore, did not “befit attendance” by a Chief Minister.

🔴 In September, the AAP alleged that Saxena was involved in a “Rs 1,400-crore scam” in 2016 in the aftermath of demonetisation. Saxena responded by threatening legal action against AAP leaders Saurabh Bhardwaj, Atishi, Durgesh Pathak, and Jasmine Shah, among others, for making “defamatory and false” allegations.

🔴 In December, Saxena directed the Chief Secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the AAP for allegedly publishing political advertisements as government advertisements. The AAP, in response, said the L-G had “no clue” and was “dancing on the directions of the BJP”.

🔴 Late last month, the AAP government instructed officials to “stop taking direct orders” from the L-G, accusing him of bypassing the elected government through “illegal” directions. All AAP ministers wrote to secretaries of their respective departments, directing strict compliance to the Constitution, Transaction of Business Rules (TBR) and the Constitution Bench judgment of the Supreme Court and to report any such orders from the L-G to the minister in charge.

🔴 Weeks after Saxena gave sanction for a CBI probe against Sisodia over allegations that the Delhi government formed a feedback unit (FBU) in 2015 to “collect political intelligence”, the L-G last week directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to take action on a complaint demanding that AAP leaders be tried for sedition and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act be slapped against them for alleged “snooping and spying”.

Saxena has had an unusual career graph — from the corporate sector to NGO activism to the world of khadi — before taking over arguably the hottest gubernatorial seat in the country. His path to Delhi was paved by stints in Gujarat and as the head of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). He took over the KVIC chairmanship in 2015, spending seven years on the job.

Before KVIC, Saxena, who belongs to Uttar Pradesh and is an alumnus of Kanpur University, spent most of his working life in Gujarat. The 64-year-old joined Rajasthan-based cement manufacturing firm JK Group around 1984. In the 1990s, the company appointed him the general manager in charge of the Dholera Port Project, a joint project of JK Group, Adani Group and the Gujarat government. He was later elevated to the position of CEO and Director of the project. The port was to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore in the Gulf of Khambhat and received formal approval from the Gujarat Maritime Board in January 2006 but never took off.

In 1991, Saxena founded an NGO called the National Council for Civil Liberties that later took on Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar. Patkar was one of the most fierce opponents of the Sardar Sarovar Project being pushed by the Modi-led Gujarat government.
A criminal trial against Saxena and others is still on in Ahmedabad Metropolitan Court over an alleged assault on Patkar at Sabarmati Ashram on April 7, 2002, during a peace meeting. The other accused include current Ahmedabad city BJP chief and former Mayor Amit P Shah and state BJP leader Amit Thaker.

But that did not stop Saxena’s rise. In 2017, the KVIC held its first-ever meeting on the Sabarmati Ashram premises in Ahmedabad, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Champaran movement. Saxena claimed he brought about a “turnaround” of the KVIC in his tenure. In his numerous tweets as KVIC head, he always thanked PM Modi’s vision for all that he had achieved. The KVIC also distributed bee boxes in Banaskantha district of Gujarat as part of its “Honey Mission” to mark the launch of PM Modi’s “Sweet Revolution”.

In 2017, a controversy erupted when the KVIC replaced Mahatma Gandhi’s photos with that of Modi in its annual calendars and diaries. Saxena defended the move saying Modi was “khadi’s biggest brand ambassador”. Saxena also built a reputation for zealously guarding the use of the khadi word itself as the KVIC chairman. In 2018, the KVIC sued FabIndia for using the KVIC trademark charkha and selling clothing with khadi branding. FabIndia had to give an undertaking that it was “presently” not using the word ‘khadi’ and that if it wanted to do so in the future, it would give the KVIC a four-week notice. The KVIC also sought Rs 525 crore in damages from FabIndia in another suit that remains pending.

In 2021, the KVIC sued the Khadi Design Council of India and others, leading to the Delhi High Court issuing an injunction order prohibiting them from “manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising, directly or indirectly providing any kind of goods and/or services under the trademark ‘KHADI’”.