Arvind Ganpat Sawant (born 31 December 1951) is an Indian politician from the Shiv Sena (UBT) party who have served as Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises from 30 May

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

to 11 November 2019. He is Member of Lok Sabha since

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. On 11 November 2019, Sawant quit as union minister in

Modi government The premiership of Narendra Modi began 26 May 2014 with his First swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, swearing-in as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He succeeded Manmohan Singh of the Indian N ...

due to ongoing power tussle between

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and Shiv Sena in follow up to 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election.

Early life

Sawant was born on 31 December 1951 to Ganpat Pandurag and Aashalata Ganpat Sawant. He has received a B. Sc. degree from Bhavan's College of

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. His family are middle-class. Prior to joining politics, he worked as an engineer with the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, the largest landline provider in

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Political career

Early politics

In 1968, Sawant started his political career with Shiv Sena as a 'gat pramukh', the lowest rank of the party hierarchy. During this time, he worked as a polling agent and also participated in various protests which were organized by the party. He also joined Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti, which worked to demand jobs for the local people.

Electoral politics

In 1995, Sawant took voluntary retirement and joined Shiv Sena. In 1996, he was elected to the

Maharashtra Legislative Council The Maharashtra Legislative Council or Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. Maharashtra Legislature Leaders Party Group Leader & Chief Whip and Whip Location Th ...

. In the council, he raised issues pertaining to slum development, demanded prominence for

Marathi language Marathi (; , 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲, , ) is a Classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra and is also spoken in Goa, and parts of Guj ...

, and demanded housing for the mill workers. Although he managed to get elected to the council twice, he lost the election during his third attempt as the party was short of numbers in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. In 2010, he was made the deputy leader and the official

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the party. During his tenure as the party spokesperson, he defended the party in news channel debates at a time when the party was criticised for its policy on migrants to

. In the

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

, the party announced that Sawant would contest from the Mumbai South constituency. He was considered a "weak candidate" by ''

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'' compared to his main competitor, Milind Deora of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party. Sawant defeated Deora by a margin of approximately 120,000 votes. His attendance record in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

was more than 90%. He was also one of the members who presented the highest number of private-member bills. He served as a member of the Estimates Committee,

Standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

on Petroleum and Natural Gas, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, and Committee on Estimates. In the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

, Sawant defeated Deora by more than 100,000 votes. Subsequently, he was made the minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. On 11 November 2019 he had to resign from the Modi government cabinet because of power tussle between Shivsena and BJP.

Personal life

On 25 May 1982, Sawant married Anuya Arvind Sawant. They have one son and one daughter.

References

, - , -

External links

Shiv Sena Home Page

MP Track
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawant, Arvind Living people Shiv Sena politicians India MPs 2014–2019 Marathi politicians Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra 1951 births Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council India MPs 2019–2024 Narendra Modi ministry Shiv Sena (UBT) politicians India MPs 2024–2029 Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance candidates in 2024 Indian general election