Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis is an Indian politician who is the current Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He also served as the 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, in office from 31 October 2014 to 8 November 2019. He was the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra from Bharatiya Janata Party. Devendra Fadnavis took an oath for the second term as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 23 November 2019. He resigned on 26 November 2019, just three days after taking an oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and a day before a floor test in the Assembly of Maharashtra. Later he resigned as CM stating the lack of a BJP majority as the reason. Fadnavis is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. At the age of 44, he became the second youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar. Fadnavis represents the Nagpur South West constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He was the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra from Bharatiya Janata Party and the second after Vasantrao Naik to have completed his full tenure as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Early life and education
Fadnavis was born in a Brahmin family in Nagpur. His father, Gangadhar Fadnavis, served as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur. His mother, Sarita Fadnavis, who is a descendant of the Kaloti family of Amravati, was the former director of the Vidarbha Housing Credit Society. Fadnavis received his initial schooling from Indira Convent, named after then Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi. During the Emergency, Fadnavis' father, being a member of the Jan Sangh, was incarcerated for participating in anti-government protests. Fadnavis subsequently refused to continue his schooling at Indira Convent as he did not want to attend a school named after the Prime Minister he held responsible for jailing his father. He then transferred to the Saraswati Vidyalaya school, where he received most of his schooling. After completing ten years of schooling, Fadnavis attended Dharampeth Junior College for his higher secondary. After completing his 12th standard, he enrolled at Government Law College, Nagpur for a five-year integrated law degree and graduated in 1992. Fadnavis also has a post-graduate degree in Business Management and a diploma in Methods and Techniques of Project Management from DSE, Berlin.
Political career
Fadnavis began his political career in the mid-nineties. Since that time he served in multiple leadership roles for both his political party and as an elected representative. As a college student, Fadnavis was an active member of the BJP affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He won his first municipal election from Ram Nagar ward. Five years later, Fadnavis became the youngest mayor of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and became the second youngest mayor in the history of India. He is representing Nagpur in the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra State since 1999.
Term as Chief Minister of Maharashtra
After the 2014 assembly elections, Fadnavis was elected the legislative party leader by the BJP MLAs in the presence of the party's central observers, Union Home ministerRajnath Singh and the party's National General Secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda. As the leader of the largest party in the assembly, Fadnavis was appointed as the chief minister of Maharashtra on 31 October 2014. His government won a confidence motion by voice vote on 12 November 2014 allowing it to govern.
Call for Patriotic slogans
In April 2016, while addressing a rally in Nashik, Fadnavis said that, every Indian will have to chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', and those who refuse to chant the slogan should not live in the country and instead go to Pakistan or China. The day after these statements, Fadnavis issued a clarification after he found himself embroiled in a controversy over the issue.
In November 2019, Devendra Fadnavis formed a government on 23 November with the help of Ajit Pawar of NCP; however, this government only lasted for a few days. During this short period, Fadnavis chaired a climate resilience meeting with representatives of the World Bank, restarted the Chief Minister's refund cell, and sanctioned 5380 crore in aid for farmers.
