We are conditioned about others, to judge them by their attributes. Media is greatly responsible for creating stereotypical perceptions about people based on their ideology, faith, rural-urban divide, gender, and host of other identities that colours our mind.
Harish is a polite young man, with friendly vibes, very courteous, and is willing to listen, and appreciate things on the merit of it, and doesn’t take things personally. He has a progressive mind in a healthy body. And the glow of his persona is benign and engaging.
So, when I met Harish Nadda one evening in Khan Market, I was pleasantly surprised. This surprise galvanised into embarrassment, for I found myself guilty of harbouring preformed notions about people in a certain context. Harish is a polite young man, with friendly vibes, very courteous, and is willing to listen, and appreciate things on the merit of it, and doesn’t take things personally. He has a progressive mind in a healthy body. And the glow of his persona is benign and engaging.
We got talking. We met again to write this profile. He is from a political family that has done well but leads a simple life. To isolate him and his brother, Girish, from the hustle bustle of politics, they were sent to a residential school–Pingrove School in Kasauli. Harish is an athlete, a footballer, who also did well in academics. After school he joined a 5-year integrated law course in Noida. He shared a car with his brother to commute, which meant that they had to take the metro at least once a day as their timings didn’t match.
After doing Law, Harish went to SOAS–University of London to do a masters in Political Science in South Asia. Just to give an idea, SOAS has been voted as the most politically active university in the UK and is famous for its radical socialist politics.
Harish grew up in India, associated with RSS–that helps in “vyakti nirman” (personality development) with core values of simplicity, empathy and social responsibility,” he says succinctly. In SOAS he was an odd one out. There were occasions when he was targeted for his opinions, which he voiced unperturbed, with all humility. “I humbly beg to differ,” he’d often retort in a polite way, wouldn’t react nor would secede his ground. It was a good learning experience for him: an international perspective on India. He understood first-hand how an environment shapes impressionist minds to ten toe down on ideological lines.
He lived in Garden Halls, an intercollegiate hall of residence located at Bloomsbury in central London and worked to make his ends meet as many Indian students studying in England do. He was a helper in a gymnasium, and would get to workout free. Also, was an active member of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), a non-profit, social, educational, and cultural organisation of the Hindus living outside India. He organised events and encouraged people to be proud of their country. Without confronting people who make a living castigating India in the West; London and New York being the pet destinations where anti-India rhetoric is well received, he went about doing his work.
In his free time, he volunteered with INSA that connects all Indian students in the UK to settle down, promote their well-being, to keep them bridged with their roots.
In 2019, he came back to India, worked for a senior lawyer for a year and a half and soon started his own law firm–CSK Partners–that does a host of cases. Now his firm has nine lawyers, and is doing well. That explains his professional life. Harish is also a primary member of the BJP and does political work in his home town of Bilaspur. He is involved in various health, education and welfare schemes, and is associated with a NGO–Chetna–founded by his mother. Chetna organises employment fare, provides books, and creates and equips gyms and playing arena, also carries out various initiatives for the elderly people. He was very active providing relief during covid pandemic, ensuring ready supply of food and medicine in his town.
A fitness freak, Harish believes in “you’re what you eat.” Unlike many of his generation, Harish eats simple and measured, and is a teetotaller. He likes biking. He led the stretch across Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal of the 75 days bike trip by 75 riders, including 11 women, that traversed 34 States/UTs covering more than 18,000 kms across 75 cities /towns to commemorate India’s platinum jubilee.
He’s open to talking about his life. I got the impression that he is high on life and does things with a lot of passion. And that he’s learning, and working with people to understand the dynamics of Bharat–a vibrant nation of multitudes. Harish recently got married to Riddhi Sharma and is the son of the BJP President JP Nadda. Trees with deep roots grow tall.
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