DR Harsh Vardhan, BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate in Delhi, is known for taking up the toughest tasks and taking them to logical conclusion. Against the then Central Government’s hesitation to undertake a massive project like polio eradication he demonstrated that sincerity and honesty of purpose can move mountains. And the entire nation witnessed that he, as Health Minister of Delhi, started a battle against Polio in Delhi and made it a national movement ultimately eradicating polio from India. His honesty and ability have been unquestionable and par excellence.
Apart from polio, he also espoused the cause of ensuring proper and adequate supply of drugs in government hospitals. The drug policy designed by him for Delhi was followed by not only majority of the states in India but also by the so-called developed counters like UK and many Latin American Countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) propagated it world over as Delhi Model. Not only this, he introduced a Bill against passive smoking to usher in a smoking free healthy world.
It is because of such outstanding initiatives that Dr Harsh Vardhan was conferred with prestigious awards like the World Health Organization’s highest honor (Director-General’s Commendation Award) and Rotary International’s “Polio Eradication Champion Award” (earlier received by US President Bill Clinton, British Prime
Minister John Major and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan). Felicitating him in New Delhi, the then Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had described Dr Harsh Vardhan as “Swasthya Vardhan”. At another event, the then Prime Minister of India Inder Kumar Gujral, speaking before an international gathering pronounced ‘If anybody can be given award in India for being the best Health Minister, I will give it to Dr Harsh Vardhan’.
Politicians in general are seen to be losing the respect of common man and are sometimes looked upon as symbols of betrayal of the people’s trust. In such an atmosphere, Dr Harsh Vardhan has emerged as a person with an impeccable record of honesty and performance as a politician. The common man looks forward to the leader in him for cleansing the system. He remains a simple ‘Karyakarta’ of the organisation but leads from the front.
Dr Harsh Vardhan enjoys a well-earned image of incorruptibility, transparency and simplicity in both his personal and professional life. He is seen as representative of a value system in politics that the voters of Delhi are desperately looking for in their leaders. Honesty of purpose and action and a resolve to tackle every challenge with futuristic implications have become the hallmark of his twenty-year-old political career.
Postgraduate in medical science and a respected practicing consultant ENT surgeon, Dr Harsh Vardhan has the reputation of being a firm believer in ethical and value oriented practice both among his patients and peers. Born in a middle class family he still leads a simple life. He responded to the call of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan in 1977 and campaigned for a corruption-free India as a volunteer during JP movement. Even while practicing as an ENT professional, he organised numerous social welfare and medical missions with the Indian Medical Association’s Delhi chapter. These activities provided a window to the life and sufferings of the common man.
Dr Harsh Vardhan was inducted into electoral politics by the BJP in 1993 and since then he has been representing Krishna Nagar constituency in Delhi Assembly. He has the party”s national vice-president (2001-2003) and president of Delhi, BJP (2003-2009). He was also been assigned responsibilities of Secretary of the Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Foundation and All India Convener of the Doctors Cell of the Party. He has been the incharge of Haryana
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