5-time 'Best Parliamentarian' overcomes his big regret by clearing SSC at age 58

5-time ‘Best Parliamentarian’ overcomes his big regret by clearing SSC at age 58

PUNE: Despite being decorated with the Sansad Ratna (Best Parliamentarian) award five times and Maha Sansad Ratna once, Shrirang Barne, the two-time Member of Parliament from Pune’s Maval, had one regret-his 2014 and 2019 affidavit mentioned his educational qualification as “10th class fail”. Not any more.

The 60-year-old Shiv Sena MP who filed his nomination for the Maval seat for the third consecutive time on Monday proudly mentioned in his affidavit that he is now “SSC pass”.

“I had appeared for the SSC examination in 1980 but I failed in the science subject. Though I tasted success in politics, the failure in my 10th class exam had continued to haunt me for all these years. I appeared for the exam in the year 2022 and cleared it,” Barne told TOI.

He did not make this achievement public in 2022, like he did with Sansad Ratna awards. He waited for the right time and the right document-his third affidavit for general elections.

During his younger days, Barne helped his father in farming and in 1997 he followed his elder brother, Hiraman Barne’s footsteps to get into politics to become a corporator in Pimpri Chinchwad. He was active in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for over 15 years before Shiv Sena elevated him to the national level and he contested Lok Sabha in 2014 for the first time and won from Maval. He also won a second time in 2019 when he defeated deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s elder son Parth.

However, according to his close friends, amidst all his political success, the tenth failed tag bothered him.

“When Barne went to Delhi as a Member of Parliament, he realised the importance of education. He would always confess that the failure at SSC back in 1980 was bothering him despite him being awarded the best parliamentarian award so many times,” Uday Awate, one of Barne’s close associates, told TOI.

During the Covid-19 pandemic and restricted movement, Barne studied to clear his SSC exam.

“He is fond of reading and that helped him to easily grasp the subjects even at the age of 58. He used to read a lot during the lockdown phase and soon after that phase was over, he appeared for the exam and cleared it in 2022,” Awate said.

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