More often than not, culture is defined to be synonymous with dance, music perhaps art. Vinay’s outlook towards culture has been far more expansive – much like the Bharatiya term used to describe culture, Sanskruti. It is a part of everyday life – rituals, traditions, practices, spirituality, democracy, conduct, manners, literature, speech, restraint, sensitivity and much more is encompassed in how he sees culture. Of course, dance, music and art is not unfamiliar here. Coming from the ideology whose foundation is based in ‘Sanskrutik Rashtravad’ loosely translated to ‘cultural nationalism’ in the anglican sense, culture has been an integral part of Vinay’s work. Through his extensive travel within the country and across the globe over the last four decades, he has been exposed to a plethora of cultures and has been a keen observer (and a student) of these lands and their ways of life. Vinay believes that in a country like India, which is deeply rooted in culture and spirituality, politics cannot be and must not be seen as a concept aloof to the underlying ethos of this nation – it cannot be an alien western import. Even before the beginning of his tenure as the President of the premier cultural relations body of India, he has been engaged in the field of culture both politically and socially. [an anecdote on what drove him to study culture more deeply].

Vinay has been closely associated with the good governance, policy and training departments of the Bharatiya Janata Party since the last three decades. Often as the person heading it, he has brought to life initiatives like the Public Policy Research Centre – party’s premier think tank and has contributed to strengthening the facets of governance and policymaking under BJP rule since before NDA-I. A quintessential student of ‘how good policy making should be’, he has been instrumental in taking the knowledge of these spheres to the political workers of the party at the grassroots under multiple Party Presidents. He believes that good governance and good policy is the key to electoral successes, not just in word but in spirit. Through these years, he has engaged with a variety of stakeholders in these fields at the levels of decision making as well as the grassroots to better understand how the polity can shape positive outcomes. His doctoral thesis has been related to these subjects and was ultimately published as a book ‘Beyond Billion Ballots’ looking at the intersection of electoral politics and governance. More recently, he has co-edited, along with Dhiraj Nayyar, a volume of innovations in governance during the Modi Era titled ‘The Innovation Republic’.

Capacity building, apart from being an area of work over the years, may also be described as one of Vinay’s first domains of work, apart from journalism. In the fray since early 1980s, Vinay has been passionate about capacity building of politicians and political karyakartas so as to add more depth to politics beyond mere elections and populism. One of the earliest on board in the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, he has developed it as a one-of-its-kind academy in the country with few parallels in the world. Over the years, thousands of BJP politicians and karyakartas have been trained in the state-of-the-art campus in Uttan, Thane near Mumbai. Even as a Member of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament, you can find him routinely emphasizing the capacity building aspect of politics inside and outside the house. Some of flagship brainchilds include the Netritva Sadhana initiative and the Indian Institute of Democratic Leadership. In his own words, [a quote on capacity building and its importance from him]

A subject close to his heart, the issue of people with special needs, especially children is something he has been passionately working on over the last several years. One of Vinay’s key expenditures under the MPLADS funds allotted to him was to build a Divyang Park in his constituency – Thane which was inaugurated at the hands of Shri Devendra Fadnavis, the then Leader of Opposition. He has been close to this cause for a considerable time and mentors multiple organizations in this field like the Deepstambh Foundation of Jalgaon, Maharashtra. As the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women & Children, Youth & Sports for two consecutive years, he has strived to bring the issue of learning disabilities to the fore.

Since his days in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Vinay has been closely associated with the field of education – the processes of teaching and learning have been studied and perfected by him for over fourty years now. As General Secretary of Students’ Experience in Inter-State Living (SEIL), he has been instrumental in facilitating cross-cultural educational experiences to numerous students. During his time at the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, he has spent a large part of his career trying to study and perfect the art of teaching and learning – especially in the political domain where there exists a paucity of such tools. He has been a consistent advocate of better quality of education for all sections of the society – even in the Parliament during his Rajya Sabha tenure. He was elevated to be Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education in September 2020 and served at its helm until July 2022. During his tenure, many new initiatives were taken up and several new topics introduced on the roster of the Committee. More about his work on Education as the Chairman can be accessed here.