Career Journey of Ashwani Lohani Takes a Complete Loop as He Takes Charge of Indian Railways Service
In the heart of India, an engine enthusiast has taken the helm of an unprecedented political museum - all while making perfect sense. Enter Ashwani Lohani, the fellah who added some glitz and grease to the National Rail Museum, then steered Air India through a crisis, before juggling budgets, bottlenecks, and boardroom blues as Railway Board Chairman.
Now, Lohani is back on familiar tracks, albeit with Teen Murti's locomotives running on ideology, not diesel. The museum aims to preserve the legacies of all Indian Prime Ministers under one roof, avoiding spontaneous combustion. One can't help but hope Lohani's three-year term won't turn him into the next long-term exhibit.
Lohani, a steam locomotive coaxer and miracle worker in his own right, arrives at the museum following controversy. Critics questioned the museum as a power play against Nehruvian memory. But Lohani, neither an insider nor a legacy warrior, possesses a unique trait: institutional nostalgia teamed with management prowess. Whether he succeeds in presenting India's political history without sparking a coalition crisis in the galleries remains to be seen, but here's hoping souvenir shops have irony in stock by the pound.
A Quick Look at Ashwani Lohani's JourneyFamed as a "turnaround specialist," Lohani hails from the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME) and has served as chairman and managing director of Air India, heads of the Railway Board, and iconic organizations like the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. He restored the world's oldest working steam locomotive, the Fairy Queen, and launched Air India's longest nonstop flight from Delhi to San Francisco. Lohani has also played a crucial role in nominating the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Bodhgaya's Mahabodhi Temple as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
As the director of the Prime Minister's Museum and Library, Lohani is at the helm of a broader restructuring effort that involves a new executive council and key figures like Nripendra Mishra as chairperson. Will he manage the trickiest task yet, presented with India's political history? Only time will tell.
Ashwani Lohani's journey in education-and-self-development and career-development led him to take on the challenging role of directing the Prime Minister's Museum and Library. Despite the museum's initial controversy, Lohani's unique blend of institutional nostalgia and management prowess raises hopes that he can present India's political history without sparking a crisis in the galleries, even as he navigates politics alongside general-news issues.
