By IANS,
New Delhi : Darul Uloom – Deoband graduate Waseem-ur Rehman, who cleared the Civil Services Examination 2007 last week, said Tuesday he was not aware that Sankalp, the coaching institute he went to, was run by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
“I was not aware that Sankalp, the coaching institute located in Jhandewalan (New Delhi), was run by the RSS,” Rehman, 31, told IANS. “I had only gone to them for the interview test coaching and they held four-five classes and a mock interview,” he said.
Rehman said he chose Sankalp as it cost him only Rs.501. Belonging to a poor family, he had to overcome several odds to qualify for the Civil Services. He secured 404th rank among 734 successful candidates in his fourth attempt.
Sankalp is a coaching institute run by RSS for civil service aspirants. It has minimal charges and ropes in retired civil servants — preferably those close to the right wing Sangh parivar ideology. Claiming to be a highly professional institute, Sankalp boasts of a high success rate. It has several branches in Delhi and other cities.
Rehman did his graduation from Darul Uloom, the Islamic institute of higher learning in Deoband, Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. “I enrolled for the Bachelor in Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) from Jamia Hamdard University and completed it in 2001,” he said.
He could not clear the Civil Services preliminary examinations in his first three attempts. “I cleared all the hurdles in my last attempt with History and Persian Literature as my optionals,” said Rehman.
Rehman had to start from scratch as nobody in his circle knew how to go about the preparations for the exams. “I collected the relevant books and took coaching from institutes other than Sankalp,” he said.
A native of Siddarthanagar, in Basti district of Uttar Pradesh, Rehman has an humble background. One of his three brothers is a truck driver while another does odd jobs to earn a living. The youngest is doing his Masters.
“I wrote the Civil Services examinations in Urdu,” said the bearded maulana.
Though still clueless about the service that will be allotted to him, Rehman is all set to make a difference.