Will Maharashtra Bureaucrat Tukaram Mundhe Enter Politics? What He Told NDTV

Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, who is making headlines for conducting raids and shutting popular eateries, has categorically ruled out a career in politics, saying it is "not his cup of tea".

In a round-table interview to NDTV Profit, when asked whether he had ever considered joining politics or standing for elections, given his image as an "executor of the law" and "guardian of the law", Mundhe said his temperament, which he described as forthright to a fault, would not suit political life.

"The person like me who is very forthright and upright, I don't think he will be or she will be accepted in politics," Tukaram Mundhe said. "Many people call me arrogant, not because I am arrogant but forthright. There is a very, very thin line between forthright and, I mean, arrogant," Mundhe, who has become a social media sensation, said.

The senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, who has been transferred more than two dozen times during his career spanning over two decades, said this trait was not something he had cultivated for effect.

"That's my nature. It's not something artificial," he said in the tell-all interview.

#IndiaMatters | From bribery to politics & the war on food hygiene, @Tukaram_IndIAS has been all over the news. In an exclusive interview to NDTV Profit, Tukaram Mundhe speaks candidly. Meet the IAS officer behind the FDA raids and restaurant notices. Watch now! pic.twitter.com/XtByOIGFGm

— NDTV (@ndtv) August 14, 2026

The upright civil servant also drew a distinction between his current role, which allows him to help frame regulations and rules as an officer, and elected politics, which he said was an entirely different domain that did not interest him.

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"Whether I can frame the law as a secretary, we are in the process of doing that," the Maharashtra's food safety chief said, referring to his administrative responsibilities.

When pressed on whether he saw himself in electoral politics, he said, "Absolutely not."

Tukaram Mundhe On 'Nayak' Tag

Mundhe said he sees himself first and foremost as a public servant operating within the boundaries of existing law, not as someone seeking a mandate to change it.

Asked about the "Nayak" tag given to him on social media, drawing comparisons with actor Anil Kapoor's Bollywood film about a common man who becomes chief minister for a day, the 51-year-old brushed off suggestions that his popularity could translate into political capital.

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Mundhe's department has conducted a slew of raids on food establishments, including some famous eateries, since he was appointed at its helm in May.

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration has inspected more than 3,000 hotels, restaurants, eateries and other establishments between May 25 and July 31 and suspended licences of 165 establishments, Mundhe had said on August 5. Unsafe food products weighing 28.66 lakh kg and valued at Rs 55.72 crore were seized or destroyed following these inspections, he had said.