Rakhi Birlai Biography

About Rakhi Birla

Rakhi Birla is one of the most prominent faces of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi. Though her name didn’t figure in the first list of AAP for the recent Assembly election in the national capital, political analysts were sure that her name would be there in the following lists because of her popularity at the grassroots levels, especially among youths. The analysts proved right when Birla was fielded from Mangol Puri assembly constituency. Rakhi Birla has done post-graduation in Mass Communication and was a full time journalist with a private news channel. However, she left her journalism career to serve people, socially as well as politically.



Rakhi Birla's Early Life

Rakhi was born in Delhi in 1987 to Bhupendra Singh Bidlan and Sheila Bidlan. She belongs to the Valmiki community. During her school days her surname was mistakenly written as ‘Birla’ in place of ‘Bidhlan’. As the mistake took place in her Class 10 examination, she had no other option but to adopt her new surname Birla. She is younger to her three siblings.

It was not unnatural for Rakhi Birla to get attracted to politics and social causes because social activism and patriotism runs in her blood. Her own grandfather was involved in the Independence struggle. Her father was closely associated with Indian National Congress (INC) for quite some time. However, unprecedented corruption made him feel uneasy and ultimately he decided to quit INC during Jan Lokpal movement of 2011. After finishing her school, Rakhi completed post-graduation in Mass Communication from New Delhi’s NBA School of Mass Communication and went on to become a journalist. She worked for a private news channel, Jain TV before she joined politics.

Political Career of Rakhi Birla

Her quest of life took a sharp turn when the Jan Lokpal Bill protest turned into a full-fledged movement. After working closely with Kejriwal during this period, she got attracted to the cause and ultimately joined AAP for making social changes through political intervention. During the Assembly election of 2013, the feisty lady won the Mangolpuri constituency by defeating INC’s Raj Kumar Chauhan, a four-time MLA. Rakhi went on to become Minister of Women & Child, Social Welfare and Languages (from December 28, 2013 to February 14, 2014) during AAP’s 49-day short stint in Delhi Assembly. She became the youngest ever cabinet minister in Delhi.

Birla braved all odds, including the worst political crisis within AAP till date, and contested Lok Sabha election of 2014 from North West Delhi seat. However, due to various factors including Modi-wave and Aam Aadmi Party’s inner conflict, she lost the election miserably.

Rakhi Birla in 2015 Delhi Elections

The AAP placed its faith in her again in the 2015 Delhi assembly elections. She was again fielded from the same assembly constituency of Mangolpuri as in 2013. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the polls with a monumental majority. Rakhi Birla came out for the second time in succession in the constituency, beating senior Congress leader Rajkumar Chauhan.