Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti Biography

About Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti is Minister of State (MoS) for Food Processing Industries in the current NDA Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has been included in the Union cabinet in its recent expansion and her inclusion has increased women’s participation in the Modi government.

Early Life of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

An MP form Fatehpur Parliamentary constituency of Uttar Pradesh, Jyoti is a prominent leader of Kashyap and Nishad communities in the state. After Santosh Gangwar from Bareilly and Uma Bharti from Jhansi, she is the third backward caste face from Uttar Pradesh in the Modi cabinet. Hence, the BJP is said to have got strengthened in UP with her induction in the Union council of ministers, since in the long run it will help BJP attract more backward caste and dalit votes.

Jyoti has been a katha vachak, or in other words, a religious preacher, before joining politics and after Uma Bharti, she is the second sadhvi included in the government.

It is expected that the Ram Janmabhumi movement in Ayodhya, the lost agenda of the BJP, may once again gain momentum in UP after her recent comments that it is a duty of all the citizens of India to get Lord Ram temple constructed in Ayodhya where he took birth.

Recently, she was in news after she escaped an attack on her in Civil Lines area in her own constituency Fatehpur. After the attack, she met the chief secretary of the district and blamed workers of SP for making the attempt to kill her in order to arrange for a by-poll in her constituency.

Political Career of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

Born in 1967, Jyoti has been contesting in every Assembly election since 2002, but it took her over ten years to register a win in 2012. First, she won the Hamirpur seat in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2012. Then, she was in the fray in the 2014 General Election from Fathehpur seat and entered the Parliament after registering a win.

Currently, the BJP’s vice president at state level, Jyoti was earlier central secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Wearing saffron robes and a tilak on her forehead, she has created a distinct identity for her. However, she maintains a low-profile and represents backward community of the Bundelkhand region in UP.

During her political journey, she raised various issues concerning the backward Nishad (fishermen) community. As an MLA, she had thundered on the floor of Vidhan Sabha on the issues of Nishad community and tried to attract the government’s attraction towards the plight of this community in the wake of increased sand mining.

Besides, recently she has registered her strong objection with Mathura administration on the arrest of protesters at Gokul Barrage.  She has threatened that she will start a dharna at that spot, if the arrested protesters are not released quickly.

Her inclusion in the government is being considered important for gaining the attention of the backward classes in view of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election, due in the year 2017.
  WBSKJ25.11.2014
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