Sadhvi Jyoti: The BJP minister who abused during a speech

On Tuesday, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti kicked up a storm when she used expletives during a campaign speech in Delhi. While campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party, she called the electorate to choose between Ramzadon and h********n.

“Aapko tay karna hai ki Dilli mein sarkar Ramzadon ki banegi ya har**zadon ki. Yeh aapka faisla hai (you have to decide whether Delhi will get a government of those born of Ram or of those born illegitimately),” said the BJP MP from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Rediff.com presents who she is and her rise to fame or, in this case, infamy.

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti hails from the backward region of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh and belongs to the Nishad community of boatmen. She first contested on a BJP ticket in the 2002 and 2007 Assembly elections before going on to secure a win in 2012.

In November, she was sworn in as Minister of State for Food Processing Industries in the Narendra Modi-led government during the prime minister’s first Cabinet reshuffle.

Jyoti was in the news in June this year after she managed to escape unhurt as an attempt was made on her life allegedly by three people.

She is the third backward caste minister from UP in Modi’s council, after Santosh Gangwar from Bareilly and Uma Bharti, who represents Jhansi.

Image: Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti being sworn in as the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries. Photograph: Press Information Bureau