Uma Bharti

Uma Ragini Bharti (Hindi: उमा भारती) (born May 3, 1959, Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, India), is an Indian politician. She was born in Tikamgarh District, Madhya Pradesh to a religious Lodhi Rajput family and from a very young age, started holding discourses on Indian Epics. Raised under the care of the late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia of Gwalior, Uma Bharati, along with Sadhvi Ritambhara, played a prominent part in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi Movement. Her signature slogan during the movement was, "राम-लाला हम आएंगे, मदिंर वही बनाएंगे!" ("Ramlala Hum Aayenge, Mandir Wahin Banayenge") which translates to "Dear Ram come we will, build a mandir here we will".

At a young age, she became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party. She contested her first Parliamentary elections in 1984, but was defeated due to the massive sympathy wave for the slain Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. In 1989, she successfully contested the Khajurao seat, and retained it in elections conducted in 1991, 1996 and 1998. In 1999, she switched over and won the Bhopal seat. In the Vajpayee Administration, she held various state-level portfolios of Human Resource Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs & Sports, and finally Coal & Mines.

In the 2003 Assembly polls, she led the BJP to a three fourths majority in Madhya Pradesh. She defeated her Congress opponent from the Malehra seat with a 25% margin.

Uma Bharati resigned as the CM in August 2004, on the issue of the right to hoist the National Flag, when a decade old case against her was resurrected.

Removal from BJP and formation of BJSP

Firstly, in November 2004, she was suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party "till further action" and served a show-cause notice asking why she should not be expelled following her outburst against Mr Lal Krishna Advani, in full glare of Television cameras. However, due to RSS pressure, her suspension was revoked and in May 2005, she was appointed as a member of the party's national executive.

Later in the year, she was expelled from the BJP when she revolted against the appointment of Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Post explusion, she undertook a herculean 'padyatra' from Bhopal to Ayodhya and called it the Ram Roti Yatra (spiritual journey for Rama and bread).

Currently Uma Bharti, having found a sympathiser in many dissiden BJP leaders like Madan Lal Khurana and Sangh Priya Gautam, is trying to revive a new Hindu movement which they claim has been betrayed by the BJP's new warhorses.

Though Uma Bharati drew huge crowds during her Ram Roti Yatra and campaign for various by-elections, her political fortunes have taken a nosedive. Her political outfit, called the BJSP (Bharatiya Janashakti Party) lost the by-election for her assembly seat of Bada Malehra, even though Uma Bharati had campaigned extensively for her candidate. BJSP has also experienced defeats in all Lok Sabha bypolls which the party has contested.

Though a section of the RSS and the BJP along with her spiritual guru have been trying to get Bharati back into the BJP, neither an embittered Bharati, who has sworn revenge nor powerful politicians like Arun Jaitley or Sushma Swaraj want her back in the BJP. Speculation was further fueleled when she did not field BJS contestants for Lok Sabha by-elections for two seats in Madhya Pradesh, held in March 2007. The BJP candidate for Gwalior was the daughter of her mentor, the late Vijayaraje Scindia. In another major turn of events, she agreed to withdraw her candidates to the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections at the request of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief, Ashok Singhal. Till date, both Uma and the BJP dismiss any speculation about her return to the party is , but media reports suggest she may return within a few months, in a move that will be co-ordinated by her allies within the BJP and RSS. [http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/14/stories/2007041417131600.htm

On Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project

On July 25, 2007, Uma Bharti began a week-days fast protesting over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project saying that the bridge be saved.

On Afzal Guru

On September 22, 2008, Uma Bharti called for not only the execution of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man controversially convicted on charges of terrorism, but also for his death to be televised live on Indian television. [http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=23_9_2008&ItemID=45&cat=1]

Timeline

References

External links

* [http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/10uma.htm "BJP suspends Uma Bharati"] - rediff.com article dated November 10, 2004
* [http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/may/28uma.htm "Uma Bharati in BJP national executive"] - rediff.com article dated May 28, 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3245988.stm "India's firebrand Hindu nun"] - BBC News article dated November 30, 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3998315.stm BBC article on Uma Bharti's suspension]

ee also

*Hindu nationalism