Uma Bharti

Susri Uma Bharti
Personal details
Born	(1959-05-03) May 3, 1959 Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janshakti Party
Other political affiliations	formerly Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	none
Occupation	Social and Political Activist

Uma Ragini Bharti (Template:Lang-hi) (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 lost. 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 from the post of Chief Minister in August 2004, when an arrest warrant was issued against her regarding the 1994 Hubli riot case.

Exit from BJP and formation of Bharatiya Janshakti Party

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 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 However, due to RSS pressure, her suspension was revoked and in May 2005, she was appointed as a member of the party's national executive.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).

Later Uma Bharti found sympathisers in many dissiden BJP leaders like Madan Lal Khurana and Sangh Priya Gautam and tried to revive a new Hindu movement, which proved unsuccessful.

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 Janshakti 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 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 fueled 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.

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.

Reinducted to BJP

Uma Bharti returned to BJP after 6 years of split.It was announced in a press conference at New Delhi by party president Nitin Gadkari

Loses election from home turf

Uma Bharati lost the Tikamgarh seat, her home turf in Madhya Pradesh polls.Yadvendra Singh Bundela of the Congress trounced her with a margin of more than 9,000 votes as the votes were counted for the assembly elections held on November 27 2008.

External links

• "BJP suspends Uma Bharati" - rediff.com article dated November 10, 2004
• "Uma Bharati in BJP national executive" - rediff.com article dated May 28, 2005
• "India's firebrand Hindu nun" - BBC News article dated November 30, 2005
• BBC article on Uma Bharti's suspension

See also

• Hindu nationalism