Uma Bharti

Template:IndicText Uma Bharti (Hindi: उमा भारती) (born May 3, 1959, Madhya Pradesh, India), is an Indian politician. She was born into 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 Ram Janmabhoomi Movement, with her slogan, "राम-लाला हम आएंगे, मदिंर वही बनाएंगे!" ("Ramlala Hum Aayenge, Mandir Wahin Banayenge").

At a young age, she became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party and first contested Parliamentary elections in 1984, but was defeated with the massive sympathy wave for the slain Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. In 1989, she was successful for the Khajurao seat, which she retained in 1991, 1996 and 1998. In 1999, she switched over and won the Bhopal seat. In the Vajpayee Administration, she went through 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. The seat was vacated by her elder brother, Swami Prasad Lodhi.

In order to match Ms Sonia Gandhi's refusal of the chair of the Prime Minister of India, 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". She was served a show-cause notice asking why she should not be expelled following her outburst against some of her party colleagues. However, due to RSS pressure, her suspension was revoked and in May 2005, she was appointed as a member of the party's national executive.

Her dramatic expulsion coincided with the religious Ram Roti Yatra (spiritual journey for Rama and bread), which she launched after being unsuccessful in preventing Mr Shivraj Singh Chauhan from becoming the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

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) has fought & lost the by-election for her Madhya Pradesh assembly seat of Bada Malehra, even though Uma Bharati had campaigned extensively for her candidate. BJPSP has also experienced defeats in the Lok Sabha bypolls for Amethi (UP), Vidisha (MP), Bhagalpur(Bihar).

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. Co-incidentally, 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. Speculation about her return to the party is publicly denied by both Uma and the BJP to date, 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. Uma Bharti pulls out of race, in favour of BJP

Personal Life

• Uma Bharti was born in a peasant family at Dunda village of Tikamgarh district in the state.
• Uma Bharti belongs to a backward Lodhi community
• BJP Gen Sec Govindacharya proposed marriage to her in 1991. She did not accept his proposal because of familial pressure.
• She embraced sanyas on November 17, 1992. After which Govindacharya is said have touched her feet and accepted her as his guru. Govindacharya remains a bachelor till date.

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