Know Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, union minister whose remarks created ruckus in parliament

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti is a BJP MP and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries in the Central government.Recently she has become talk of the town for the unparliamentary and uncouth language that she used during a public rally in Delhi. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said, “People should vote for Ramzade (Children of Ram) and not Haramzade (Bastards/ illegitimates).Her statement led to ruckus in the Parliament with Opposition staging walk-outs, dharnas and demanding her resignation. On Prime Minister Modi's direction, she issued an apology and said, “I regret my statement”.Yet this ‘regret' was not enough for the Opposition who demanded her immediate suspension from the House.While the BJP admits that Sadhvi Niranjan should not have used unbecoming words, it has rejected Opposition's demand to have her suspended.Until this incident, she was not widely known outside her constituency. So who is Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti?Here are some details that will help you know her better:Jyoti had unsuccessfully contested the 2002 and 2007 Assembly elections on a BJP ticket before going on to pull off a victory in 2012.“Niranjan Jyoti was born in a Dalit family in Partaura village of Uttar Pradesh in 1967.Jyoti comes from a humble background and belongs to OBC. She was born into a community of boatmen in a village in Hamirpur district.Her family was exceedingly poor so she started working at a very young age to make two ends meet. She helped her father in fishing at the Yamuna River, close to her village. She would sell fishes in the village's weekly market. But the family could hardly survive on that income.She has three brothers.Poverty compelled her to work as a construction laborer and in the farm. She also joined satsangs or prayer gatherings where she found free food. Jyoti also found consolation there after returning exhaustively from the field.Jyoti earned fame and quickly became a ‘katha vachak' – A person who tells stories, mainly from scriptures.In one of the satsangs, VHP's Ram Temple Margdarshak Mandal's Vice President Swami Parmanand heard her speak. He, at once, recognized her skills and knew that he could use her in politics.Sadhvi had a fiery tongue required in this field. She went on to participate in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. In her youth, during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, she came under the influence of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Didimaa (Sadhvi Ritambhara) in particular.She won her first election in 2012 from Hamirpur assembly seat. Jyoti had contested even earlier but had failed. This year she contested the Lok Sabha Elections and emerged victorious from Fatehpur Seat in UP.In fact, it is said that she helped BJP break the ice and make inroads among the Dalit and backward classes in Uttar Pradesh, a crucial state that the party swept in the nationals elections and is now aiming to win in assembly elections due in 2017.Jyoti belongs to a community of boatmen and they are seen as a major vote bank in the state.PM Modi expanded his cabinet in November and inducted Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. She was sworn in as Minister of State and was allocated Ministry for Food Processing Industries.In fact she was the only woman among the 21 members inducted into the council of ministers in the expansion.Her education qualifications are listed as intermediate on her parliament profile.Local residents of Hamirpur, who have known Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti personally, remember her as a simple and soft person. But they admit that off late they have noticed change in her behavior.According to an interview given to an English newspaper the locals describe her as “‘simple and suave', always speaking softly and devoid of inhibitions.Under PM Modi's pet project Adarsh Gram Yojana all the MPs have to adopt a village and develop it.The administration told her to select another one, but she did not agree and has till now not adopted any village.A complaint under section sections 153-A, B and 295-A IPC has been filed in New Delhi's Tilak Marg Police Station relating to her recent speech that has created a political controversy.