Bharatiya, LSE LL.M., BJP Karyakarta, Lawyer, Columnist, Educationist, Foodie, Ex DUSU, Ex ABVP.
That’s Nupur Sharma for you. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you would know her as the woman who’s been ‘the news’ for quite a while now.
However, if you just went “Nupur, who?”, here’s a lowdown on the woman who will go head to head with Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi Assembly elections in February.
Initially, there was speculation that the BJP would field new joinee Kiran Bedi against Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat. However, when the BJP’s list of 62 candidates was announced, it emerged that Kejriwal would have to face a different opponent. Enter, Nupur Sharma!
An alumnus of the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE), Nupur did her LLM in International Business Law in 2011. Image courtesy: twitter.com/NupurSharma
Elections are not new to this young gun. Nupur contested and won the Delhi University Student Union elections in 2008, representing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the right-wing all-India student organisation.
When the media turned on this relative newcomer, calling her a scapegoat, she lashed out: “I am definitely not a scapegoat. I’m sorry, but I’m a woman, an advocate, actually very well read. I have fought an election before. I know how it is.”
In 2010, Nupur was made the media co-in-charge of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the party. Later, she was made the party’s national media co-in-charge, too. Representing the BJP, she has been a regular on numerous television shows and debates. She was also the member of the Executive Committee of Delhi BJP and has campaigned voraciously in the recent regional elections in Haryana, and now in Delhi.
Nupur was featured as one of the ’10 Most Inspirational Women’ by the Hindustan Times in 2009. With her good oratory skills, she has galvanised the youth, and more particularly, women, to join the BJP.
Now, she has been entrusted with the challenging task of beating Kejriwal. Nupur Sharma be able to overpower the mighty broom? All eyes on February 10, 2015.
