Kapil Mishra (born 13 November 1980)[1] is an Indian politician from Delhi.[2][3][4] Before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, Mishra was an Aam Aadmi Party MLA representing Karawal Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency) in the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi.

Kapil Mishra
Vice President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Delhi
In office
5 August 2023 – Present
National PresidentJagat Prakash Nadda
PresidentVirendra Sachdeva
Cabinet Minister, Government of Delhi
In office
2015–2017
GovernorNajeeb Jung
MinistryWater Resource Management
Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal
Member of Legislative Assembly, Delhi
In office
14 February 2015 – 2 August 2019
Preceded byMohan Singh Bisht
Succeeded byMohan Singh Bisht
ConstituencyKarawal Nagar
Personal details
Born (1980-11-13) 13 November 1980 (age 44)
Delhi, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party (2019–present)
Other political
affiliations
Aam Aadmi Party (2013–2017)
SpousePretty Mishra
Children2
Parents
EstablishedYouth For Justice

He is also vice president of Delhi BJP.[5]

He was inducted as a Water Resource Minister in Arvind Kejriwal cabinet led AAP government of NCT Delhi, he was removed by Arvind Kejriwal from his ministry over corruption found in his ministry works, later he accused Arvind Kejriwal of corruption along with Satyendra Kumar Jain. Afterward, he sought appointments with the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Delhi to lodge his complaints, regarding 2 crores of bribe money which he alleged had been exchanged, but could not prove it.[6] Later on, the Lokayukta dropped Kejriwal's name from the case.[7]

Mishra later alleged more instances of corruption in the AAP government under Arvind Kejriwal. Being a member and MLA of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he was supporting, sharing stage events for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was also campaigning against his own party AAP in 2019 Indian general election. These events and instances of anti-party activities were brought to the notice of the Speaker Ram Niwas Goel of Delhi Legislative Assembly by his former colleague MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj. After due process of proceedings and observations been conducted by the Legislative Speaker under rule of paragraph 2(1)(a) of the tenth schedule of the Indian constitution on grounds of defection and anti-party activities, Mishra was disqualified as an MLA of Delhi.[8][9] After few days of getting disqualified as an MLA, Kapil Mishra joined BJP in presence of senior BJP leaders of Delhi Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Goel, Vijender Gupta, Satish Upadhyay and others.[10][11]

Activism

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As co-founder and coordinator of "Youth for Justice", a New Delhi based youth action group that works on spontaneous issues that need cognizance, he has led the youth protest on various socio-economic issues including Jessica Lal murder trial, issues of Farmers suicides in various parts of country,[12] encroachment on the Yamuna River bed[13] and various other issues.

He protested against the cases of corruption in Commonwealth Games 2010 held in New Delhi and has written a pamphlet "It's Common v/s Wealth" highlighting the various scams and social and environmental concerns related with CWG 2010.[14] Since 2007, He raised his voice against the anti-people development approach that is being practiced by authorities in the name of Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

He raised his voice inside Delhi Assembly against exploitation of Yamuna in the name of Commonwealth Games and got detained for the action.[15] He has initiated and participated in several protests against exploitation of common people and common resources in the name of "Growth and Development".

He has also prepared a report as citizen journalist for CNN-IBN on encroachment on river Yamuna and also has exposed the issues of violation of labor laws at Games sites by camping outside Games village along with other members of "Youth for Justice".[16][17][18]

He raised his voice and filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court for adequate compensation for Vishnu Tiwari, a falsely accused rape convict who was declared innocent after spending 20 years in jail under the SC/ST Act.[19]

Political career

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Mishra contested the 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly election as the AAP candidate from Karawal Nagar constituency. He won the election, defeating his rival BJP candidate Mohan Singh Bisht by a margin of 44,431 votes.

In 2017, the AAP Government sacked him from the post of Water Minister of Delhi. Later submitted documents to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to back his allegations that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal delayed the probe into a Rs.400 crore tanker scam.[20] Kapil Mishra was suspended from the party’s primary membership a day after he leveled corruption charges against Arvind Kejriwal and his former cabinet colleague Satyendra Kumar Jain.[21] However, his opponents allege that his allegations have turned out to be baseless as CBI and Lokayukta gave him a clean chit in this alleged ₹2 Cr. bribery case.[22]

On 2 August 2019, he was disqualified from the Legislative Assembly under the anti-defection law.[23] He officially joined Bharatiya Janta Party on 17 August 2019.[24]

On the 5th August 2023, Mishra was appointed Vice President of the Delhi unit.[25]

Controversies

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2020 Delhi Assembly election

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In January 2020, he stirred up a controversy when he likened the upcoming 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election to an India versus Pakistan contest. He tweeted, "There will be a contest on Delhi Roads between India and Pakistan on February 8". A show-cause notice was issued to Mishra by the Delhi poll authorities for "violation of the model code of conduct and the Representation of the People Act". Election Commission of India also imposed a 48-hour campaigning ban on him over his controversial tweets which tried to aggravate differences between two communities.[26][27][28][29]

North East Delhi Riots

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On 23 February 2020, Mishra publicly spoke out in a rally against the anti-CAA protesters, in the presence of the DCP of North East Delhi district, Ved Prakash Surya.[a] Mishra tried to intimidate the police to remove the protesters from Jaffrabad and Chand Bagh areas in three days' time, allegedly threatening to take matters into his own hands, "hit the streets" and "not remain peaceful" in the event of their failure.[31][32] After the rally, Mishra himself posted a video of him threatening the police on Twitter. Within a few hours of Kapil Mishra's rally, violent clashes started between the supporters and the people against CAA.[33]

Relatives of the people who died in the violence accused Mishra of inciting the clashes and asked for his immediate arrest and strict punishment. The father of a victim Rahul Solanki claimed that Mishra instigated the fire and returned to his home, while their children are becoming victims of the violence. He added that people will continue losing their children until Mishra was arrested.[34]

BJP's East Delhi MP, Gautam Gambhir, on 25 February stated that "Kapil Mishra's speech is not acceptable" and asked for strict action to be taken against the people responsible for violence, regardless of which political party they belonged to.[33]

Three complaints (two police complaints for a report and one plea to the Supreme Court of India) have been filed against Kapil Mishra for allegedly inciting violence. The complaints alleged that Mishra had made inflammatory remarks publicly, inciting people and causing the violence. The police has taken no action against Mishra as of 25 February.[31] On 25 February, Mishra wrote in series of tweets that he was not scared of the "massive hate campaign" against him for "speaking truth" and supporting CAA.[35] He had tweeted a video and written "Jaffrabad has been vacated, there won't be another Shaheen Bagh" on same day.[36]

On 26 February, the Delhi High Court played the video clip of Kapil Mishra's speech in the court while hearing the plea. The court then asked the police to take "conscious decision" while filing cases related to the hate speeches made by the three BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma.[37][38]

Personal life

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Mishra is the son of Annapurna Mishra, a former mayor of East Delhi affiliated with the BJP[39] and Rameshwar Mishra "Pankaj", a former socialist leader, thinker and author.[40] Mishra completed his education from Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Previously, on 17 December 2019, violence occurred during the CAA-protests in the Seelampur area, in North East Delhi. On 3 January 2020, DCP Surya told media that adequate security personnel and proper security arrangements were in place in the Seelampur area and no further gatherings and violence were expected.[30]

References

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  1. ^ "Election Commission of India". affidavit.eci.gov.in. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Development model promoted in the name of Games flayed". The Hindu. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Now book slams CWG, puns on 'Common v/s Wealth'". Deccanherald.com. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  4. ^ "Arjuna awardee wonders why Delhi is hosting CWG". Ptinews.com. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  5. ^ "BJP leader Kapil Mishra appointed party's Delhi unit vice-president". India Today. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra no stranger to controversies". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  7. ^ "Sacked Delhi minister Kapil Mishra no stranger to controversies". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Kapil Mishra". delhiassembly.nic.in. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Rebel AAP Leader Kapil Mishra, Disqualified By Delhi Speaker, Joins BJP". NDTV.com. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Former AAP minister Kapil Mishra joins BJP". India Today. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  11. ^ "Disqualified AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, women's wing chief join BJP". The Economic Times. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Protest march against suicides by farmers, SEZs". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 26 February 2007. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  13. ^ "Gulf Times – Qatar's top-selling English daily newspaper - India". Gulf-times.com. 17 September 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  14. ^ "Arjuna awardee wonders why Delhi is hosting CWG - Top Stories - Commonwealth Games - Events & Tournaments - Sports - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  15. ^ "'Save Yamuna' echo in Assembly". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 19 September 2007. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  16. ^ "IBNlive > Citizen Journalist Awards". Features.ibnlive.in.com. 20 October 2008. Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  17. ^ "It's Common v/s Wealth by Kapil Mishra". Scribd.com. 25 July 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  18. ^ "fertilizer-subsidy-policy-brie.pdf". Powered by Google Docs. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  19. ^ "BJP Leader's Petition In Top Court After Rape Accused Declared Innocent". NDTV.com. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  20. ^ സ്വന്തം ലേഖകൻ (8 May 2017). "കൈക്കൂലി ആരോപണം: കേജ്‍രിവാൾ പ്രതിരോധത്തിൽ; വധഭീഷണിയെന്ന് കപിൽ മിശ്ര" [AAP suspends Kapil Mishra; Kejriwal says he will win the truth]. ManoramaOnline (in Malayalam). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  21. ^ Anand, Jatin; Pillai, Soumya (8 May 2017). "The Hindu: Kapil Mishra suspended from AAP a day after being fired as Minister". The Hindu.
  22. ^ Mathur, Atul (31 July 2018). "CBI, Lokayukta give a clean chit to Arvind Kejriwal". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  23. ^ Alok KN Mishra (2 August 2019). "Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra disqualified from Delhi assembly". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Disqualified AAP MLA Kapil Mishra Joins BJP in Delhi, Calls it an 'Emotional Moment'". News18. PTI. 17 August 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  25. ^ "Kapil Mishra appointed Delhi BJP Deputy President". IndiaToday. PTI. 5 August 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  26. ^ "Delhi Assembly Polls 2020- Kapil Sharma-Election Commission".
  27. ^ "Kapil Mishra gets 48 hours campaign ban for India-Pakistan tweet".
  28. ^ "FIR filled against Kapil Mishra over India-Pakistan tweet".
  29. ^ "Election Commission seeks report on Kapil Mishra's mini Pakistan remark". 24 January 2020.
  30. ^ "No gathering expected, adequate security deployed in Seelampur: DCP Ved Prakash". Asian News International (ANI). 3 January 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  31. ^ a b "Two complaints filed against BJP leader Kapil Mishra for inciting violence in North-East Delhi". DNA India. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  32. ^ "Kapil Mishra warns cops: Clear road in 3 days... after that we won't listen to you'". The Hindustan Times. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  33. ^ a b ""Kapil Mishra's Speech Unacceptable": BJP's Gautam Gambhir On Delhi Violence". NDTV.com. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  34. ^ "कपिल मिश्रा आग लगा के घर में घुस गया, हम जैसों के बेटे मर रहे हैं- फूटा पिता का दर्द और गुस्सा" [Kapil Mishra set fire to the house, we sons like him are dying - father's pain and anger]. Jansatta (in Hindi). 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  35. ^ "Delhi violence: Defiant BJP leader Kapil Mishra says did not commit crime by supporting CAA". The Hindu. PTI. 26 February 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  36. ^ "'There Won't Be Another Shaheen Bagh': BJP's Kapil Mishra Tweets Video". Outlook India. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  37. ^ "Kapil Mishra's controversial speech played in Delhi High Court". The Hindu. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  38. ^ "Delhi Riots | HC Directs Police To Register FIR Against Kapil Mishra, Others For Inflammatory Speeches". ABP News. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  39. ^ Risha Chitlangia (22 September 2013). "BJP leader's son goes AAP way". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  40. ^ "BJP's Kapil Mishra Has Issued an 'Ultimatum' to the Delhi Police. But Who Is He?". The Wire. 24 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
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