Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
President Pranab Mukherjee administers oath of office to BJP leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who joined the Narendra Modi government as a union minister, during a swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on 9 November, 2014.IANS File

The fact that BJP leader Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti is not a popular leader outside her constituency (Bundelkhand), raises a very pertinent question: what was she doing in Delhi considering that there are not too many voters from her Nishad community in the capital city? The theory of her being on a mission to create a controversy that would catapult her career as a Hindutva brigade's patron cannot be ruled out.

BJP has been trying to continuously upgrade the profile of some of its leaders for the UP elections. Niranjan Jyoti is simply pursuing the tried and tested BJP model that has been quite successful in the past, reports firstpost.com.

It seems BJP has lined her up to play the OBC card in order to portray her as a replacement for Uma Bharati in the region.

Niranjan Jyoti has the backing of BJP President Amit Shah in UP politics. The fact that her rise had begun even when she was a novice in politics hints to the fact that she was being used by Shah to fill a void in the state BJP leadership.

It would not seem likely for BJP to ask her to quit now that she has fulfilled the task which she was meant to perform.

The opposition might not realize that it has fallen for BJP's trap hook, line and sinker and having come so far it would be difficult for them to change their stance now. Expecting an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue was a case of over-optimism.

Knowing that there has been no apology from Modi for the 2002 Gujarat riots, the opposition was simply asking for too much.

Modi is also not one to go against his party members openly, be it the case of a rape probe against Nihalchand Meghwal, the row created over Smriti Irani's academic qualification, or the tweeting against the appointment of Dalbeer Suhag as the Army chief by retired military officer VK Singh.

In a nutshell, the controversy surrounding Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti may very well have played right into BJP's hands, and the opposition having burnt their fingers in the process.

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