In just 11 years, Atishi, 43, rose to occupy the hot seat of Delhi Chief Minister from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which she had joined as a founding member in 2013.
There was little surprise in AAP circles when Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister on Tuesday (September 17), as previously announced, and declared Atishi to be the next CM of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
The party’s rank and file had watched the steady rise of the petite politician over the years, anticipating this development.
Atishi was chosen over party co-founders and two-time ministers like Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bhardwaj, and Rakhi Birla. AAP insiders suggest that Kejriwal, an IIT graduate, prefers working with highly educated individuals, making Atishi, an educationist, a natural choice.
An early indication came on Independence Day when an incarcerated Kejriwal “authorised” Atishi to hoist the national flag at an official event. However, the LG VK Saxena administration deemed this directive “legally invalid,” and the flag was ultimately hoisted by Delhi Home Minister Kailash Gehlot, as desired by the LG.
Atishi, who will be the third woman CM of Delhi after the late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj and the late Congress leader Sheila Dikshit, wrote on X: “Today, two crore people of Delhi are very sad that their popular Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has resigned. From today, the people of Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party MLAs and I - all will work with the same objective - to make Arvind Kejriwal the Chief Minister again…”
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Her appointment comes at a tumultuous time for the party, which was born from the India Against Corruption movement but now faces serious corruption allegations. Several party leaders, including its national convener Kejriwal, are caught in a legal tangle related to Delhi’s liquor policy scandal and are currently out on bail. The next Assembly election is tentatively scheduled for February.
Speculation had arisen about Sunita Kejriwal, Arvind’s wife, potentially stepping in as Chief Minister after Arvind was jailed. However, the party, which had long campaigned against dynasty politics, chose to reject this common political practice and named Atishi for the job as Kejriwal stepped down.
Educationist, politician
Atishi’s rise has been meteoric. A graduate from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi and recipient of the Chevening Scholarship, she also studied at UK’s Oxford University and taught in Andhra Pradesh. In 2022, she represented Delhi at the United Nations General Assembly, highlighting it as a global model for urban governance.
From educationist to founding member of the AAP in 2013, Atishi has come a long way. She served on the party’s Manifesto Drafting Committee, advised senior party leader Manish Sisodia, and shaped the party’s education and grievance redressal policies through Mohalla Sabhas.
Her parents, Vijay Kumar Singh and Tripta Vahi, both Delhi University professors and staunch Marxists, named her “Marlena” by blending Karl Marx and Lenin’s names. However, Atishi Marlena dropped the surname before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. This decision sparked controversy over her caste, which she clarified by identifying as a “Punjabi Rajput”. She has been a prominent campaigner for AAP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Punjab.
Following the arrests of Sisodia and Kejriwal, Atishi became the party’s media face, relaying instructions from both leaders to MLAs and councillors while overseeing 14 departments, including education, public works, and law. She often led confrontations between the AAP-led Delhi government and the Centre-appointed LG. Notably, during a water crisis in Delhi, she went on a hunger strike to draw attention to the issue.
From 2015 to 2018, Atishi served as an advisor to then Education Minister Sisodia. She contested the East Delhi seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha election but lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir. Currently, she is the MLA for the Kalkaji constituency in South Delhi, although internal party opposition prevented her from receiving a ministerial role in 2020.
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Atishi frequently visited Kejriwal in Tihar jail, where it’s said he directed the functioning of the Delhi government through her. That said, Atishi wasn’t always close to Kejriwal. She began her social work with her husband, Praveen Singh, after they founded an organisation in Bhopal in 2007. This led her to collaborate with former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan and connect with another party founding member, Yogendra Yadav.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal with successor Atishi before resigning as Delhi Chief Minister, New Delhi, September 17, 2024
Although Atishi contemplated leaving politics after the 2013 Assembly election, Kejriwal persuaded her to stay. In 2015, following the expulsion of Yogendra Yadav and Bhushan, she penned a critical letter addressing the rift between Bhushan and Kejriwal. In the letter, she blamed Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan’s father, for disagreements between Prashant Bhushan and Kejriwal. Incidentally, when AAP was founded in 2012, Shanti Bhushan had donated Rs 1 crore to the party.
Though previously dubbed a member of the Bhushan-Yadav camp, Atishi sided with Kejriwal after their dramatic expulsion from the party. Whether foresight or a call of conscience, this is a decision she will likely never regret.
After being named the next CM, Atishi described Kejriwal as her “leader, guru and elder brother”. Speaking to reporters, she said: “I am thankful to him for giving me such an important responsibility. Given my humble background, this could have been possible only in AAP under the stewardship of Arvind Kejriwal ji. Had I been in another party, I wouldn’t have got even a ticket to contest an election.”
As Atishi gets ready to step into Kejriwal’s shoes amid legal storms, the question remains: Can this educationist-turned-politician navigate the choppy waters ahead and keep Kejriwal’s vision for Delhi afloat?
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