Atishi’s ‘meteoric’ rise

New Delhi: From being an adviser to the Delhi government to becoming a key face of the cabinet in the absence of senior AAP leaders, Chief Minister-designate Atishi’s ascent in the party and government is believed to be “phenomenal” and “meteoric”. Atishi, 43, who holds the highest number of portfolios in the Delhi government, will also hold the distinction of being only the third woman after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit to become the chief minister of the national capital.

Crediting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), she said it was only possible here that a first-time politician could be given such a huge responsibility. Being chosen just months short of Delhi polls, Atishi has her task cut out. She will have to hold cabinet meetings to approve and fast track key projects and policies like the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana and the Electric Vehicle 2.0 Policy among others.

Atishi was a founding member of AAP and played a pivotal role in shaping its policies, including as a key member of the 2013 Manifesto Drafting Committee. Known for her articulate advocacy, she has been a consistent voice for the party’s principles. She spent seven years in a Madhya Pradesh village, focusing on organic farming and progressive education.

This experience played a crucial role in strengthening her dedication to political change, according to a party functionary. Even though Atishi joined AAP in 2013, she stayed in the background working as an adviser to the government on education-related policies and made a foray into electoral politics only in 2019 when she contested the Lok Sabha polls from East Delhi against BJP’s Gautam Gambhir, only to taste defeat.

Before venturing into active politics, Atishi had dropped her surname Marlena, a portmanteau of Marx and Lenin, since she wanted her political affiliations should not be misconstrued. In the lead upto the 2019 elections, she had accused the BJP candidate of slandering her and distributing pamphlets containing “obscene” remarks about her, which had even led her to breaking down at a press conference.

In 2020, Atishi again contested elections, this time the Delhi Assembly polls, and was elected as an MLA from Kalkaji. She was inducted into the cabinet at a time when the government was staring at a crisis in the aftermath of the arrest of Manish Sisodia in February last year in the excise policy case. Sisodia was not only the deputy chief minister of Delhi holding several key portfolios but was also a trusted aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The problem was compounded as another key lieutenant of the government, Satyendar Jain, had also tendered his resignation from the cabinet at the same time. But Atishi rose to the occasion and took to governance.

Steadily, she rose through the ranks and is currently holding the highest number of portfolios, including key ones such as finance, PWD and education. While Sisodia and Kejriwal were in jail, Atishi not only took care of governance but also defended the government and the party whenever it was on a sticky wicket. Be it at the time of Delhi water crisis or when party’s Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal alleged assault by Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar, she vehemently thwarted the criticism by the opposition parties.

She even went on a hunger strike to demand Delhi’s water share from Haryana when the national capital was grappling with shortage of water. Atishi is not only the key face of the cabinet but is also an important cog in the wheel of AAP as she also puts forth the views of the party on critical issues. It is not a surprise that she was the frontrunner for the top post and also pipped others to replace Kejriwal.

The fact that she enjoys the confidence of Kejriwal and Sisodia worked in tilting the scales in her favour. Atishi is known for her role as one of the key architects of Delhi’s famed education revolution, when she played a key role in improving the infrastructure of the Delhi government schools, forming School Management Committees (SMCs) under the Right to Education Act, strengthening regulations to restrain private schools from hiking fees arbitrarily and introducing the Happiness Curriculum. In 2022, she addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, highlighting Delhi as a global model for urban governance. Her parents Vijay Singh and Tripta Wahi were Delhi University professors. Atishi received her Bachelor’s degree in History from Delhi University’s St Stephen’s College and topped her batch. She also holds postgraduate degrees in Education and History from the University of Oxford.