Imarti Devi, Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women and Child Development, has become one of the most talked about candidates in Dabra’s Gwalior voting.
Imarti Devi not only got into trouble with his comments in election speeches, but also gave his party, BJP, a bad time.
After the “article” comment by former CM and Congressional head of state Kamal Nath in Dabra, the minister of state made national headlines and managed to turn the tide against Kamal Nath for the dignity of women.
Congress, which was in the lead against the BJP and Jyotiraditya Scindia for the catchphrase ‘gaddari’, suddenly found themselves clueless after Kamal Nath referred to the Imrati Devi as ‘article’, receiving criticism through the lines of party and even Rahul Gandhi criticized the senior leader for his nasty comments.
But then a video appeared on social media in which Imarti Devi makes a controversial comment against Nath’s family. She was criticized for using the word “element” for Nath’s sister and her late mother.
The state minister got into controversy once again on Friday night, when after a heated discussion with locals in the Dabra region, she was seen walking away saying “Party Jaye Bhaad Me (Party to hell) Friday night.
“Listen! Where will Imarti Devi be, if all Hindustan won’t? Imarti Devi is fighting for you along with Dabra’s. Party Jaye Bhad me (Party to hell),” he was heard saying.
She later tried to clarify the statement by saying that she was trying to tell the farmers that she is the daughter of farmers and workers and that I am with them. When someone asked if I would sit in dharna with them, one person shouted ‘Zindabad Congress’ and I said ‘Bhad Me Jaye Aisi Party’ (Let the party go to hell).
The minister identified herself as Rani Laxmibai and warned Kamal Nath that she will not forgive him for the insult on Saturday. “If Rahul Gandhi comes to Dabra without dismissing Kamal Nath from the party, I will come to the stage and ask him how he could tolerate such a man at his party,” Imarti Devi said yesterday.
The BJP leader said she decided to leave Congress after CM Kamal Nath refused to issue a budget for a canal project in her parched constituency. “He had served in Congress for 20 years and when he came to power, the public also wanted him to give them facilities and a budget,” he told a regional news channel.
“CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on the other hand, has offered plans worth 650 million rupees to Dabra,” he added.
Imrati Devi, a faithful loyalist of Jyotiraditya Scindia, never hesitates to display her deep-seated adulation for the ‘Maharaj’. She is known with statements such as’ Ready to jump in the pit for Scindia and ‘I could clean any place with jhadu (broom) if Scindia wants me to’ in praise of the renegade from Congress.
As the bypoll campaign grew, Imarti Devi was making headlines for one reason or another. First Suresh Raje, the congressional candidate made an objectionable comment asking why her husband never remains visible with her in public functions. After a clamor, Raje regretted the comment.
Later, Imarti Devi sparked controversy at an election meeting when he said the state government can ask collectors for the seat and can get it too. He later said he meant that the BJP only required nine seats for the majority mark and Congress needed all 28 seats.
The BJP candidate never ceases to remain controversial. After the dust settled on one controversy, she raised another with a claim that CM Shivraj and Jyotiraditya Scindia had promised to appoint her as deputy chief minister if she won by an overwhelming margin. The BJP was left with no idea and said it was their statement of confidence and rejected it as a translation of the aspiration of the public in their words.
However, something of a maverick, Imarti Devi had made another statement that she will remain a minister even if she loses, prompting Congress to claim that the minister had realized that she was destined to lose.
The minister of state also did not forgive the Covid-19 virus. When asked recently why she avoided wearing a mask, she candidly said that Imarti Devi was born in the middle of mud and cow droppings so that no viruses could dare to roam around her. Meanwhile, after receiving criticism for a strange comment, she had started donning a face mask.
One of his recent speeches was marked by the color of caste when he exhorted locals to identify them as Khatavs of Dabra wherever they go and, knowing that they belong to the Dabra village of ministers, none will ever tell them anything. As the controversy grew over his Casteist comments, Scindia had clarified that he and the BJP leaders do not believe in castes and that people of all castes, creeds and beliefs are revered by them.
As Minister for Women and Child Development, Imarti Devi proposed introducing eggs to Aganwadis twice for better nutrition, and faced considerable criticism from both the BJP and Congress both times.
She identifies herself as Dabra’s daughter-in-law and has an interesting personal journey from being a farm worker to a cabinet minister in the MP government.
In June this year, an audio clip went viral in which a former congressional supporter, Dharmendra Baghel, spoke by phone with the minister about a missing hand bomb and dysfunctional PD in his village. Imarti Devi was suddenly agitated as he threatened the leader of Congress.
Later, he dismissed the audiotape as a fake claiming that he does not get angry, otherwise he could not have won four times.
On Republic Day 2019, he was unable to read the speech and gave it to the collector, although he claims he passed the high school exam. Reading a few lines with difficulty, he handed the microphone over to the collector for completion. “I was unwell for two days so I couldn’t prepare,” Imarti Devi said after the incident saying ‘it happens, no problems’.
The minister received criticism over the issue after people questioned her eligibility to be a politician.
Imarti Devi has been an MLA three times and contested Bhind’s Lok Sabha poll in 2014 but failed to win.
Devi, who had been a member of Congress for almost 23 years, hails from the village of Charbara in Dabra de Gwalior, from where she has been a member of the National Liberation Army three times. Her husband, Puran Singh Suman, worked as a laborer on farms in the area during his early days.
Devi had joined politics in the 1990s and was appointed senior vice president at the Indian Youth Congress in 1997. She was a member of the district panchayat between 2004 and 2009 and in 2005 she was appointed director of the Dabra Congress. She was also a member of the library committee in assembly, was a patron of SC / ST Raksha Sangh and a member of Mahila evam Bal Kalyan Samiti in the past.
She may lose or win in elections, but the minister will be long remembered for her controversies during the elections and also for her political career.
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