Back home in UP, Jyoti throws her weight around too

On November 24, a week before her highly offensive remarks at a BJP meeting in Delhi, Jyoti showed up at the Kanpur Central railway station at 7.30 pm, on way to her ashram in Moosa Nagar, Kanpur Dehat. When she realised that no police officer or district official was waiting to receive her at the station, she lost her temper.

Local BJP leaders said Jyoti contacted the district police and asked for security cover. A Maruti Gypsy with two policemen was sent to the party office. But by then, she had already set out for her ashram in a BJP vehicle, party leaders said.

ALSO READ: Cong says Jyoti’s ‘objectionable’ language had created tension, demands her expulsion

Kanpur Mahanagar president Surendra Maithani said: “We sent a complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on protocol not being accorded to an Union Minister. I have also written to BJP national president Amit Shah and state president Laxmikant Bajpai, informing them that the minister was not provided the desired protocol.” Maithani said he is yet to receive a response to the complaint.

In the last week of October, Jyoti landed at the office of the District Magistrate in Mathura. She wanted to hand a memorandum seeking compensation for villagers. Mathura BJP leaders claimed that she sought an 11 am appointment to meet DM Rajesh Kumar but reached his office at 12.30 pm. By then, the DM had left for a meeting. The BJP leaders claimed Jyoti’s staff contacted the DM but he did not return to meet her. BJP youth wing workers even staged a demonstration, claiming protocol had been denied to the MP.

When The Indian Express sought his comments on Tuesday, DM Rajesh Kumar said the MP had reached his office at 12.35 pm without seeking any appointment. He said he was attending a monthly meeting related to security at the Krishna Janmabhoomi.

“I got a call from my staff that the MP had come to my office to meet me. I said I will reach there within 15 minutes after the meeting. I sent the ADM to her but she refused to speak to him and left without giving any memorandum,” he said.

When Jyoti visited Mathura, she was not a minister, only the MP from Fatehpur. She went there on a request from BJP youth wing workers who had been seeking compensation for farmers who lost land when the Gokul barrage water was released in 1998.

The second sadhvi after Uma Bharti in the Council of Ministers, Jyoti is a katha vachak (one who delivers religious sermons) and a first-time MP from Fatehpur. From the Nishad community, she was elected MLA in the 2012 assembly elections from Hamirpur for the first time.