On Tuesday, President Pranab Mukherjee administered Anupriya the oath of office as a minister of state in the Union government. Later in the day, she was allocated the health and family welfare portfolio. Anupriya, somewhere between the two events, lodged a complaint with Delhi's commissioner of police that there were several Twitter handles in her name, which "in future" might be used to "tarnish" her "social and political image".
She claimed her official Twitter handle was @AnupriyaSPatel, while a handle named @anupriya_patel "has posted an insulting tweet". Anupriya asked the police to investigate. In the interregnum, a Twitter storm had erupted on how @anupriya_patel had over the past few months been tweeting anti-Muslim messages that many Twitter users termed as hate speech.
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Interestingly, Twitter users also pointed out that until Tuesday morning, BJP leaders and ministers had been tweeting congratulatory messages to @anupriya_patel, which were being replied to with a respectful "thank you". The offensive Tweets were also deleted.
The police will get to the bottom of the curious case of Anupriya's Twitter handle in due course. In her short political career, the young leader has exhibited a penchant for survival and political about-turns. She is also currently a much searched name on the internet - her political stars are on the ascendant while she faces a domestic political feud.
Anupriya is the eldest of the four daughters of Kurmi leader Sone Lal Patel, who died in an accident in 2009. Kurmis are one of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and said to comprise five per cent of the electorate in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Sone Lal was a lieutenant of Bahujan Samaj Party founded by Kanshi Ram and part of his original team that had helped form the party. However, he broke away to float his own party in 1995, upset that his mentor had anointed Mayawati as successor.
However, his Apna Dal, which sought to consolidate votes of his caste brethren, performed poorly in elections. In 1999, a rally of Apna Dal was lathicharged by the police during the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government. In the 2002 UP assembly polls, even mafia don Atiq Ahmed contested on the Apna Dal ticket. In 2009, within days of his daughter Anupriya's wedding to Ashish Kumar Singh, Sone Lal died.
Anupriya and her husband tried to keep the party together. In the 2012 UP polls, Anupriya won from the Rohaniya assembly seat. The Apna Dal had then aligned with other smaller parties, including the Peace Party, which claims to represent interests of marginalised sections, primarily Muslims.
By 2014, BJP chief Amit Shah was looking at ensuring that Narendra Modi won from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. He was looking at weaving an effective patchwork of caste alliances in eastern UP. It made sense to align with Apna Dal, since Rohaniya is part of the Varanasi parliamentary constituency.
Apna Dal was given two Lok Sabha seats in return for its support to BJP candidates. The party won both, Pratapgarh and Mirzapur, with Anupriya representing the latter. Feuds within the Patel family started soon after. Her mother, Krishna Patel, and a sister accused Anupriya and her husband of trying to take over the party.
Bitterness worsened when Anupriya, now an MP, had to quit her Rohaniya assembly seat. She wanted her husband to contest in the by-poll. In the event, mother Krishna Patel contested but lost. Anupriya not only didn't campaign for her mother but, according to some reports, backed an independent to ensure her mother's defeat.
In May 2015, her mother and sister, Anuradha, said they'd expelled Anupriya and her husband from the party. Anuradha said she was leading the main factor. There is still little clarity on whether Anupriya and her 'faction' have merged with the BJP. Anyway, she's now a rising star in the BJP, which is again building caste alliances in the run-up to the UP assembly polls in early 2017
The BJP has appointed Keshav Prasad Maurya its state unit chief. He represents OBC castes like Saini, Shakya and Kushwaha. These constitute seven to eight per cent, and with Kurmis or Patels, a significant 12-13 per cent in eastern UP. She will continue to be an important factor in Shah's scheme of things for the UP polls.
MEET THE MINISTER
- Age: 35, daughter of Sone Lal Patel, a Kurmi leader of eastern UP
- Education: Graduation from Lady Sri Ram College (2001); MBA from Kanpur University (2010)
- Political career:
> 2012: MLA from Rohaniya Assembly seat (UP)
> 2014: MP from Mirzapur