Mrs Asia Rinku Bhakat of Ranchi to join BJP

Rinku Bhakat, Mrs Asia 2017 and member of Jharkhand state bar council on Friday announced to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a bid to carry forward her social and public activities towards women empowerment.

Bhakat, who hails from Ranchi and in her forties, will join the saffron party with her supporters at the BJP state headquarters here at 11 am on November 25 in the presence of party’s state president Laxman Gilua.

“My mother was closely associated with the RSS. She had inculcated Sangh’s philosophy in me right from my childhood. I am greatly influenced with the BJP’s policies and ideals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das. I, therefore, decided to join the party as a sincere worker,” Bhakat said to the media persons.

Bhakat, a practising lawyer and mother of a 16-year-old, had won the title of Mrs India Classic and Mrs Asia Classic at the beauty pageant held in 2017.

As a lawyer, she had decided to contest 2017 elections of the Jharkhand state bar council, the apex lawyers’ body in the state and it was the first time that a woman lawyer had entered the men’s bastion.

She joined the 25-member council after winning the polls to espouse the cause of woman advocates.

“I am using my legal knowledge to empower women especially married ones and downtrodden. I am also working against social evils like witch hunting and child sacrifices, which are being practiced in Jharkhand’s hinterland since ages,” said Bhakat.

“In a bid to bring my efforts to a logical end, I needed a bigger platform to raise my voices,” she said, clarifying reasons for her joining the politics.

An ardent supporter of one-third reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, Bhakat said it would be a step forward towards women empowerment.

“The parliament, the state assemblies and the other political decision making bodies are not adequately represented by woman members who account for country’s 48% population,” she said supporting the women’s reservation bill.

First Published: Nov 24, 2018 10:00 IST