For those interested in the judiciary and legal affairs, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay is no stranger. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Supreme Court lawyer often hogs headlines with his strong stance on issues related to Hindutva and filing Public Interest Litigations (PIL) on communal issues.
Born in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, Upadhyay’s political innings began with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after his participation in Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. The journey, however, ended on a bitter note as he was removed for ‘anti-party’ activities. At one point, he even called AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal a “CIA agent” and accused the party of hobnobbing with the Congress behind closed doors.
Formerly the spokesperson of the Delhi unit of BJP, Upadhyay is known for filing PILs in the Supreme Court, ranging from petitions to grant minority status to Hindus to demanding the name changes of several places named after Mughal rulers. His repertoire also includes seeking a ban on “deceitful religious conversions”, making yoga compulsory in schools for children between 6 and 14 years of age. He has also petitioned to make the National Anthem compulsory in schools and make Hindi a compulsory language in schools across the country. According to a 2018 report by the New Indian Express, Upadhyay holds a record of filing 50 PILs in five years.
As per Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), Upadhyay filed his first PIL in support of a Uniform Civil Code in 2015. On December 7, 2015, the bench headed by the outgoing Chief Justice of India, TS Thakur, rejected the argument and cautioned Upadhyay not to squander the court’s time.
The ‘PIL Man of India’, as Upadhyay is popularly called, holds a degree in electrical engineering. However, having worked in different companies, he felt the need to do something for the country and acquired a law degree in 2002.
In August 2021, Upadhyay landed in trouble as he was accused of hate speech and arrested by Delhi Police on the basis of a viral video (though he was not seen in the video), containing incendiary slogans against Muslims in a programme attended by him at Jantar Mantar. However, he said he had never met the miscreants who raised such slogans.
While his critics call him a rabblerouser, as per Deccan Herald, the lawyer’s PIL seeking quick disposal of criminal cases against politicians led to the setting up of special courts and speedy trial and convictions of more than 100 sitting and former lawmakers.
Apart from this, his PIL seeking a uniform age for marriage is said to be behind the government introducing a Bill in Parliament. The petition seeking uniform age of marriage demands that the marriageable age for both men and women should be increased to 21 years.
Batting for Article 44 (Uniform Civil Code), Upadhyay called it “the soul of our Constitution” and said successive governments have failed to implement it “due to appeasement politics”.
In December 2020, the Supreme Court issued notice on two of Upadhyay’s PILs, seeking uniform divorce laws and uniformity in grant of maintenance and alimony to women. However, this did not go down well with the All India Muslim Personal Board which filed intervention applications, calling Upadhyay “a political person who has filed most of these petitions with his vested interests to further establish himself politically in his political establishment”.
Despite the criticism, Upadhyay continues to be a popular figure — on social media too. As of December 2022, he had five lakh Twitter followers and several supporters on his YouTube channel.
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