New law minister Kapil Mishra an activist, not a lawyer

NEW DELHI: Kapil Mishra, who is currently holding the post of DJB vice-chairman, will be the new law minister of the Delhi government. He is yet to assume office.

“I have no background in law but I am sure I will be able to perform well,“ said Mishra, an Arvind Kejriwal loyalist. The announcement came a day after law minister Jitender Singh Tomar resigned on Tuesday night after he was arrested by Delhi Police on charges of forging his degrees.

Mishra has done his postgraduation from Delhi School of Social Work. His mother, Annapurna Mishra, is a senior member of BJP and has been the mayor of East Delhi Municipal Corporation. Despite that, says Mishra, AAP was a natural choice for him. “Nobody else in my family is in politics. My mother has been a huge influence on me but has never tried to steer me towards BJP. My political idol is Kejriwal. I joined politics because of him and emulate him every way,“ he said.

Mishra who worked with Amnesty International was a social activist. He is known for his water activism and issues pertaining to the Yamuna.

Mishra contested the 2012 elections from Karawal Nagar but lost by around 3,000 votes.This year, he won with a massive margin of 45,000 votes. Mishra says that this turnaround happened because of the work he put in his constituency--right from protests against a proposed dumping ground in the area to getting DTC to ply more buses through the area. However, party sources say that despite his loss, Mishra has managed to remain highly visible.

“He has been in the right place at the right time. Mishra is a staunch Kejriwal supporter and has been extremely active, from being the constituency in-charge in Varanasi for Kejriwal during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections to leading the charge against Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan in April this,“ said a colleague.

In the new government Mishra has clearly been marked as a favourite, from being made the DJB VC to ensuring that his constituency has been part of any special programme by the party or government.