Meet the yoga teacher from Sharjah who forced the EC to bare its teeth

Harpreet Mansukhani's PIL led four top politicians, who had made provocative speeches, to be temporarily banned from campaigning

Even meditation, it seems, cannot insulate one from the news of late. Upset by reports of the communal and casteist contortions of some Indian political leaders, a yoga teacher based in Sharjah filed a petition ahead of the Lok Sabha elections against the use of divisive rhetoric. It was Harpreet Mansukhani’s PIL filed in March, based on which the Supreme Court recently questioned the Election Commission, that forced the poll panel to invoke its extraordinary powers on Monday and temporarily ban Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati, Azam Khan and Maneka Gandhi from campaigning. With the four leading political figures who had made provocative speeches barred for 48 to 72 hours, Mansukhani’s effort has been dubbed a blessing for the ongoing electoral process. 

The 45-year-old was particularly disturbed by such politics of hate because her own family bears scars of Partition – her parents had to flee their homes as children and an aunt had lost her life. “For me democracy is as vital as breathing,” she says over the phone. She says the EC’s rap on the knuckles may not prove enough — “the speeches have done their damage” — but believes it sends a message to both politicians and the public. “It reiterates that people will never lose their voice in a democracy. And it shows leaders their place, that they are there to serve the people.”

Six months ago, Mansukhani began collecting examples of hate speech – among them comments by vitriolic leaders Ananth Kumar Hegde and Yogi Adityanath. Everyone, including the lawyers in India, had initially told her this was a lost cause. Her petition was presented by advocate Prathvi Raj Chauhan with Sanjay Hegde appearing as the senior counsel. The EC had first stated it was powerless in the matter, but Sanjay Hegde, who as a young lawyer had observed his employers working with the iron-willed former Chief Election Commissioner, T N Seshan, argued that Article 324 of the Constitution has a deep repository of powers. “It is no use having been given teeth if you don’t use them, if you don’t bare them occasionally, and sometimes bite,” he says, in reference to the incumbent poll panel’s belated measures. “Otherwise those very teeth can be dismissed as dentures.” 

Mansukhani, who has a BSc degree, is interested in legislation herself. In 17 years of living in Sharjah, she has with true immigrant spirit worked several jobs in fields including wellness, marketing and tourism. When certain property and personal matters led her to courts in India and Dubai, she became familiarised with the laws of both lands. Ever since, she says, she has offered legal aid to Indian and local women going through troubled times. She is already taking an online course in human rights law with the eventual hope of moving to Canada to practise it.

NRIs are often rebuked for having opinions on a country in which they no longer live, but Mansukhani believes they need to be political. “You don’t stop being Indian.” According to her, many in the diaspora still feel they cannot change anything. “But as an NRI, you can influence people the right way because you know how things are in other parts of the world, how clean they are. I want India to have at least 30-40 per cent of that.” Deeply spiritual and attributing at least some part in her every action to “God”, Mansukhani would like religion to not be misused in campaign rhetoric. However, she will not be able to register her disapproval by way of a vote, given commitments related to her children’s education presently prevent her from travelling to India.

Most people warned her against taking on the powerful. “They said you should be scared but I am not. I would rather die a hero than a coward,” she says, adding she is prepared to move court again should a leader make further poisonous remarks. “This small step is a start.”