Atishi Marlena: Unknown Facts About Delhi MLA!

Atishi Singh, popularly known by the name Atishi Marlena is an Indian politician, educator, and MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) from Kalkaji, Delhi. Currently, she serves as the Minister of Education, P.W.D, Culture, and Tourism in the Delhi Government.

Atishi represents the Aam Aadmi Party and is also a member of the Political Affairs Committee of the party. On 28th April 2022, she addressed the United Nations General Assembly and delivered a speech on the Delhi Governance model. 

Physical Stats

Family

Born on 8 June 1981, Atishi belongs to a Punjabi Rajput family. Her father Vijay Singh and mother Tripta Wahi, both worked as professors at Delhi University. Atishi also has an elder sister Rosa Basanti who is married to Bhupendra Chaubey, a television anchor and journalist.

Atishi is married to Pravin Singh.

The middle name ‘Marlena’ was given to Atishi by her parents and it was coined from the names Marx and Lenin. Atishi’s parents had leniency towards the left parties and thus they came up with this name. In August 2018, Atishi Marlena removed her surname from her social media handles as she did not want to waste time in proving her identity.

Education

Atishi did her schooling at Springdales School, New Delhi, and passed out in April 1998. After her school education, she joined St. Stephen’s College, Delhi to pursue B.A. (Hons.), in History and passed out in 2001. In the same year, Atishi enrolled at Oxford University and in 2003 she completed her Masters in Ancient and Modern History with a 3rd rank in the University.

During the period 2001-2003, she was also awarded the Radhakrishnan-Chevening Scholarship. Later, in 2005, Atishi Marlena enrolled for her second post-graduation degree at Oxford University and passed out in 2006. She was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship while undergoing her second master’s degree.

Controversies

In 2018, BJP led a whisper campaign alleging that Atishi Marlena is a Christian. Following that, Atishi dropped her surname from her Twitter handle as well as all publicity materials. Thus, the name of her Twitter handle was changed from @AtishiMarlena to @AtishiAAP and even the official website of AAP reflected the change. Atishi Marlena went on to state that she wants to stop BJP from polarising the election.

Later, in April 2019, while contesting in the East Delhi elections, Atishi was campaigning under the name “Atishi”. However, she filed the affidavit with the name “Atishi Marlena”.

Taking a dig at the politician, BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor later tweeted that when she joined politics, her name was Atrishi Marlena. He also added that a few days later her name started appearing on hoardings as ‘Atishi Singh’ and on Twitter as @AtishiAAP. Praveen sarcastically tweeted that when the election nomination was filed, her name became Atishi Marlena and he was asking the secret behind that change.

Profession

In 2003, Atishi joined Rishi Valley School, Andhra Pradesh as a teacher and worked there for a year. Her next assignment was at Eklavya, an NGO in Maharashtra a researcher. After working at Eklavya for 1 year, Atishi Marlena went on to co-found Maanavsthali in 2006. It was a grassroots initiative that was set up with the aim of promoting sustainable living and dealing with community mobilization on social and ecological issues. 

In 2013, Atishi kickstarter her political career by being part of policy formulation for the AAP. She was actively involved in the Jal Satyagraha in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh and extended support to Alok Agarwal, the AAP leader who led the campaign. She majorly contributed to the historic protests and also the legal battle that occurred later.

From 2015 to 2018, Atishi worked in the role of Advisor to the Deputy Chief Minister, of the Government of Delhi. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, she contested as an AAP candidate and lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambir. However, the following year she won the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election. From February 2020 onwards, Atishi Marlena has been serving as an MLA with the Government of Delhi. On 8th March 2023, she was appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the Delhi Government by Droupadi Murmu, the President of India.

Source Of Income

As per public sources, Atishi’s net worth stands at $5 million.

Lesser Known Facts About Atishi Marlena

• In an interview, Atishi was asked about her favorite food and she said that it is Rajma Chawal. The next question was about what she likes cooking the most and the minister replied that it is a difficult question to answer.

• Atishi Marlena met AAP members for the first time when she associated with some non-profit organizations in Maharashtra. 

• She is an ardent fan of Harry Potter.

• After her speech at the United Nations General Assembly,  Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, showered praises on Atishi Marlena by tweeting that it was a matter of great pride.

• In an interview, Atishi once said that she is not asking the voters to cast their vote for her so that she can work for them. The Delhiite added that she has already done some work and if the voters choose to elect her, she could do much more.

• She is quite active on social media platforms and keeps posting socially relevant topics. Atishi’s follower count on Facebook amounts to a whopping 1,63,000 and on Instagram, it is 1,51,000.  

• When journalist Ravish Tiwari, National Political Editor and Chief of the National Bureau of The Indian Express passed away Atishi Marlena remembered him as a journalist who was open, sharp, and analytical. She went on to say that as a friend, he was loyal and generous to a fault.

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