Manish Sisodia is an Indian politician, journalist and former social activist who served as the first Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi from 2015 to 2023. He represents the Patparganj constituency in Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015 and had also represented the constituency from 2013 to 2014. He is one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a member of its National Executive Committee.

Sisodia was a cabinet minister in the Government of Delhi between December 2013 and February 2014 and continued to hold several cabinet positions after becoming the Deputy Chief Minister, including the portfolio of Education Minister through which he credited for reforming and overhauling the public education sector in Delhi.

He resigned from the post of Deputy Chief Minister and all cabinet positions following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on corruption charges in an alleged liquor scam. There are counter-allegations against the Central Government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of misusing investigative agencies such as the CBI and ED to target their political opposition, and Sisodia is one of several opposition politicians with cases against them.

Early life and career

Manish Sisodia was born in a Hindu Rajput family of Phagauta village in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. Born to a father who was a public school teacher, he was enrolled into the government school in his village. Later, he commenced his career as a journalist after completing a diploma in journalism, awarded by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1993. Manish Sisodia also worked as radio jockey in FM radio station during his early career. He used to host several programs like "Zero Hour" for All India Radio in 1996 and then worked for Zee News as a reporter, news producer and news reader between 1997 and 2005.

Activism

Sisodia's association with the Chief Minister of Delhi and AAP's founding chief Arvind Kejriwal goes back to their time together as leaders of the non-profit Parivartan, founded by the latter to take up cases of citizens who struggled to engage with the government. After formally quitting journalism, Sisodia along with Kejriwal founded Kabir, a non-profit that organised public hearings with government officials and people. He was one of the key members of the group that drafted the Right to Information Act.

Subsequently, Sisodia became a key participant in the Anna Hazare led India Against Corruption movement of 2011 that sought a Jan Lokpal bill. He was involved in drafting the first version of that proposed legislation and was jailed for his involvement in protests.

Political career

Sisodia was one of the key founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He became a member of its Political Affairs Committee. He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the December 2013 Delhi Assembly election, when he defeated Nakul Bhardwaj, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, by 11,476 votes in the Patparganj constituency of East Delhi. In the February 2015 Delhi Assembly election, which resulted in a landslide victory for AAP, he was again elected from Patparganj, defeating Vinod Kumar Binny of the Bharatiya Janata Party by over 28,761 votes. In 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, he again defeated Ravinder Singh Negi, a BJP candidate by over 3000 votes.

Cabinet Minister, Delhi
He was a cabinet minister in all the three Kejriwal ministries and held the charge of below listed departments of the Government of Delhi during the Third Kejriwal Ministry-

Finance.
Education.
Tourism.
PWD.
Labour
Planning.
Land & Building.
Vigilance.
Services.
Art.
Culture.
Language.
He resigned from the cabinet on 28 February 2023, after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the Delhi liquor policy scam.

Political and social view

In his budget speech for 2016–17, Sisodia said that the aim of the government is not spending the allocated money but ensuring that every rupee spent makes a difference in the lives of the people. He has said that elections should be fought on the agendas of education and health and not on caste and religion.

At the World Education Conference in Moscow in 2018, Sisodia said that the real contribution to society is the building of a quality education system in the country and the task of education is to equip the students to address present-day challenges, including terrorism, pollution, corruption and gender discrimination. In 2019, he said that students should be enabled to become job providers rather than job seekers. He has also said that India needs an education system which ensures a high minimum quality of education to all its students and not just 5% students who can afford to pay for it.

Awards and recognition

2016: listed among the 100 most influential Indians 2016 by The Indian Express
2017: awarded the "Finest Education Minister" award
2019: awarded the Champions of Change Award for his exceptional work in education sector in Delhi
2021: honoured with the Mahatma award for promoting excellence in education; a global award to celebrate the work of social impact leaders and change-makers

Electoral performance