When AAP Didn't Deliver What It Preached, I Switched To BJP: Shazia Ilmi

Coming from a family of Congress supporters, Shazia always chose her political journeys independently.  Originally from Kanpur, she made the unconventional decision of becoming a journalist early on in her life. She then went on to spend over 15 years in broadcast journalism, including hosting a prime time show on Star News.

Shazia then switched her path when the Anna Hazare movement came through and was an active participant in it. When asked about her big switch, she said, “It was important to engage with political reality, and as a journalist, you are just a commentator. But as somebody who is out there in public life, you get to engage with people. So I thought it was important to be more than an observer and be a catalyst of change in society.”

Then when she became a part of the political movement and chose to be a part of Aam Aadmi Party, she again switched from there to the BJP last year. She reasoned the shift, by saying that when she saw that in AAP, “what was being preached was not being practised and things were not honest”, she moved on to BJP.

'It was important to be more than an observer and be a catalyst of change in society'

She is a dynamic advocate of anti-corruption and led India against the Corruption movement from the media’s point of view. She points out that it is not easy to be a woman in public life. “All kinds of personal attacks are made on you. People can be very mean to women, they talk about your appearance, marital status and they dig into your personal life.”

She added, “I don’t think a man is subjected to this kind of scrutiny as women are and it is very tough out there. Many times it has happened that there were things that were said about me and I was attacked so badly that I have actually gone back home and cried.”