Varanasi: Former IAS officer Divya Mittal on Thursday announced the launch of her political outfit, Jan Niti Bharat, which will contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.Through a video message posted on X and other platforms, Mittal said, “UP will vote in 2027, and Jan Niti Bharat will contest to ensure govt works according to citizens and doesn’t remember them once in five years.”She also disclosed her pledges, saying, “Our first pledge is to keep people at the centre of policy, and people will help decide policy. Farmers must shape farm policy, traders must shape trade policy, parents and children must shape schools, and every unheard village must be heard.”“Our second pledge is to ensure that every decision is based on need, not identity, influence, caste, religion, or status. Roads, handpumps, lights, drains, safety points, schools, and health centres must begin where people mark the greatest need. No single powerful finger should bend a road away from hundreds of homes,” she said.“Our third pledge is that people will receive accounts of each work, and accounts will bring reform. Every public work should be visible on a phone with details including cost, deadline, contractor, progress, and quality. Citizens should rate services green, yellow, or red, from hospitals and ration shops to schools and streets, so officials and ministers see the truth,” Mittal added.The 2013-batch UP cadre officer, who took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on Aug 30, hinted at her political ambitions after her resignation was accepted by the central govt in Sept. She had said, “When I last shared a number for people who wished to join me in public life, the response was so overwhelming that WhatsApp blocked it. I was not prepared for such faith. I began with a small lamp of hope, but your messages felt like sunlight.”Now, the same light showed the path towards forming Jan Niti Bharat, she said, mentioning that it will be a party where power does not rule over people, but people shape power. Jan Niti Bharat representatives will face the people, visit every doorstep, help those without phones or forms, and carry every voice forward.“This movement has no big money, so every home is an office and every citizen a campaigner,” said Mittal, an alumna of IIT Delhi and IIM Bengaluru, who was last posted as Special Secretary in the Revenue Department of UP before she stepped down after serving 13 years in the IAS.Mittal had found herself at the centre of a controversy during her posting as Mirzapur DM in 2023 after keeping politicians away from taking credit for development works. She had raised eyebrows among Mirzapur’s public representatives by inaugurating a piped water supply project at Lahuria Dah, a hill village located above the Dramandganj valley. Her moves as DM and attention to the demands and grievances of opposition parties increased her popularity. The same were supposed to be the reasons for her transfer from Mirzapur.After quitting the civil services, she made clear her intention to become active in politics but refused to join any political party. She did not disclose the seat from which she will contest, but speculation is high that Mirzapur will be her preferred choice.
