"Even Current MLA Was 'Nobody' Once": UP Activist On Congress Ticket

Sadaf Jafar was arrested in December 2019 at Lucknow's Parivartan Chowk while hosting a Facebook Live session to highlight violence during anti-CAA protests

Actor-activist Sadaf Jafar - who was "kicked in the stomach by a male cop" after being arrested during anti-citizenship law protests in Lucknow in December 2019 - will contest next month's Uttar Pradesh election from the Lucknow (central) seat on a Congress ticket.

Ms Jafar, who is out on bail following arrest on egregious charges of rioting and attempted murder, told NDTV she would fight to raise and address issues that matter to the people of Uttar Pradesh.

She also dismissed talk her electoral debut - against the BJP's Brajesh Pathak, the sitting MLA, a minister, and a former Lok Sabha MP - might be too difficult to win. "Even the current MLA would have been a 'nobody' at some point, right?" she said when NDTV asked if she was a political lightweight.

"See... in a democracy, in an election, the real strength is with the people and nobody else (so it doesn't matter). They will decide. For my part, to hear my name spoken to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra... it feels good to have my struggle recognised by the party," Ms Jafar told NDTV.