NEW DELHI: There’s an unnerving tale that Rakhi Birla’s father relates by way of conveying his daughter’s steely determination. “We already had three children when she was conceived. Rakhi was an unplanned child and my wife and I did not want more. We tried aborting the foetus by taking medicines prescribed by the doctor but Rakhi survived. For me, that’s how she first demonstrated her strong will,” says Bhupendra Singh Bidhlan at the family’s modest home in Mangolpuri on the north-western edge of the city-state.Then there’s the unending curiosity about her second name, associated indelibly with one of India’s biggest business families. “It was a mistake made by my school teacher while filling out my Class X certificate. She wrote Birla instead of Bidhlan,” says the former television journalist and neophyte politician named as one of the members of Arvind Kejriwal’s council of ministers. At 26, she will be the youngest minister the state has ever had.Given that the AAP came from literally nowhere a year ago to be on the verge of forming the next government in Delhi, its 28 victorious candidates are all giant killers of sorts. The result in Mangolpuri was no less stunning, one of the biggest electoral upsets in Delhi. Birla defeated four-time MLA and former state minister Raj Kumar Chauhan by a margin of over 10,000 votes.As far as material possessions go, she couldn’t be further removed from her namesakes. Rakhi Birla declared assets worth `51,150 in her election affidavit. She was born in a Dalit family, her father a social worker and her mother a sweeper in a government school where she also studied until Class XII. The family of six, all devout followers of the Radha Swami spiritual movement, survived on her mother’s income of a few thousand rupees every month.She was never ashamed of her caste or financial background. “And it never stopped her from dreaming big,” says mother Sheila Bidhlan.After completing her matriculation, Birla graduated from Delhi University’s Shivaji College and completed her masters in journalism from an institute affiliated to Hisar University. She found a job with a local TV channel. Then, two assignments changed everything. First, she covered the India Against Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, of which Kejriwal was an integral part. Then came the Nirbhaya gangrape. “Reporting these events for her news channel changed her outlook completely and she felt the urge to join politics,” says mother.Birla found herself turning into a believer in the premise that change can only be brought about by participating in the process. “My father is a social worker and my grandfather was a freedom fighter. I think my reaction to Annaji’s movement and the gangrape had a lot to do with that.”

Ever since the announcement was made that she would become a minister, Birla has been giving interviews on the trot. The coming appointment has strengthened her belief that she’s on a mission to transform politics and governance. Is she worried that the babus reporting to her won’t take her seriously? “If you are honest and confident, no one can treat you like a child.” She smiles but there’s an assurance behind the words. The message is clear — she may be young, she may have just a year in politics but she doesn’t plan on being a pushover.