'Giant Slayer' to 'Muslim Hater': The Greys of BJP CM Frontrunner Parvesh Verma

Despite communal controversies, how Parvesh Verma's political influence in Delhi grew, making him a key BJP figure.

(Photo: The Quint)

On 19 March 2009, an official notification issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declaring candidates for the Lok Sabha elections that year sent shockwaves among the Jats of rural Delhi.

32-year-old Parvesh Verma, a young Jat leader of the party and son of former chief minister of Delhi Sahib Singh Verma, was snubbed of a ticket for the West Delhi constituency that he had been working for. The party had chosen sitting MLA Jagdish Mukhi instead.

Two days later on 22 March 2009, while the seven candidates chosen by the party for Delhi attended a strategy meeting called by the senior leadership, some 10,000 Jats from across Delhi met at a Maha Panchayat in Dwarka to strategise their protest against the BJP's decision to "snub" Verma.

Heads of panchayats and community leaders delievered fiery speeches, invoked Sahib Singh's 'sacrifices' for the party, and threatened panchayats against Mukhi. Verma's supporters also blocked traffic and held protests outside the Delhi residense of LK Advani.

BJP candidate from New Delhi constituency Parvesh Verma at his residence, amid the counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly elections, in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Verma on Saturday emerged victorious against AAP supremo and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fierce contest from the New Delhi seat by a margin of 4,089 votes.

(Photo: PTI)

Though Verma did not actively campaign against Mukhi, he did express his discontent publicly. "Jagdish Mukhi is too big a leader and has been in politics for too long to require my support to ensure his victory."

Mukhi eventually lost the election to Congress' Mahabal Mishra by 1.29 lakh votes. Though the Delhi BJP was a divided house then, the senior leadership got the message that Verma's political legacy and his influence was not to be ignored.

In the past 27 years, the New Delhi Assembly constituency has seen two MLAs — Sheila Dikshit (1998-2013) and Arvind Kejriwal (2013-2024) — both of whom were the chief ministers of the national capital. On 8 February, the constituency, in all likelihood, may also see Verma hold the top post after being chosen its new MLA and defeating former CM Arvind Kejriwal by a narrow margin of 4,089 votes.

A two-time Lok Sabha MP, and now a two-time MLA, Verma holds a masters degree in administration. However, his political career has as many shades of grey as any other politicians', ranging from tiffs with the party leadership to lack of accountability on communal hate speeches.

Here's a look at some shades of Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma:

The 'Giant Slayer's' Tumultous Equations with the BJP

Being labelled as the 'giant slayer', Verma is being seen as a frontrunner for the CM's post. After all, he has had an illustrious political career with the saffron party in Delhi spanning across almost three decades.

Verma is no stranger to the 'giant slayer' tag. Verma won the Mehrauli Assembly constituency election in 2013, but once again, not without a conflict. Keen on contesting from Mundka, he threatened to quit the party if snubbed again. The party, however, quelled his revolt by fielding his uncle Azad Singh from the seat, forcing Verma to contest from Mehrauli which was a stroghold of the Congress.

(Photo: PTI)

Despite the AAP wave and him being up against then-incumbent Vidhan Sabha speaker Yoganand Shastri of the Congress, Verma won the seat nevertheless. “Had I fought from Mundka, I would have become just an MLA. But Mehrauli's victory has made me a leader," he said then.

But it still came as a surprise when he was picked to represent the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat just a year later in 2014. This time, Verma defeated Jarnail Singh of AAP and Mahabal Mishra of the Congress — to emerge victorious with a margin of 2.68 lakh votes.

In the 2019 general elections, he widened the victory margin to 5.78 lakh votes, the highest victory margin amond all Delhi seats.

Hence, Verma being benched in the 2024 general elections came as a shocker, with the party choosing a woman Jat candidate with Kamaljeet Sehrawat to represent West Delhi. The reported reasons behind benching Verma range from 'failure to weaken AAP in their constituencies' to 'too many contentious communal statements'. While Verma refrained from publicly questioning the party's decision, whispers of of him getting a bigger role in the Assembly elections were already going around.

'Total Boycott of Muslims'

As bright as Verma's electoral achievements shine, equally dark is the communal aspect of his politics.

In October 2022, Verma called for "total boycott of Muslims" at an event organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Delhi. Verma was speaking on an alleged murder of a Hindu local by three Muslim men in the Sundar Nagri locality.

In purported videos from the event that went viral on social media, Verma could be heard calling for "sampoorna bahishkar" and asking people to pledge not to buy anything from Muslims or employ people from the community.

According to a report by The Hindu, BJP president JP Nadda had objected to Verma's statements and had sought videos of his full speech from the event. While an FIR was filed against the organisers of the event for holding it 'without permission', no FIR was filed against Verma at the time for hate speech.

In subsequent explanations about his statements, Verma claimed that he made the statements only against those involved in the crime.

In January 2020, Verma had said that the anti-CAA protesters sitting at Shaheen Bagh may "enter homes and rape sisters and daughters."

"Kashmir was set on fire years ago when Kashmiri Pandits were ousted and their daughters and sisters were raped. That fire then spread to UP, Hyderabad, and Kerala. Today, that fire has started in a corner in Delhi. Lakhs of people gather there. This fire can reach the homes of Delhiites anytime, the people must think about this. These people will enter your homes, abduct your sisters and daughters, and rape them, and kill them," Verma told news agency ANI.

In an interview to a news channel, Verma had also claimed that "pro-Pakistan and pro-Jinnah slogans are raised in Shaheen Bagh protests and Kejriwal supports such naxalites."

In this image posted by @p_sahibsingh via X on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, BJP candidate from New Delhi constituency Parvesh Verma holds his victory certificate after winning from the seat in the Delhi Assembly elections with the backdrop of a portrait of his father and late former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.

(Photo: PTI)

Two days later, the Election Commission had asked the BJP to remove him as the party's official campaigner following his polarising remarks over the anti-CAA protests.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, meanwhile, had moved several courts to demand for filing FIRs against Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri for delivering hate speeches during the anti-CAA protests in Delhi. After the trial court's refusal to order FIRs against the leaders, and the Delhi High Court's refusal to reverse the trial court's decision, Karat had also moved Supreme Court for the same.

The 2025 election campaign, too, was riddled with controversies with the AAP even filing complaints with the EC against Verma ranging from alleged distribution of money to voters, distributing freebies, to tampering with voter lists.

While it remains unclear if Verma is the CM pick, he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter's residence following the party's victory. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva also met Delhi BJP chief JP Nadda and is being percieved to be a frontrunner for the post.