{"id":4455,"date":"2025-09-08T07:58:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/?post_type=team&#038;p=4455"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T07:58:11","slug":"meenakshi-lekhi","status":"publish","type":"team","link":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/team\/meenakshi-lekhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Meenakshi Lekhi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Meenakshi Lekhi<\/strong>\u202f(born 30 April 1967) is an Indian politician who served as the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ministry_of_External_Affairs_(India)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Minister of State for External Affairs<\/a>\u202fand\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ministry_of_Culture_(India)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Culture of India<\/a>\u202ffrom 7 July 2021 till 10 June 2024. She was a\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Member_of_Parliament,_Lok_Sabha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Member of Parliament<\/a>\u202ffrom\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Delhi_(Lok_Sabha_constituency)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Delhi Parliamentary constituency<\/a>\u202fin the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/16th_Lok_Sabha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">16th<\/a>\u202fand\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/17th_Lok_Sabha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">17th<\/a>\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lok_Sabha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lok Sabha<\/a>\u202ffrom the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bharatiya_Janata_Party%22%20\/o%20%22Bharatiya%20Janata%20Party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bharatiya Janata Party<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-:0-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fShe is also a lawyer in the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Supreme_Court_of_India\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Supreme Court of India<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She won the high-profile\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/New_Delhi_(Lok_Sabha_constituency)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New Delhi parliamentary constituency<\/a>\u202fas a BJP candidate in the 2014 elections and was re-elected in\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2019_Indian_general_election_in_Delhi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2019<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fIn July 2016, she was appointed as chairperson of the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Parliamentary_Committees_of_India\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Committee on Privileges<\/a>\u202fof the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lok_Sabha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lok Sabha<\/a>\u202fin Parliament.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fOn 26 July 2019, Lok Sabha speaker\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Om_Birla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Om Birla<\/a>\u202fappointed Lekhi as a chairperson of parliamentary committee on Public Undertakings<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-Jansatta-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fand is continuing since then in that position.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides writing articles in journals, periodicals and newspapers on socio-political issues, she participates in various television shows on matters on national and international importance. Lekhi writes &#8216;Forthwrite&#8217;,<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fa fortnightly column in\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Week_(Indian_magazine)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Week<\/em><\/a>\u202fmagazine. With her equal command over English and Hindi, she comes as a good debater in the parliament where she has participated in numerous debates on matters of national importance in the Lok Sabha, such as debates on &#8220;intolerance&#8221; in India<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fand the\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Triple_Talaq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Triple Talaq<\/a>\u202fBill.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[7]<\/sup><\/a>\u202fShe has also distinguished herself as an active participant in the various parliamentary processes and was awarded with the &#8220;Best Debut Women Parliamentarian&#8221; award by\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lokmat%22%20\/o%20%22Lokmat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lokmat<\/a>\u202fin 2017.<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Meenakshi_Lekhi#cite_note-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><sup>[8]<\/sup><\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4453,"menu_order":0,"template":"","team_designation":[],"team_department":[37],"class_list":["post-4455","team","type-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","team_department-speakers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/4455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"team_designation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_designation?post=4455"},{"taxonomy":"team_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/iconicbrands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_department?post=4455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}