BHOPAL: The lone Muslim face in the Madhya Pradesh BJP recently announced state working committee is a devoted Hanuman worshipper who has thrice visited the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and was among the Kar Sevaks stopped in Prayagraj while attempting to reach Ayodhya during the Ram Temple movement in 1990.
Meet Bilkis Jahan, a 57-year-old Shia Dawoodi Bohra Muslim BJP Mahila Morcha leader from Bhopal's Aliganj locality. She is the only Muslim member in the 106-member state working committee announced by the BJP on June 23.
Fondly called "Billi" (cat) by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Union minister Uma Bharti, the unmarried commerce graduate has been included in the party's state working committee for the fourth time in 16 years. The committee is the apex decision-making and policy-implementing body of the BJP's state unit.
Known for her equal respect for Islam and Hinduism, Bilkis says faith has never been a barrier in her life.
"I wake up daily at 3 am and offer prayers at our community's mosque in Aliganj. At the same time, for the last 22 years, I have unfailingly ensured that I offer prayers at 7.30 am at the famous Hanuman Temple in Kamla Park area and recite the Hanuman Chalisa there. Every Tuesday, I observe fast for Babbaji (Lord Hanuman), who has helped me overcome every difficulty in life," Bilkis told TNIE.
"I've been on pilgrimage to Mecca, Jeddah, Iran and Egypt. But at the same time, I've also offered prayers at Mata Vaishno Devi Temple in Jammu thrice till now. I was among the BJP workers who were stopped in Allahabad for three days, while trying to proceed to Ayodhya for the Ram Temple Kar Seva in 1990. I feel proud if someone addresses me as a devotee of Babbaji (Lord Hanuman). I greet people with Jai Siyaram as I feel it's not a religious slogan, but a slogan which every Indian should be proud of," she said.
However, she criticised incidents of mob violence carried out in the name of religion.
"If killing of Muslims in Gaza and Iran, genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh cannot be justified, then the mob lynching of Muslims in the name of protecting cattle smuggling too cannot be justified. As a Hanuman Bhakt, I'm very pained by the Ayodhya Ram Temple donation theft," she said.
The youngest among five siblings in a Bohra Muslim business family, Bilkis came into contact with then Janata Party leader Razia Sultan Arif Beg and RSS leader Shashi Bhai Seth in 1979. Seth nicknamed her "Billu Chand", a name he continues to use.
"I've been associated with the BJP since the early 1980s. The party's ideology is at the core of my heart and life dedicated to the nation's service. In the initial years with BJP, I was the lone Muslim woman member of the party's Chowk Mandal in Bhopal. I was the lone BJP women worker to be deployed as booth agent at the Muslim-dominated Saifia College polling booth. Even my own family voted for the BJP after days of persuasion," she recalled.
Her prominence in the party grew during the 1993 Assembly elections when she campaigned for BJP candidate Ramesh Sharma, who went on to register the party's only victory from the Muslim-dominated Bhopal Uttar constituency.
"I suffered injuries on the forehead from stone pelting by Congress workers, but stood firm, even as blood oozed from the deep cut wounds. The joy of having suffered those wounds while serving the party in the poll battlefield overcame the associated pain. As many as 18 cases were registered against me to stop me, but they proved to be too small," Bilkis said.
She was once jailed for a day for burning an effigy of Mahmud of Ghazni.
In 2002, the BJP fielded her in municipal elections from Ward No. 19, the home ward of then Bhopal Uttar MLA and district in-charge minister Arif Aqueel. The Congress fielded Shamim Bano, also from the Bohra community, in a bid to split votes.
"The CM Digvijaya Singh addressed the meeting in Aliganj, while our leader Uma Bharti was forced to address the meeting in Itwara, due to denial of permission to hold the meeting in Aliganj. Our senior leaders, including Kailash Joshi, Kailash Sarang, Uma Bharti, Sunderlal Patwa, Babulal Gaur and Umashankar Gupta actively supported me, resulting in 272-votes win, largely due to support by Bohra Muslim and Hindus," she said.
As a corporator, she facilitated the opening of a government primary school and established an akhara for wrestlers. She later lost two subsequent municipal elections from Wards 7 and 19.
Bilkis served as a BJP state working committee member under state presidents Narendra Singh Tomar, Prabhat Jha and Nandkumar Singh Chauhan between 2010 and 2018. She was also offered a position during VD Sharma's tenure as state BJP chief between 2022 and 2025, but declined it.
She remains disappointed that she was denied a BJP ticket from Bhopal Uttar and that the party instead fielded Fatima Rasool Siddiqui, daughter of former Congress MLA Rasool Ahmad Siddiqui.
"I complained to our then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but he said whatever is destined will happen. Fatima Rasool Siddiqui returned to Congress after losing the 2018 elections," she said.
While expressing gratitude for her inclusion in the state working committee for a fourth term, Bilkis said she still hopes to be appointed chairperson of the State Madrasa Board or State Minority Commission, or become a member of the State Women's Commission.
According to party sources, Bilkis Jahan's return to the state working committee could signal a larger role in the future, including the possibility of being fielded from the Bhopal Uttar Assembly constituency, a seat the BJP has won only once — in 1993.