From ‘conch boosts immunity’ claim to blanket row in Rajasthan: Who is former BJP MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria?

Former BJP MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria distributed blankets in Rajasthan’s Tonk on Monday

• Ex-BJP MP Jaunapuria accused of excluding Muslim women from event
• Video shows Jaunapuria asking women's names before giving blankets
• Jaunapuria made controversial Covid health claims previously

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A controversy erupted in Rajasthan’s Tonk this week after former BJP MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria allegedly turned away Muslim women from a blanket distribution programme for poor families.

The programme was organised in Kareda Buzurg village in Niwai tehsil on February 22. Jaunpuria had reportedly visited the village to invite residents for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to Ajmer on February 28.

According to video footage circulating on social media, he was seen asking women their names before distributing blankets. When one woman identified herself as Shakuran Bano, he allegedly asked her to step aside, instructing that the blanket be taken back.

Who is Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria?

Jaunapuria was a BJP MP from Tonk–Sawai Madhopur constituency.

He was also an MLA from Haryana’s Sohna between 2005 and 2009. He was then elected to the Lok Sabha from Tonk Sawai Madhopur in 2014 and 2019 before losing in 2024.

According to the Hindu, as per details submitted in his election affidavit, Jaunapuria is a high school graduate. He had listed real estate development as his profession. He declared total assets worth Rs 142.1 crore and liabilities amounting to ₹1.6 crore. His annual income was stated to be Rs 71 lakh.

The affidavit also mentioned one pending criminal case against him.

Not new to controversy

In 2020, Jaunapuria had claimed that a mud pack and blowing a conch shell can help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

"You will not gain immunity from eating medicines. You will gain immunity naturally. Go out, get wet in the rain, sit in the dirt, work on the farm, blow a conch... and eat 'desi' things. One gains immunity from doing these things," the leader had said in a video posted on his official Facebook page.

Earlier, he had stirred debate after claiming that applying mud on the body and practising yoga could cure all diseases. He made the remarks in June during celebrations of International Yoga Day in India.