Dr Archana Gupta, 58, was appointed as the president of the Haryana unit of the BJP on Thursday, making her the second woman to lead the party in the state.
Apart from Haryana, BJP president Nitin Nabin also appointed new state unit chiefs for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Tripura, in separate notifications issued by party general secretary Arun Singh.
Gupta, a radiologist-turned-politician, is the first woman to be appointed president of the party’s Haryana unit in four decades, and the first ever state president was Kamla Verma from 1980 to 1983. Former Union minister, the late Sushma Swaraj, served as Janata Party’s Haryana unit president in 1979.
Education and family
Born in Atta village in Panipat, she currently resides in Sector 24 of Panipat and also runs a diagnostic center in Sector 11 of the city. Gupta received her MD in Radiology from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, in 1994.
She is married to Dr. Anil Gupta, who belongs to Jind, and her grandfather Dr. Surajban was a freedom fighter.
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Political career
Gupta, before being appointed as the Haryana unit president, was the state general secretary of the BJP. It has long been associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
She was appointed as the district president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha in 2016, and became the first district president of the BJP’s Panipat district in 2020. Gupta was elevated to the post of state general secretary of the party in 2024, and has been involved in core organizational activities of the BJP.
The move to appoint her as state unit chief could boost the BJP’s women’s awareness campaign ahead of the elections in the neighboring state of Punjab.
“Greetings to every woman”
After her appointment, Gupta thanked the party for the trust placed in her and said that the move was a “tribute” to every woman who worked to build the nation.
“My deep gratitude to the Bharatiya Janata Party for giving a new dimension to women’s power in India. This honor is not mine alone, but a tribute to every woman who constantly works for nation building, organizational strength, and upliftment of society,” Gupta said in a statement.
She said she would strengthen the party by bringing everyone along according to the party’s policies and ideology. “I will always be grateful for the trust and blessings of the high command, state leadership and all loyal party workers,” Gupta added. PTI said that the Bharatiya Janata Party worked to provide opportunities for women in all fields.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini congratulated Gupta on the appointment and expressed hope that the party would “scale to new heights of success” under her leadership in Haryana.
(With inputs from Neeraj Mohan)
