Kumar Vishwas (born Vishwas Kumar Sharma; 10 February 1970) is an Indian
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
poet, politician, and a lecturer. He was a founding member of the
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a former member of its National Executive.
Life and career
Vishwas was born on 10 February 1970 in a middle-class family in the town of
Pilkhuwa
Pilkhuwa is a town and a municipal board in Hapur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located 12 km from Hapur, the district headquarters. It is famous for its textile products and handloom industry.
It is located on Nation ...
in Uttar Pradesh, where he studied at Lala Ganga Sahay School. His father, Chandra Pal Sharma, was a lecturer at R.S.S. Degree College in Pilkhuwa and his mother, Rama Sharma, was a homemaker. Vishwas is the youngest child and has four brothers and a sister. He studied at the Rajputana Regiment Inter College and then joined
Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College because his father wanted him to become an engineer. However, engineering did not interest Vishwas and he left it to study
Hindi literature
Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...
, in which he subsequently earned a PhD.
It was while studying for his PhD that Vishwas changed his name from Viswas Kumar Sharma to Kumar Vishwas, to maintain a poetic identity. In 1994, he became a lecturer in Indra Gandhi PG college 'Pilibanga'
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
, then taught Hindi literature at
Lala Lajpat Rai College.
In 2012, he joined the newly formed AAP as a volunteer worker.
Vishwas hosts a comedy show called ''KV Sammelan'' on the
Aaj Tak
''Aaj Tak'' () is an Indian Hindi-language news channel owned by TV Today Network, part of the New Delhi-based media conglomerate Living Media group (India Today Group)
Aaj Tak HD
On 14 December 2018, Aaj Tak launched India's first Hindi h ...
television channel that first premiered on 29 September 2018.
Vishwas routinely gives performances in which he demonstrates his poetry and love for Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit literature. He incorporates his comments on topical issues relating to India. He has participated in poetry recitations and functions abroad including the US, UK, Dubai, Oman, Singapore and Japan.
Political career
Vishwas has known
Arvind Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal (Hindi: ɾʋin̪d̪ ked͡ʒɾiːʋaːl born 16 August 1968) is an Indian politician, former bureaucrat, and activist who is the 7th and current Chief Minister of Delhi since February 2015. Currently, he is the national co ...
since 2005 and joined the
India Against Corruption movement led by
Anna Hazare. Thereafter, as the movement faded and morphed into what is today known as the AAP, led by Kejriwal, he was asked to become a member of its national executive.
He contested the
2014 Lok Sabha election as an AAP candidate from
Amethi
Amethi is a city situated in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is a major town of the Amethi
district, in the Faizabad division. The Hanumangarhi
temple is located in the heart of the town. Amethi was the 72 nd district of Uttar Pradesh w ...
, but lost to then incumbent
Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...
, securing only 25,000 votes.
A sting operation was carried out by a
tabloid media portal called "
Media Sarkar" ahead of the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections that claimed that some AAP members, including Vishwas and
Shazia Ilmi, had raised illegal cash donations. The AAP accused the portal of slandering the leaders of the party. Mediasarkar.com and AAP filed cross complaints against each other. The police promised action after a thorough investigation.
As elections approached, a doctored video clip from a
Kavi sammelan went viral in which he was shown making alleged derogatory remarks about
Imam Hussain
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...
and Hindu deities and nurses from
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. As a result, various cases were registered against him. Vishwas responded that the clippings were doctored and later apologised for his remarks, saying it was not his intention to hurt anyone's sentiments or feelings.
In 2016, Vishwas was accused by a campaign volunteer of molestation and making "sexually coloured" remarks. The courts ordered a
FIR to be registered because of the complaint but an investigation by Delhi Police found no significant evidence to substantiate it.
In July 2017, Vishwas was accused of copyright infringement by
Amitabh Bachchan in relation to a posting on YouTube of a poem by his father
Harivansh Rai Bachchan
Harivansh Rai Bachchan (; 27 November 1907 19 December 2002) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th century Hindi literature. He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is be ...
. The video was taken down and a compensation of ₹32 was paid. This was around the same time that he was embroiled in a dispute within the AAP, which he had threatened to quit.
On 23 March 2019, Vishwas was served with a legal notice by
Amritsar based advocate, NPS Hira, for allegedly cracking jokes on the Sikh community in a demeaning manner in a programme organized at NIT ground
Faridabad
Faridabad is the most populous city in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite cities around Delhi and is located 284 kilometres south of the state capital Chandigarh. The ri ...
on 15 March 2019. Hira also warned Vishwas of criminal complaint if he fails to visit
Sri Akal Takht Sahib and apologize.
On 16 February 2022 just before
2022 Punjab Legislative Elections, Vishwas claimed that the AAP Supremo
Kejriwal once said him that even if he loses the election, he will become the first prime minister of an independent
Khalistan
The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khālistān (' Land of the Khalsa'), in the Punjab region. The proposed state would consist of land that cur ...
by taking the help of separatists. Kejriwal termed these claims as politically motivated and a "big joke" as had he been a terrorist why hadn't he been probed since so many years in electoral politics. Delhi High Court called a petition related to this matter "frivolous". Aap MLAs offered "
laddoo
''Laddu'' or ''laddoo'' (; ms, kuih laddu; id, kue laddu) is a spherical sweet originating from India and spread through the Indian subcontinent and the Malay world. Laddus are primarily made from flour, fat ( ghee/butter/oil) and sugar or ...
s" to Vishwas in the wake of their Punjab victory.
Media
Vishwas has been a guest judge on the ''
Indian Idol
''Indian Idol'' is the Indian music competition television franchise based on the ''Pop Idol
''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show w ...
'' television show and a guest on
Zee TV's talent hunt show ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs''. He wrote the songs "De De Jagah" for the 2018 Hindi film ''
Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran'' and "Veer Bhagat Singh". Vishwas was a guest on 1 July 2017 episode of
The Kapil Sharma Show
''The Kapil Sharma Show'', also known as TKSS, is an Indian Hindi-language stand-up comedy and talk show broadcast by Sony Entertainment Television. Hosted by Kapil Sharma, the first season of the show had its premiere on 23 April 2016. The ...
along with
Rahat Indori
Rahat Indori, born as Rahat Qureshi, (1 January 1950 – 11 August 2020) was an Indian Bollywood lyricist and Urdu poet. He was also a former professor of Urdu language and a painter. Prior to this he was a pedagogist of Urdu literature at DAV ...
and Shabinaji. He was a guest again on 21 September 2019 episode of The Kapil Sharma Show along with
Manoj Bajpai
Manoj Bajpayee (born 23 April 1969), also transliterated as Manoj Bajpai, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi cinema and has also done Telugu and Tamil language films. Regarded as one of the finest actors of Hindi cinema, he i ...
and
Pankaj Tripathi
Pankaj Tripathi (né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and has also appeared in Telugu and Tamil language films. Tripathi has established himself as one of the notable actors of Hindi cinema. He is the ...
.
He also presented ''
Tarpan
The term tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') refers to free-ranging horses of the Russian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids. The las ...
'', a musical poetry series, where he would recite poems of famous historical poets, against a background of music.
Kumar Vishwas will be seen as judge, evaluating performances of the contestants on parameters of sur, bhaav and saar in upcoming spiritual musical reality show Swarna Swar Bharat on
Zee TV,
Zee Anmol
Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 2 October 1992, as the first privately owned TV channel in the country. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee TV also ...
and
Zee5
ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Andro ...
Personal life
He is married to Manju Sharma, with whom he has two daughters.
Notable works
* ''Ek Pagli Ladki Ke Bin'' (1996)
* ''Koi Deewana Kehta Hai'' (2007)
* ''Phir Meri Yaad'' (2017)
*Hai Naman Unko
*Apne Apne Ram
References
External links
*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vishwas, Kumar
Hindi-language poets
Living people
Aam Aadmi Party candidates in the 2014 Indian general election
Aam Aadmi Party politicians
21st-century Indian politicians
1970 births