Jamui: Three years ago, on 14 May, Khushbu Pandey from Jamui, Bihar, was out shopping in Delhi’s Connaught Place. Among the thousands in the city centre, she was the one who caught the attention of a vox pop programmer looking for a quick byte on the polarising issue of the Gyanvapi mosque. The 24-year-old stepped into the frame, spoke for just under nine minutes, and became a star overnight.
Dressed in a black zigzag top and wearing purple glasses, Khushbu, a UPSC aspirant, then transformed into what could’ve been any fiery, polarising TV panellist, speaking with a conviction rarely expected at her age.
She posed provocative ‘Right-wing’ questions, asking why India’s history remembers the sons of Babar’s descendants but not who Maharana Pratap’s father was. She escalated the rhetoric by questioning how a “1.5 percent Muslim population grew to 35 crore” if Hindus in India weren’t tolerant. No one corrected her, of course, that the Muslim population was an estimated 19.7 crore as of 2023.
As she spoke, an elderly man clapped in admiration nearby. Pandey, determined to dominate the moment, kept the camera trained on her, aggressively waving off others who tried to interject. It all paid off. Her byte would make the video’s title — Gyanvapi Masjid par chillane wale Owaisi ko is ladki ne dhool chata diya (This girl made Owaisi eat dust over Gyanvapi mosque).
In the eight-minute 45-second clip, she spoke with authority on nearly every Indian Right-wing keyword that exists in the realm of YouTube’s algorithm—Pakistan, Eid, Islam, Muslims, Aurangzeb, Owaisi, and Babri Masjid, among others.
“She is a Hindu Sherni (tigress),” the comment section thundered. Today, her Instagram page, titled Khushbu Pandey Hindu Sherni, has over 1.6 lakh followers. Last December, she even launched her own organisation, Veer Jagdamb Sena, with the tagline ‘Awaz nahin, talwar utha’ (Not your voice, raise your swords).
She’s a new kind of Hindutva ‘heroine’—young, educated, modern, and unabashed about spewing hate. Others like Kajal Hindustani, Suman Pandey, and Doli Sharma are similarly loud, aggressive, and pushing Hindu supremacy. They’re often dressed in traditional clothes, but T-shirts and jeans aren’t out of the question. On social media, their fans call them veerangana and sherni. Some of these “shernis” are taking their rhetoric to the streets as well.
In April 2023, Kajal Hindustani was arrested in Gujarat for allegedly delivering a hate speech on Ram Navami that triggered communal clashes; she was celebrated as the “Lioness of Gujarat”. Less than two years later, Khushbu Pandey landed in jail too, after a religious procession in Jamui ended in violence.
“I always wanted to achieve something far greater than what anyone in my government school could have imagined. My father told me that the IAS is the highest government post. But soon I realised that it is the Shasan (political leadership) that governs the Parshasan (bureaucracy),” Khushbu told ThePrint from her home in Mallehpur village in Jamui district. She added that to become part of the Parshasan, one must engage with pressing national issues.
On 18 February, Khushbu was arrested for allegedly delivering provocative speeches and being part of a religious procession that, police said, incited violence between two communities in Jamui.
The fellow inmates and even the jail authorities not only recognised me but treated me kindly. This is the goodwill I have earned
-Khushbu Pandey
She was released from jail on bail earlier this month, having spent 48 days behind bars. Her bail came with strict conditions. She is prohibited from delivering hate speech, must report to the local police station fortnightly, and attend all court hearings.
At her family home in Mallehpur village, Khushbu is now planning her comeback. On YouTube, shortly before her arrest, she’d smirked with studied menace and hissed: “Tayyar rehna, palat ke vaar hoga” (Be ready, we will strike back).
Her 32-year-old brother, Akash Pandey, a practising advocate at the Jamui district court, is firmly by her side, with legal advice on tap.
“She is fighting for the right cause. We will not go silent,” said her father, 55-year-old Ashok Pandit, a contractor. He recounted his own experiences of being jailed twice over land disputes. For him and his wife, Poonam Pandey, their daughter’s arrest has brought a sense of pride and recognition to the family.
Pandey has said of her proudest moments was seeing Google describe her as “a fiery proponent of extreme Hinduism who is known for her insults directed at Muslims.”
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The making of Khushbu Pandey
For three years after she rose to fame in 2022, Khushbu travelled across cities like Varanasi, Rishikesh, and Dehradun, attending religious gatherings such as the Yuva Dharam Sansad. But with her growing influence in Hindu pop culture, she decided she needed more. She wanted to be the CEO of her own platform.
“I established my own Hindutva organisation called the Veer Jagdamb Sena,” she said. A pinned post on her Instagram exhorts followers to “join Hindu Sherni’s team”, with the caption: “I need the support of all Hindus for the battles ahead, because it’s not possible alone.” For now, though, the group is keeping a low profile.
Khushbu, who divides her time between Delhi and Jamui, claims she has lost count of the number of fan pages that now flourish in her name. Last September, she told her Instagram followers that one of her proudest moments was seeing Google describe her as “a fiery proponent of extreme Hinduism who is known for her insults directed at Muslims.”
Her family members see this as an achievement too.
“It’s a badge of honour for us,” said Poonam Pandey with quiet pride at their modest two-storey home in Mallehpur village. She recalled the years spent raising Khushbu largely alone, as her husband worked as a contractor at the Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand. Her son stayed with his father to pursue his law studies. Khushbu’s grandfather was a middle school teacher in the railways at Kharagpur, West Bengal.
Academically, Khushbu did not excel at written exams. She scraped through her 10th and 12th grades at the government school in her village, securing less than 50 per cent marks. But she stood out when it came to public speaking.
She also claims to be a national-level karate champion, a skill she says she learnt from YouTube tutorials.
Mallehpur, part of the Barhat subdivision of Jamui district, has a population of 12,232 (Census 2011) and a long political history. It has produced leaders like Bihar’s former Chief Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh and Congress leader Sushil Kumar Singh. Khusbhu is now the latest local celebrity there.
Though the media may have discovered her in 2022, she had begun drawing attention in Jamui long before.
Cut hair to get attention
Since she was around 15, Khushbu would captivate audiences with speeches about the significance of the kalawa and teeka during the Bhagwat Puran Katha — a nine-day religious event in her village. It was a long way from her early years, when she struggled to fit in.
Growing up, Khushbu had a small social circle. She couldn’t make a best friend in school or college. The one friend she made was from her neighbourhood, but even that person, she said, was never her “best friend”.
She recalled being bullied by her schoolmates for not sharing similar interests.
“They would gather and talk endlessly about episodes of Jodha Akbar, and I just couldn’t stand that,” she said. Her attempts to stand out often failed initially.
“My handwriting was poor, and I wasn’t great in academics, but I would always volunteer to participate in extracurricular activities,” Khushbu said. But even then, according to her, every time her name appeared in an activity, the other girls would manage to remove it on the last day of the event.
So, she decided to force people to notice her. She cut her hair short, adopted a masculine look, and borrowed a Bullet motorcycle from her brother’s friend to learn how to ride.
I am a Sanatani woman. If I lift a sword, I am a Kshatrani. If I blow a battle horn, I am a Sikhni. If I adorn myself with solah shringaar, I am a Maharani. And if I awaken to my true power, I am Adi Shakti Bhawani herself
-Pandey in one of her videos
She started wearing sports shoes, a kada, and a stole, and cultivated a bold and fearless image fashioned after Maharani Lakshmi Bai. She’d swagger around town, espousing Hindutva views with bravado.
“They started calling me mardani,” Khushbu said, adding that Hindu organisations began inviting her to their events to draw crowds.
Though her family has always been ardent supporters of the BJP, they were never formally associated with it.
Then came her arrest, which abruptly halted her rise in Hindutva pop culture. In her telling, it stemmed from political resentment — and from social faultlines. Even Hindutva victimhood has its own intersectionality with caste.
Caste politics, ‘conspiracy’, cops
Khushbu blames her arrest on many things, starting with what she calls a “conspiracy” orchestrated by local BJP politicians, including Shreyasi Singh, the current MLA from Jamui and a champion shooter.
“When I was in my second year of college, Shreyasi called me to help with her 2020 election campaign. I skipped two exams to assist her, and my brother had to convince the principal to let me pass,” Khushbu claimed. She alleged that Singh, once a beneficiary of her loyalty, now saw her as a potential competitor.
“She can’t even speak our language, Angika,” she added.
ThePrint’s calls and messages to Shreyasi Singh did not receive a response.
But politics wasn’t the only reason, Khushbu said. It was also about caste. The politics of Mallehpur, she claimed, were at odds with the martial zeal she expressed in her first viral byte about Maharana Pratap’s father.
“They want Brahmins to be like Sudama, not Parshuram,” she declared, lamenting the opposition she faces from the Rajputs of her village, known locally as ‘Babu Sahab’.
The resentment, she said, didn’t stop there and even certain OBC communities had turned against her.
She alleged that Nitish Sah, Jamui’s Nagar Parishad deputy chairman and district head of the Hindu Swabhiman group, had conspired against her by essentially setting her up for a fall.
If she wants to pursue Hindutva politics, she must embrace all castes, including Rajputs and Teli
-Nitish Sah, Jamui Nagar Parishad deputy chairman
Sah had invited her to recite the Hanuman Chalisa at a religious event in Baliyadih village — which was already tense after Saraswati Puja celebrations at the local government school on 16 February. As the procession moved to the venue, they allegedly started reciting the Hanuman Chalisa in front of a mosque, leading to brick pelting from people near the mosque and a clash.
At least three people were injured, including Sah himself. The violence led to a 48-hour internet shutdown across Jamui district and multiple police cases, including against Khushbu.
“He belongs to the Teli community, and I believe I became a victim of casteism. They can’t stand Brahmins,” Khushbu claimed.
However, 35-year-old Sah denied this accusation.
“I have known her for the past seven years, and the invitation was sent through members of the group,” he told ThePrint. “If she wants to pursue Hindutva politics, she must embrace all castes, including Rajputs and Teli.”
Sah sustained serious injuries in the clash and was hospitalised for a week.
“She hasn’t spoken to me or checked on me yet,” he added.
At the time of the incident, Khushbu was in her village to help her family vet potential brides for her brother.
On the evening of 18 February, as Khushbu was getting ready for her uncle’s housewarming party around 8 pm, six police vehicles pulled into the village. Officials from more than three police stations had come to arrest her.
“They tricked me into believing that the district magistrate Abhilasha Sharma wanted to meet me,” Khushbu recalled. “I proudly entered the vehicle, thinking I was being escorted by the police themselves.”
Instead, she was booked under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 190 (unlawful assembly), 191 (rioting), 126(2) (endangering life), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 196 (promoting enmity), and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), among others.
Khushbu maintains that she was the real victim that day and had to hide under a car seat to save herself.
“The crowd was baying for my blood, and only I know how I survived,” she said.
She would end up spending over a month and a half in jail, a big change from her original plans of becoming a government servant.
In her videos, Khushbu Pandey has a seasoned actor’s range—moving between satire, sinister innuendos, and swaying dances set to ‘Radhe Braj Jan Man Sukhkari’.
UPSC dreams
In November 2021, Khushbu packed her bags and set out for Delhi. She found a PG accommodation in Laxmi Nagar and began her UPSC preparation, with plans to take history as her optional subject. She decided to postpone attempting the exam since she wasn’t yet ready for what is widely considered one of the toughest tests in the country.
She says she doesn’t clearly remember the books she was reading then, but a textbook chapter on Nehru’s role in shaping modern India by M Laxmikanth left her deeply unsettled. It was not critical enough for her.
“It wasn’t what my father or brother had taught me since childhood,” she said.
Within five months, she abandoned her study materials altogether and turned instead to books such as Nehru Files: Nehru Ki 127 Aitihasik Galtiyan (Nehru’s 127 Major Blunders) by Rajnikant Puranik to validate the narratives she had grown up with.
“Whatever wars are happening in our country are because of Nehru’s decisions back then. Our soldiers are dying because of his actions,” she said, adding she was frustrated at the “gaps” in standard UPSC reference books.
Over three years since she arrived in Delhi, Khushbu has yet to appear for her first UPSC exam.
“I have filed the application for this year’s exam,” she said, adding that she is determined to take the prelims scheduled for 25 May.
“Only if the court allows her,” interjected her mother, Poonam.
For now, Khushbu is enjoying home-cooked meals while working on getting her debut book Main, Jail aur Hanuman Chalisa (Me, Jail, and the Hanuman Chalisa) published.
“Line toh change nahin hoga” (We won’t change our stand), confirmed her brother Akash Pandey. He accused the police of trying to keep Khushbu behind bars for at least a year—until the 2025 Bihar elections were over.
He also said that the police had added her name to two older cases — one from 2017 and another from 2021 — both involving charges of rioting.
“But the senior advocates got together for our matter,” he explained, adding that they managed to ensure the files didn’t reach the court in time to interfere with her bail hearing.
While the court and district administration had taken a tough stand in the February violence case, Khushbu said her experience inside jail was unexpectedly pleasant.
“The doctor who examined me, the fellow inmates, and even the jail authorities not only recognised me but treated me kindly,” she added. “This is the goodwill I have earned.”
Eventually, she wants to enter politics and overturn the Yadav-dominated political class in the state.
“I want to see the end of Lalu and Tejaswi Yadav’s politics,” she said.
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Post-Pahalgam comeback
On Instagram, Khushbu has curated a bold persona. She is often seen flaunting a pistol or sword, paired with provocative captions. Her posts showcase a jet-setting lifestyle—boarding planes and posing alongside political figures like Chirag Paswan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manoj Tiwari, and Manish Kashyap.
When she’s not wearing a teeka, rudraksh, and saffron attire, she switches to a city-girl look: winged eyeliner, furry jackets, stylish scarves. In her videos, she has a seasoned actor’s range—moving between satire, sinister innuendos, and swaying dances set to ‘Radhe Braj Jan Man Sukhkari’.
Maintaining a low profile, as directed by the court, has been tough for her. She is restless.
“I’ve been trying to create accounts in my mother’s name,” she added. “But the moment I upload my picture, platforms like X and others immediately disable them.”
For now, she’s financially dependent on her father and brother.
“I haven’t started making money from my YouTube channel because I struggle to speak directly to the camera,” she added. “I need a stage to deliver what I have to say.”
Still, Khushbu has remained active online, particularly after the Pahalgam attack but she’s been more careful with her language. In one Instagram video, she limited herself to sarcasm: “Why did those tourists have to go to Kashmir? If they hadn’t gone, the atmosphere in our country wouldn’t have been spoiled.” The post earned over 14,000 likes and 1,200 comments.
Like many female Hindutva influencers, her content often appeals directly to the imagined emotions and ambitions of Hindu women.
In one video, appearing in a variety of costumes, she declared:
“Mein Santanani nari hoon (I am a Sanatani woman). If I lift a sword, I am a Kshatrani. If I blow a battle horn, I am a Sikhni. If I adorn myself with solah shringaar (sixteen bridal ornaments), I am a Maharani. And if I awaken to my true power, I am Adi Shakti Bhawani herself.”
Now, she is mentoring others, including 23-year-old Doli Sharma from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. A student of political science at Janta Vedic College, Sharma has been preparing for a government job through the SSC Steno exam. But she is also a rising Hindutva influencer.
After Pahalgam, Sharma, who has 39.4K followers, posted a video mocking terrorists and accusing them of having no respect for “behen-bahu” because of their religion.
“My oratory skills are God-gifted, and I don’t need any formal training,” Sharma told ThePrint.
Khushbu is proud of her protégé.
“I first met her at the end of 2023,” she said. “Initially, we connected on social media, but soon we began sharing stages at debates and events, including those held at the BJP headquarters. She is a vocal advocate for Hindutva, which is particularly significant given her identity as a young woman.”
Khushbu claimed that Doli now roams the lanes of Connaught Place during her Delhi visits, looking for her defining moment—a viral breakout that could catapult her into the spotlight.
“She was once a secular person, but under my training, she’s now a kattar (hardcore) Hindu,” Khushbu said.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
“….I skipped two exams to assist her, and my brother had to convince the principal to let me pass,”
Wow..so even without writing exams, one can pass and get the degree by ‘convincing’ the principal, eh?!
If you were ro drop the word “Hindutva”, rather use a religion agnostic word to describe this behavior if would serve you well. This is like Nazi’s taking Swastika where the mere mention of it is inferred wrong. All Hindutva means is essence of hinduism and don’t appropriate it for poor behavior and bad action.