Misa Bharti

If you want to be someone that Harvard University invites as a speaker, then there is some degree of effort required. Like a lifetime of diligence and making a mark in an area of expertise. Misa Bharti, the daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had another formula: just post pictures on Facebook standing at a podium with Harvard’s crest ‘veritas’—ironically—and claim in a press release that this was a lecture being delivered at the institution. And this falsely posed picture even appeared in some local newspapers in Patna. Not that she was not present at the venue of the India Conference 2015 , held from 7 to 8 March.

But, alas, only as an invitee to be part of the audience, and that too for which she reportedly had to pay. It is good for an aspiring politician to carefully craft an image of erudition to impress voters, but you would think it would be done in a slightly more sophisticated manner. Bharti is alleged to have gone on stage at the end of the conference to have her pictures taken at the podium. Her clumsy attempt at stature enhancement was exposed by the conference organisers who issued a denial that Bharti was a speaker. She has now denied that she ever claimed to be one, but no one’s buying this story either.

canardgive a talkHarvard UniversityMisa Bharti