Subhasini Ali (born 29 December 1947) is an Indian politician and a member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

. She is the President of the

All India Democratic Women's Association All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) is a women's organisation committed to achieving democracy, equality and women's emancipation. It has an organizational presence in 23 states in India, with a current membership of more than 11 m ...

and former Member of Parliament from

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation ( help· info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military station ...

Early life and education

Subhashini Ali is the daughter of Colonel Prem Sehgal and Captain Lakshmi Sehgal (née Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan) who were a part of the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Collaboration with the Axis powers, collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during Worl ...

. She attended

Welham Girls' School Welham Girls' School is a private boarding school for girls located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. History The school was established in 1957. Welham was named after the little Welsh village from where its founder, H.S. Oliphant hailed. ...

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...

. She did her bachelor's degree from Women's Christian College in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

and later did her Masters from the Kanpur University.

Political career

As a trade Unionist and leader of the

, she was once very influential in the politics of

where the Communist Party of India (CPI) held sway over trade unions and which elected CPI-supported S.M. Banerjee to

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...

four times from 1957 to 1971. This influence of CPI helped her win the General elections of 1989 to the parliament and she defeated her nearest rival

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

candidate by 56,587 votes from

. The CPI influence waned after the emergency in 1977 and she lost the General elections of 1996 by 151,090 votes. She finished at the fifth place in the General elections of 2004 polling only 4558 votes (0.74%). She fought the General elections of 2014 from

Barrackpore Barrackpore (also known as Barrackpur) is a city and a municipality of urban Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital ...

as a CPI(M) candidate but lost. She is currently a member of the Central Committee of the

. She was inducted to the polit bureau (PB) of

in 2015 thereby becoming the second women member in PB after Brinda Karat.

Films

Subhashini Ali designed period costumes for 1981 classic, Umrao Jaan, directed by her then-husband

Muzaffar Ali Muzaffar Ali (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian filmmaker, fashion designer, poet, artist, cultural revivalist, and social worker. Biography Ali was born in Lucknow in 1944. The eldest son of Raja Syed Sajid Husain Ali, the ruling prince of ...

. She also dabbles in amateur acting, and her first starring role was in

Asoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

in 2001, followed by an English feature, The Guru, in 2002, and was seen again in 2005, with her fellow party member,

Brinda Karat Brinda Karat (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) member on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal. In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She ...

in the film Amu. She inspired the film Anjuman (1986) directed by

with her struggles in Kanpur with the AIDWA.

Personal life

She was previously married to filmmaker

. Their son

Shaad Ali Shaad Ali is an Indian filmmaker. Early life and education Ali was born to Muzaffar Ali and Subhashini Ali (née Sahgal), an Indian politician and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is thus the grandson of Azad Hind Fauj c ...

is a film maker who is most well-known for directing Saathiya,

Bunty aur Babli ''Bunty Aur Babli'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Shaad Ali and written by Jaideep Sahni, based on a story by Aditya Chopra, who serves as producer under the Yash Raj Films banner. The film stars Abhishek ...

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom ''Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic comedy film directed by Shaad Ali and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. Based on a story by Ali and a script by Habib Faisal, the film stars Abhishek Bac ...

, and

Ok Jaanu ''OK Jaanu'' () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Shaad Ali, with screenplay and story based on Mani Ratnam's Tamil film O Kadhal Kanmani, and produced by Ratnam and Karan Johar under their banners Madras Talkies a ...

. He married Shazmeen Hussain, daughter of famous conceptual artist Rummana Hussain and businessman Ishaat Hussain, in 2006 but they divorced in 2011. In 2013, he married Aarti Patkar. Ali is an atheist. She is the cousin of Indian classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai, daughter of her mother’s sister

Mrinalini Sarabhai Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai (11 May 1918 – 21 January 2016) was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, ...

and scientist

Vikram Sarabhai Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (12 August 1919 – 30 December 1971) was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped develop nuclear power in India. He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1966 and the Padma Vibhus ...

References

External links