Sumitra Mahajan ( ''née'' Sathe; born 12 April 1943; ) is an

Indian politician The Politics and Government of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution, which was adopted in 1950. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic, described as a “sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republ ...

who was the

Speaker of Lok Sabha The Speaker of the Lok Sabha (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the Chairperson, presiding officer and the highest authority of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected gener ...

, the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

from 2014 to 2019. She belongs to

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. She represented the

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

constituency of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

from 1989 to 2019 as the longest serving Woman Member of Parliament. She also served for as a Union Minister of State from 1999 to 2004, holding the portfolios for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology and Petroleum and Natural Gas. She also held position of Chairperson of Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2004-2009) and Standing Committee on Rural Development (2009-2014). She was the eldest and seniormost among woman Members of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the second woman after Meira Kumar to be elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. She was awarded India's third highest civilian award the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Sumitra Mahajan was born in a Chitpavan

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

Marathi family to Usha and Purushottam Sathe in

Chiplun Chiplun ( Help:IPA/Marathi, ͡ʃipɭuːɳ is a city in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the financial and commercial hubs of Ratnagiri district, and the headquarters of Chiplun taluka. It is about 250 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Her primary & secondary education took place at United English School, Chiplun. She received her MA and LLB from Indore University (now Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya) after marrying Jayant Mahajan of

. Sumitra Mahajan's hobbies include reading, music, drama and cinema as well as an enthusiasm for singing. She has acknowledged the 18th century queen Ahilyabai Holkar as the inspirational figure throughout her life and has written a book on Ahilyabai Holkar's life journey 'Matoshree' which was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.

Political career

Sumitra Mahajan started her political career as a corporator in the Indore Municipal Corporation in 1982. She was later elected as Deputy Mayor of Indore Municipal Corporation in 1984. She ran for the first time and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, against former

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

and senior Congress leader

Prakash Chandra Sethi Prakash Chandra Sethi (19 October 1919 – 21 February 1996) was an Indian National Congress politician who served as Minister of Home Affairs (1982–84) and as the 8th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (1972–75). He was twice the chief ...

. She is popularly known as ''Tai'', among people of her constituency.

Speaker of the Lok Sabha

On 6 June 2014, Mahajan was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha. She had earlier worked as a member of the 'Panel of Chairmen' in the Lok Sabha. She took the step of suspending 25

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

MPs for five days (August 2015) from House for indiscipline in the House. * Key Patron at NLC Bharat

Controversy

Former chairperson of Indore-based Maharashtra Brahmin Cooperative Bank Anil Kumar Dhadwaiwale alleged Sumitra Mahajan and her son Milind Mahajan's roles were crucial in the scams that took place in the bank between 1997 and 2003. Sumitra Mahajan was a minister in the Central Government during this period. Milind Mahajan was one of the directors of the bank when the alleged scam took place. In 2005, an FIR in the scam was lodged at Central Kotwali Police Station, Indore against 16 persons including Milind Mahajan, but it was removed after the investigation. Many directors including Sumitra Mahajan's Private Secretary's husband, also obtained the loan but did not pay.

References

External links

Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahajan, Sumitra 1943 births India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Madhya Pradesh Living people Lok Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh Politicians from Indore Madhya Pradesh municipal councillors People from Ratnagiri district Speakers of the Lok Sabha Union ministers of state of India Women in Madhya Pradesh politics 20th-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians Women union ministers of state of India Women legislative speakers in India Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya alumni