Sushila Nayyar
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Sushila Nayyar, also spelt 'Nayar' (26 December 1914 – 3 January 2001), was an Indian physician, a lifelong follower of
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, and a politician. She played a leading role in public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in India. She became Gandhi's personal physician and an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based on her experiences. Her brother, Pyarelal Nayyar, was the personal secretary to Gandhi. In post-Independent India, she contested elections for political office and served as India's health minister.


Biography


Early life and education

She was born on 26 December 1914 in Kunjah, a small town in the Gujarat district of Punjab (now in Pakistan). She developed an early attraction to Gandhian ideals through her brother and had even met Gandhi as a young child in
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
. She came to
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
to study medicine at Lady Hardinge Medical College, from where she earned her MBBS and MD. Throughout her college days, she remained in close contact with the Gandhis.


Association with Gandhi during India's freedom struggle

In 1939 she came to Sevagram to join her brother, and quickly became a close associate of the Gandhi's. Shortly after her arrival, cholera broke out in Wardha, and the young medical graduate tackled the outbreak almost singlehandedly. Gandhi praised her fortitude and dedication to service, and with the blessing of B.C. Roy appointed her as his personal physician. In 1942 she returned once more to Gandhi's side, to take part in the Quit India Movement that was sweeping the country. That year she was imprisoned along with other prominent Gandhians at the Aga Khan Palace in Poona. In 1944 she set up a small dispensary at Sevagram, but this soon grew so large it disturbed the peace of the ashram, and she shifted it to a guesthouse donated by the Birlas, in Wardha. In 1945 this little clinic formally became the Kasturba Hospital (now the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences). This time was, however, highly fraught; several attempts were made on Gandhi's life, including Nathuram Godse, the man who ultimately killed him, and Sushila Nayyar testified on several occasions to the attacks. In 1948 she appeared before the Kapur Commission regarding the incident in Panchgani in 1944 when Nathuram Godse allegedly tried to attack Gandhi with a dagger. Being a close associate of
Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...
, Sushila Nayyar was one of the women to take part in his celibacy tests.


Further education and public service

After Gandhi's assassination in 1948 in Delhi, Sushila Nayyar went to the United States, where she took two degrees in
public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Returning in 1950, she set up a
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
sanatorium in Faridabad, the model township on the outskirts of Delhi set up on cooperative lines by fellow Gandhian Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Nayyar also headed the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation.


Political career

In 1952 she entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi. From 1952 to 1955 she served as Health Minister in Nehru's cabinet. She was Speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha (as the State Assembly had been renamed) from 1955 to 1956. In 1957, she was elected to the
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
, from Jhansi Constituency, and served till 1971. She was Union Health Minister again from 1962 to 1967. During the congress regime, she fell out with Indira Gandhi and joined (Janata party). She was elected to Lok Sabha from Jhansi in 1977 when her new party was voted to power that created history by overthrowing Indira Gandhi's government. Thereafter she retired from politics to devote herself to the Gandhian ideal. She had set up the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in 1969, and remained committed to confine her energies to developing and extending it.


Personal life and death

She remained unmarried throughout her life. On 3 January 2001, she died due to a
cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...
.


Legacy

Sushila Nayyar was deeply influenced by the Gandhian philosophy of hard work and abstinence. She was a follower of Gandhian thoughts. She felt strongly about the need for
prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
and linked this to the domestic concerns of poor women whose lives were often blighted by
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
in their husbands. She was also a staunch campaigner for family planning, once again seeing this as essential empowerment for women, especially poor women. In her personal life, she practiced strict discipline and expected this also of her followers, acolytes and students. She was one of the circle of young women who followed Gandhi and were deeply impressed by his charisma and magnetism, such that he became the central focus of their lives. She never married. In an age when it was extremely difficult for single young women to have careers, she managed by sheer grit and dedication to carve out a life for herself without concessions to her gender or status. She also believed like Gandhi that there was no such thing as a dirty job, and that medicine required hands-on involvement with patients and their ailments, regardless of feminine delicacy or upper caste squeamishness. However, she could also be authoritarian and unforgiving about other people's foibles, and expected similar levels of sacrifice and ruthlessness from those around her.


Published works

* ''The Story of Bapu's Imprisonment'' (1944) * ''Kasturba, Wife of Gandhi'' (1948) * ''Kasturba Gandhi: A Personal Reminiscence'' (1960) * ''Family Planning'' (1963) * ''Role of Women in Prohibition'' (1977) * ''Mahatma Gandhi: Satyagraha at Work (Vol. IV)'' (1951) * ''Mahatma Gandhi: India Awakened, (Vol. V)'' * ''Mahatma Gandhi: Salt Satyagraha – The Watershed, (Vol. VI)'' * ''Mahatma Gandhi: Preparing For Swaraj, (Vol. VII)'' * ''Mahatma Gandhi: Final Fight For Freedom, (Vol. VIII)'' (c. 1990) * ''Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase'' (completed for her brother Pyarelal, the tenth volume in his biography of Gandhi, published by the Navajivan Publishing House.)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayyar, Sushila Gandhians 1914 births 2001 deaths Johns Hopkins University alumni Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Women in Uttar Pradesh politics Health ministers of India Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Janata Party politicians Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians Delhi MLAs 1952–1956 Speakers of the Delhi Legislative Assembly 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian medical doctors Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh Women Indian independence activists 20th-century Indian women scientists Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh Women members of the Cabinet of India India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1977–1979 People from Jhansi district Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian women medical doctors