India got its first woman Prime Minister in 1966 when Indira Gandhi was elected to power. While much has been documented about Indira Gandhi, not many know that three years before, India got its first ever woman chief minister.
Sucheta Kripalani became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1963. On the occasion of her 119th birthday, on 25 June 2017, we take a closer look at the life and times of Sucheta Kripalani. Who was she? What was her contribution to the freedom struggle? What was her political life like post-Independence?
Freedom Fighter
Born in 1908 in present-day Haryana’s Ambala, Kripalani completed her education from Delhi’s Indraprastha College, before moving on to teach Constitutional History at Banaras Hindu University.
As far her contribution to India’s struggle for Independence is concerned, she is especially remembered for her role in the Quit India Movement of 1942. Her name figures alongside other prominent women leaders of the time including Aruna Asaf Ali, Matangini Hazra, Usha Mehta and Nandini Devi, among others, for fearlessly confronting the British colonial government.
Kripalani also established the women’s wing of the Congress party in 1940.
Mahatma Gandhi, who she worked with when the Partition riots broke out, also played an influential role in her life.
Member of the Constituent Assembly
Her role in shaping the contours of an independent India is notable, for she was a member of the Constituent Assembly tasked with formulating the seminal document that would be governing the newly-independent country.
What more, she was one among just 15 women in the Assembly, which had a total strength of 299 members. The other women members included the likes of Sarojini Naidu, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Purnima Banerji, Ammu Saminathan, among others.
While the ‘tryst with destiny’ speech of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly session on the eve of Independence is well-known across the world, the session also saw Kriplalani singing singing Vande Mataram, Sare Jahan Se Achcha and the national anthem Jana Gana Mana.