Padma Bhushan Sumitra Mahajan Is Inspired by Ahilyabai Holkar

Sumitra Mahajan, popularly known as Tai, has been awarded the Padma Bhushan this year. Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India. She is one of the two women who has been conferred the award, the other one being K.S Chitra.

Sumitra Mahajan has had a celebrated political career, holding various key posts. She was elected 8 times as the Member of Parliament from Indore, Madhya Pradesh. This made her the longest-serving woman MP, from 1989 to 2019 until she retired from electoral politics. 

She also held various portfolios in the Union Ministry from 1999 to 2004. Tai served as the Minister of State for several agencies like Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology,  Women and Child Development and Petroleum and Natural Gas. Furthermore, she also served as the chairperson of Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009. Later, she held the same post for the Standing Committee on Rural Development from 2009 to 2014. 

Padma Bhushan Sumitra Mahajan was the second woman Speaker of Lok Sabha 

She was deemed as a 'motherly figure' and earned widespread respect from everyone as the honourable Speaker.

On winning the prestigious honour, Sumitra Mahajan told the media, "I worked with authenticity on being given any responsibility by the party. The people of Indore elected me eight times and the party appointed me to various posts. It is a big achievement for me that my party recognised my contributions today."

Early Life and Education

Sumitra Tai was born on 12 April, 1943 in Chiplun, Maharashtra to Usha and Purushottam Sathe. After marrying Jayant Mahajan in Indore in 1965, she did her MA in Psychology and LLB from Indore University, now called Devi Ahilya Mahavidyalaya.

While studying in Indore University, she was involved in delivering lectures and discussions on historical personalities and Ramayana. 

Indore's 'Tai'

Sumitra Tai is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party. She was also a part of the women's wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh during her college days and after. Sumitra Mahajan started her political career as a corporater in the Indore Municipal Corporation in 1982. She was later elected as Deputy Mayor of IMC in 1984. 

In 1989, she ran for the Lok Sabha elections from Indore constituency for the first time and won the elections. Her victory was remarkable as she won against the former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prakash Chandra Sethi.

Popularly known as Tai in her constituency, she brought many developmental projects for Indore from Railways, Aviation, Urban Development Ministry when she served as an Union Minister of State (MoS). She is still revered for her simplicity, honesty and motherly nature.

Honourable Speaker of Lok Sabha

Sumitra Mahajan was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha in 2014. She earlier worked as a member of the 'Panel of Chairmen' in the lower house of the Parliament.

She took the step of suspending 25 Congress MPs for five days from House for indiscipline in the House in 2015.

During her tenure as the Speaker, she was still vocal about women empowerment and various other issues pertaining to social justice.

She Knew Her Stuff

Tai is well-known for her works not only in political fields, but also cultural arenas. Her expertise ranges from Women's Welfare to Literature, poetry in particular. 

She has held more than 50 executive posts in public life and administration throughout her life. Furthermore, she travelled all around the world to represent India in conferences on women. Other than that, she conceptualised and chaired various conferences oriented to women's issues. 

Tai is also a talented woman whose interests include reading, music, drama and cinema.

Her Inspiration

Sumitra Mahajan said that the eighteenth century social reformer Ahilyabai Holkar is her inspiration all throughout. In fact, she wrote a book on Holkar's life journey Matoshree, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.