Know about India’s first woman CM

Almost 110 years ago, one of the most independent and influential women in Indian history was born in Ambala, Haryana.

Sucheta Kriplani was a fighter for India’s independence, a drafter of the Indian Constitution, and the first female Chief Minister in the country.

She was born in 1908, on June 25th. She grew up watching the freedom struggle unfold, deciding to pursue a life in politics.

When Sucheta graduated from the Indraprastha College for Women at age 21, she wanted to join the freedom struggle right away.

However, in 1929, her father and sister both passed away. She instead became a professor at the Banaras Hindu University to take care of her large family.

Despite this, Sucheta continued to spread her message of freedom for India.

In fact, she used her job at the university to facilitate this, since she would tell her students about the importance of the freedom struggle instead of taking classes.

She also met her future husband, Jivatram Bhagwandas (Acharya) Kriplani, at the Banaras Hindu University.

Acharya was a leader in the freedom struggle himself. He and Sucheta grew closer over the years, to the point where they decided to marry in 1938.

Both of their families were against their marriage, and even Mahatma Gandhi himself worried that it would cause him to lose his right-arm man, Acharya.

Sucheta disagreed, telling Gandhi that their marriage would gain him two freedom fighters, not cause him to lose one.

Sucheta turned out to be right. After marrying Acharya Kriplani, she began her full-time political journey.

She accomplished many feats in the freedom struggle, such as founding the women’s wing of the Indian National Congress in 1940, the All India Mahila Congress.

When India regained its independence in 1947, both she and her husband were assigned to lead relief efforts in the aftermath of the bloody partition.

Sucheta was also invited to sing the national anthem just before the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, made his famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech.

She led a fascinating political life afterwards. Even though she and her husband ended up siding with different political parties, they still had a strong relationship and worked to progress Indian democracy.

Although Sucheta Kriplani died in 1974, her legacy as one of the strongest and most influential women in India lives on to this day.

Image Credit: Manojkhurana / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gurudwara_Panjokhra_Sahib,_Haryana.jpg