Brinda Karat
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Brinda Karat (b. 1948) is a communist politician from India. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) on April 11, 2005 for West Bengal. Karat, also recently became the first woman to be a member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She has also been the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association for the last ten years.
Her father Sooraj Lal Das who was the head of the British engineering firm Stuarts and Lloyds based in Calcutta. Brinda was educated at the elite Welham Girl's School in Dehradun and went on to do her bachelors at Miranda House, a college affiliated to the University of Delhi and her masters degree in history at the University of Calcutta. In college, she was into modelling and was crowned Miss Miranda. She later joined Air India as an airhostess. While working for Air India in London, she campaigned against the mandatory wearing of skirts in the airlines, after which she became an activist. In an interview to rediff, Karat says she returned to India motivated to work for the people [1].
While working in London, she became associated with the anti-imperialist, anti-war movements and joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) under the guidance of B.T. Ranadive. In a recent interview she attributed many of her political ideals to the economist Devaki Jain, her professor at Miranda House.
Her political career started as a trade union organiser with textile mill workers in North Delhi. She grew to be active with worker's movements and the Indian women's movements. She gained prominence in the campaign for reform of rape laws in the 80's. Karat resigned from the central committee of the CPI(M)protesting the lack of representation of women. Even today, Brinda stands out as a prominent campaigner for gender issues. However, despite no significant improvement in the representation of women in leadership roles in the party, she recently accepted a position in the party politburo.
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[edit] Recent Controversies
[edit] Remarks on Baba Ramdev
Her controversial remarks accusing famous Hindu seer Baba Ramdev of violating labor laws, and publicising accusations about his workers mixing human body parts in potions [2], have drawn strong condemnation from some in North India, including reprimands from politicians like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ambika Soni, and Narayan Dutt Tiwari who otherwise exhibit leftist tendencies. Pawar noted that Baba Ramdev's 'scientific approach' to yoga was useful [1] while Laloo Prasad Yadav denounced Karat's allegations [3].
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh totally condemned the attack with spokesman Ram Madhav stating "The allegation levelled by Karat against Swami Ramdev is a conspiracy hatched by the retrograde Leftists to demean reputed persons of Bharatiya culture."[4].
She has also been accused of being a pawn to MNC's (especially Coca-Cola) that have been ridiculed by Ramdev. Ramdev stated that "I have specific information that Ms. Karat had a meeting with the representatives of certain MNCs on December 29 after which she levelled the allegation at their behest"[2]
[edit] Election Controversy
Karat protested Manmohan Singh's election to Rajya Sabha from Assam, a state Singh has never been domiciled in. The controversy centers around Karat's recent election to Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, a state that she has not lived in the since she left after postgraduate work. However, her political activism definitely started in Bengal.
[edit] Family
Brinda is married to Prakash Karat, general secretary of CPI(M). Her sister Radhika Roy is married to Prannoy Roy, founder and CEO of NDTV. She recently acted in Amu, a film made by her niece on the Anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
[edit] References
- ^ Pawar appreciates work of Ramdev The Hindu - January 9, 2006
- ^ Ramdev alleges MNC conspiracy The Hindu - January 4, 2006
