Brinda Karat
Encyclopedia
Brinda Karat (born 17 October 1947) is a communist politician from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, elected to the Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...

 as a Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...

 CPI(M) member, on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

.

In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...

. She has also been the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association
All India Democratic Women's Association
The All India Democratic Women's Association is the women's wing of the Communist Party of India .-History and Scope:...

 (AIDWA) from 1993 to 2004, and thereafter its Vice President.

Childhood and education

Brinda Karat was born in Calcutta, where she spent her early childhood in a family of four siblings, including one brother and three sisters. Her father, Sooraj Lal Das was from Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

. She lost her mother Oshrukona Mitra, at the age of five.

Brinda was educated at the elite Welham Girls School
Welham Girls School
Welham Girls School is a boarding school for girls located at the foothills of the Himalayas in Dehradun, India...

 in Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...

 and, at 16, went on to do her diploma at Miranda House
Miranda House
Miranda House , is a highly renowned and distinguished constituent college for women at the University of Delhi in India. It is widely regarded as a Premier Women's Institution of Delhi University offering degrees in the Sciences and Liberal Arts . Miranda House has demonstrated academic...

, a college affiliated to the University of Delhi
University of Delhi
The University of Delhi is a central university situated in Delhi, India and is funded by Government of India. Established in 1922, it offers courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. Vice-President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Chancellor of the university...

. In 1971, she enrolled for her degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...

 in History at the University of Dehradun.

Political career

In 1977, she left for London, where she worked with Air India
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...

 at Bond Street for four years. While working for Air India, she campaigned against the mandatory wearing of skirts in the airlines, after which she became an activist.

In an interview, Karat says she returned to India motivated to work for the people. While working in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, she became associated with the anti-imperialist, and anti-war movements during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 and Marxist ideology. She also attributes many of her political ideals to the economist Devaki Jain
Devaki Jain
Devaki Jain is a feminist writer who has worked mainly in the field of feminist economics. In 2006 she was awarded the Padma Bhusan, the third highest civilian award from Government of India for her contribution to social justice and women empowerment. She is the wife of the Gandhian economist...

, her professor at Miranda House.

In 1971, she decided to leave her job and return to Calcutta, where she joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...

 CPI (M) in 1971, under the guidance of B.T. Ranadive. On the suggestion of the party to understand practical politics, she joined the Calcutta University. Initially she worked with students in the college campus and later during the Bangladesh war
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....

 at refugee camps in the city.

In 1975, she shifted to Delhi and started working 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 1980s. 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.

On 11 April 2005, she was elected to the Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha as a CPI(M)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...

 member, for West Bengal.

In 2005, only after the inclusion of 5 women members to the Central Committee did Brinda Karat agree to be nominated to the exclusive 17 member Politburo. http://in.news.yahoo.com/050411/43/2kopi.html. The Politburo is the highest decision-making body of the party and Brinda Karat is its first woman member.

Remarks on Baba Ramdev

Her controversial remarks accusing famous Yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 Guru
Guru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...

 Swami Ramdev
Swami Ramdev
Swami Ramdev is popularly known as Baba Ramdev. This young monk has attained immence popularity in a very short span of time. His yog-camps are attended by a large number of people in India and abroad...

 of violating labor
Labour law
Labour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...

 laws, and publicising accusations about his workers mixing human body parts in potions, have drawn strong condemnation from some in North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

, including reprimands from politicians like Sharad Pawar
Sharad Pawar
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar , popularly known as SAHEB , is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress...

, Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Mulayam Singh Yadav in Hindi मुलायम सिंह यादव is an Indian politician and has influence mainly in Uttar Pradesh state of India...

, Ambika Soni
Ambika Soni
Ambika Soni is an Indian politician belonging to Indian National Congress. She currently serves in the Union Cabinet as the minister in charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, after serving in Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture from 2006–2009.She is a member of the Indian...

, and Narayan Dutt Tiwari
Narayan Dutt Tiwari
Narayan Dutt Tiwari is an Indian political figure. He was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times during the 1970s and 1980s and was Chief Minister of Uttarkhand from 2002 to 2007...

. Pawar noted that Baba Ramdev's 'scientific approach' to yoga was useful while Laloo Prasad Yadav denounced Karat's allegations. Subsequently she received a legal notice on the behalf of a Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

 (BJP) leader in Faridabad.

Family

She is married to Prakash Karat
Prakash Karat
Prakash Karat , born on February 7, 1948 in Letpadan, Burma is a communist politician in India and the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of India since 2005.-Education and early career:...

, a Keralite by origin and a prominent CPI(M) leader, holding the position of General Secretary currently. Her sister Radhika Roy is married to Prannoy Roy
Prannoy Roy
Prannoy L Roy, Ph.D is an Indian journalist and media journalist. He is the founder and Executive Chairperson of New Delhi Television .-Early life:...

, founder and CEO of NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...

. In 2005, she acted in Amu
Amu (film)
Amu is a critically acclaimed 2005 film directed by Shonali Bose, based on her own novel by the same name. It stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Brinda Karat, and Ankur Khanna...

, a film made by her niece, Shonali Bose, on the Anti-Sikh riots
1984 anti-Sikh riots
The 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms / riots or the 1984 Sikh Massacre was a sikh genocide there was four days of violence in northern India, particularly Delhi, during which armed mobs killed Sikhs, looted and set fire to Sikh homes, businesses and schools, and attacked gurdwaras, in response to the...

 in 1984.

Literary works

Brinda is the author of Survival and Emancipation: Notes from Indian Women's Struggles. This is a comprehensive book on the wide ranging concerns of the women’s movements in India from a left perspective.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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