Bibhu Kumari Devi (born 28 June 1944) is the current head of the Royal Family of Tripura,

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

politician and former member of the

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting memb ...

Early life

Daughter to Raja Lav Shah, Bibhu Kumari was born on 28 June 1944 in

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill st ...

(then in United Provinces). She's the daughter-in-law of

Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma Bahadur (19 August 1908 – 17 May 1947) was a List of Tripuri Kings, king (or M''aharaja'') of Tripura (princely state), Tripura State. He was succeeded by his son, Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore De ...

and graduated from the

Isabella Thoburn College The Isabella Thoburn College, formerly the Lucknow Women's College and often called informally IT College, is a college for women in Lucknow, India, named after its founder, Isabella Thoburn, the first woman American missionary of the Methodist ...

in Lucknow.

Career

Devi is a member of the

(INC) and entered the

Tripura Legislative Assembly The Tripura Legislative Assembly or Tripura Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tripura, with 60 Members of the Legislative Assembly. The present Assembly is located in Gurkhabasti. Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala ser ...

in 1983. The same year she was included in the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

. From 1989 to 1991, she served as the Minister for Revenue and Local Self-Government in the Tripura state government, when the INC made her its candidate for the 1991 general elections from Tripura East constituency reserved for

scheduled tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

. She defeated Baju Ban Riyan of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

to become a member of the

. In 1998, Devi refused to contest the Tripura legislative elections after the INC fielded her for the Matabari seat.

Personal life

Devi married the last King of Tripura,

Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Deb Barma Bahadur (13 December 1933 – 28 November 2006) was the 185th and last King of Tripura, a princely state in northeastern India. His formal coronation was held in 1941, but he never gained the power ...

from whom she had one son and two daughters. Her husband and son Kirit Pradyot Deb Barman were also members of the INC. In 2015, a local court in Tripura ordered the state government to hand over

Neermahal Neermahal (''Twijilikma Nuyung''; lit. "Water Palace") is a former royal palace built by Maharaja of Tripura Kingdom '' Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya bahadur'' of the erstwhile Kingdom of Tripura, India in the middle of the lake Twijilikma (Now ...

palace and Rudrasagar Lake to Devi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Bibhu Kumari 1994 births Living people Women members of the Lok Sabha Lok Sabha members from Tripura India MPs 1991–1996 People from Mussoorie People from Agartala Isabella Thoburn College alumni Indian National Congress politicians from Tripura Tripura MLAs 1988–1993 Tripuri people Indian Hindus