Rabri Devi Yadav (born 1 January 1955) is an Indian politician who formerly served three terms as the Chief Minister of Bihar, the first and only woman till date to have held the office. She is a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

Bihar Legislative Council Bihar Vidhan Parishad, also known as Bihar Legislative Council, is the upper house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India. History A new Province of Bihar and Odisha was created by the Government of India on 12 Decem ...

(MLC), and also has previously served multiple terms as the

Leader of Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

. Rabri is married to Indian politician

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former List of Chief Ministers of Bihar, Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Ministry of Railways (India), Railway ...

, former

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

(1990-1997) and former

Railway Minister A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(2004-2009) and mother of

Tejashwi Yadav Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (born 9 November 1989) is an Indian politician, former cricketer, and the current Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, in office since August 2022. He also serves as the Minister of Health, Minister of Road Construction and Pu ...

, current

Deputy Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Bihar and former

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated m ...

Early life

Rabri Devi was born on 1 January 1955 in Salar Kalan village near Mirganj of Gopalganj district,

. Her parents are Shiv Prasad Chaudhary and Maharjia Devi. She is named after an

Indian sweet This is a list of Indian sweets and desserts, also called ''mithai'', a significant element in Indian cuisine. Indians are known for their unique taste and experimental behavior when it comes to food. Many Indian desserts are fried foods made wi ...

as per a custom in her family. Her 3 sisters are similarly named

Jalebi ''Jalebi'' (, , , Urdu: جلیبی‎, , , si, පැණි වළලු, ), is a popular sweet snack in south and west Asia, Africa, and Mauritius. It goes by many names, including ''jilapi'', ''zelepi'','' jilebi'', '' jilipi'', ''zulbia'', ...

Rasgulla Rasgulla, also known as rasagola, rosogola or rosogolla, is a syrupy dessert popular in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. It is made from ball-shaped dumplings of chhena and semolina dough, cooked in light sugar syrup made of suga ...

and

Paan Betel nut chewing, also called betel quid chewing or areca nut chewing, is a practice in which areca nuts (also called "betel nuts") are chewed together with slaked lime and betel leaves for their stimulant and narcotic effects. The practice ...

. Prabhunath Yadav, Subhash Prasad Yadav and

Sadhu Yadav Anirudh Prasad Yadav, better known as Sadhu Yadav (born 5 July 1967), is an Indian politician and founder of Garib Janta Dal (Secular). He has served in 14th Lok Sabha as MP of Gopalganj from 2004 to 2009 as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candid ...

are her three real brothers.

Political career

Rabri Devi became the first female Chief Minister of Bihar on 25 July 1997, after her husband, Lalu Prasad Yadav, was forced to resign following the arrest warrant issued against him in corruption charges relating to the

Fodder scam The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar.

. She went on to rule the state till 2005. Devi was elected thrice to Bihar Vidhan Sabha from

Raghopur Raghopur is a community development block in Vaishali district of Bihar. Situated between two streams of the Ganges river, it is a river island. It is connected to Patna by Pipa pul. Ancient name of Raghopur is Kotigram. History The creation and ...

seat. In 2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Rabri Devi contested from two seats:

and Sonpur assembly seats, but lost both in an election where the

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: ''National People's Party'') is an Indian political party, based in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has tradit ...

faced defeat, winning only 22 seats. She contested from Saran in

2014 Lok Sabha election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

but lost to

Rajiv Pratap Rudy Rajiv Pratap Rudy (born 30 March 1962) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party, and a Member of Parliament representing Saran (Lok Sabha constituency) in Bihar, India. In 2014. Rudy became the Minister of State (Independent C ...

of BJP.

Criticism

Devi's appointment as the Chief Minister of Bihar is considered one of the most unexpected and awkward decisions in Indian political history, as she was a traditional housewife and had no interest nor any prior experience in politics. She came under severe satirical criticism and stiff opposition, because of her

illiteracy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

and inexperience.

Personal life & Family

Rabri Devi married

on 1 June 1973 at the age of 17 years, in an

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

, and they went on to have 2 sons and 7 daughters. Her younger son

is the current and 5th

of Bihar. * elder son:

Tej Pratap Yadav Tej Pratap Yadav (born 16 April 1988) is an Indian politician and cabinet minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Department in the Government of Bihar. He was MLA of Bihar Legislative Assembly from the Mahua constituency as a member ...

* younger son:

* eldest daughter:

Misa Bharti Misa Bharti (born 22 May 1976) is an Indian politician from the state of Bihar and the daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi. In 2014, she unsuccessfully contested the Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency and lost to RJD rebel Ram Kripa ...

* 2nd daughter: Rohini Acharya Yadav * 3rd daughter: Chanda Yadav * 4th daughter: Ragini Yadav - married to Rahul Yadav,

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

leader * 5th daughter: Hema Yadav * 6th daughter: Anushka Yadav (Dhannu) - married to

Chiranjeev Rao Chiranjeev Rao Yadav is an Indian politician and MLA in the Haryana Legislative Assembly. He was elected to the Rewari assembly constituency in the 2019 election as a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). Chiranjeev is a son of form ...

* youngest daughter: Raj Lakshmi Yadav - married to

Tej Pratap Singh Yadav Tej Pratap Singh Yadav (born 21 November 1987) is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament in the Indian Lok Sabha, where he has represented the Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh from 2014 to 2019 as a member of the Samajwadi Party. Early ...

Note: Rahul Yadav is son of Jitendra Yadav, former MLC from the

. Jitendra is the nephew of former MP

D. P. Yadav Dharam Pal Yadav, also known as D. P. Yadav, is an Indian politician and a former cabinet minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. He belongs to Sarfabad village of Noida in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. D. P. Yadav has served 4 times as ...

Positions held

Rabri Devi Yadav has been elected 3 times as MLA.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Rabri Living people Chief Ministers of Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians Finance Ministers of Bihar Women chief ministers of Indian states United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Leaders of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly Women members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly Yadav family of Bihar 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Members of the Bihar Legislative Council Members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly 1956 births