Rashida Haque Choudhury (born 24 April 1926, date of death unknown) was an Indian politician who was the Minister of State of Social Welfare in

Charan Singh ministry Charan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister on 28 July 1979, with outside support by India Congress and Yashwantrao Chavan of Congress (Socialist) faction as his Deputy PM. Just before Singh was to prove his majority in Lok Sabha, Indira Gandhi w ...

from 1979 to 1980.

Early life

Rashida Haque was born on 24 April 1926 in

Tezpur, Assam Tezpur () is a city and urban agglomeration in Sonitpur district, Assam state, India. Tezpur is located on the banks of the river Brahmaputra, northeast of Guwahati, and is the largest of the north bank cities with a population exceeding 100, ...

to Alhaj Nasib Ali Majumdar and his wife. She was educated at a

Mission school The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District, San Francisco, California. History and characteristics This movement is generally considered to have ...

in Silchar and received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Lady Brabourne College Lady Brabourne College (LBC) is an institution for women's education in Kolkata, India. The college admits undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees from the University of Calcutta. It is a state government administered college and is ...

, Kolkata.

Career

Choudhury joined the

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 ...

(INC) party in 1950. She contested the

1977 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 16 and 20 March 1977 to elect the members of the 6th Lok Sabha. The elections took place during the Emergency period, which expired on 21 March 1977, shortly before the final results were announced ...

as an INC candidate from

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

. Choudhury obtained 1,38,638 votes and defeated Nurul Huda 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 ...

by more than 28,000 votes. She served on the Committee of Social Work for Bangladesh Refugees. Later she joined the

Indian National Congress (Urs) The Indian National Congress (U) was a breakaway faction of the Indira Gandhi-led Congress (I), formed in July 1979 by D. Devaraj Urs, the then Chief Minister of Karnataka. Urs' explanation of the split was the return of Indira's son Sanjay G ...

, a breakaway faction of INC and was in 1979, made a Minister of State for Education, Social Welfare and Culture in the

. Choudhury stood for election in 1980 from Silchar. This time, however, she received 46.98% of votes and finished second to INC(I)'s

Santosh Mohan Dev Santosh Mohan Dev (1 April 1934 – 2 August 2017), was an Indian political leader and a key member of the Indian National Congress. Mr. Dev was first elected to the Parliament of India, Parliament in 1980, the first of his seven terms in offi ...

(52% votes).

Personal life

Rashida Haque married INC politician

Moinul Hoque Choudhury Moinul Hoque Choudhury (13 May 1923 – 13 February 1976) was an Indian politician from Assam. A five-time MLA; he was the Minister of Commerce and Industrial Development during Indira Gandhi regime in 1971. He is also known as the Industrial Refo ...

on 28 December 1948, with whom she had one son and three daughters. She is deceased.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Rashida Haque 1926 births Year of death missing Indian National Congress politicians from Assam Women members of the Lok Sabha Lady Brabourne College alumni India MPs 1977–1979 20th-century Indian Muslims People from Tezpur Lok Sabha members from Assam Indian National Congress (U) politicians