Sheela Gautam (15 November 1931 – 8 June 2019) was an Indian billionaire politician and businesswoman. She was the founder and owner of Sheela Foam Limited, run by her son Rahul Gautam, which sells mattresses under the Sleepwell brand among others. A member of the

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

she served in the

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The re ...

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

, 12th &

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

s of

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 ...

. She represented the Aligarh Lok Sabha constituency of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

for 13 years in row from June 1991 to May 2004. She is the daughter of the famous freedom fighter Late Mohan Lal Gautam. 12 pass

Early life and education

Sheela Gautam was born in a

brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

family at gabhana

Aligarh district Aligarh district is a district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. This district is a part of Aligarh Division. The districts which adjoin Aligarh are (clockwise from north) Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Sambhal, Badaun, Kasganj, Hathra ...

. Her parents were Indian freedom activist Pt. Mohan Lal Gautam and Smt. Draupadi Gautam. At that time, the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

occupied India so she spent her life in several places. She got a B.A., B.Ed., and diploma in management from

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).

Marriage

She married Lt. Col. H.S. Gautam who died of cancer.

Political career

She joined politics with 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 E ...

but resigned and joined the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

. She held the post of MP continuously from 1991 through 2004 as a member of the 10th, 11th, 12th & 13th Lok Sabha. She is the record longest-serving

MP from

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the cap ...

Lok Sabha constituency. In May 2004 elections she lost to

candidate

Bijendra Singh Bijendra Singh (born 25 December 1956) is an Indian politician. He stood for the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 Lok Sabha elections on the Indian National Congress ticket and had been a Member of Parliament from Aligarh (Lok Sabha Constitu ...

by a margin of 2800 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gautam, Sheela India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Aligarh district 1931 births 2019 deaths Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Women in Uttar Pradesh politics 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Politicians from Allahabad