Tarkeshwari Sinha (26 December 1926 – 14 August 2007) was an Indian politician and independence activist from

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 ...

. Among the first female politicians of the country, she took active role in the

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

. At the age of 26, she was elected to the 1st Lok Sabha from Patna East constituency in 1952. Subsequently, she was re-elected to the

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-past ...

in 1957, 1962 and 1967 from

Barh Barh is a town and one of the 6 sub-division of Patna District, Bihar in India. It is located on the southern bank of the Ganges. Population , Barh had a total population of 316,348 residents, with 162,354 males and 153,994 females. Barh h ...

constituency. She was the first female Deputy Finance Minister in the union cabinet led by prime minister.

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

from 1958-64. She had also led a delegation to the

U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

’s critically acclaimed movie,

Aandhi ''Aandhi'' () is a 1975 Indian political drama film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen, and directed by Gulzar. At the time it was alleged that the film was based on the life of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her relationship wi ...

was partly inspired by Tarkeshwari Sinha, apart from

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

Early life

She was born in Tulsigarh village near

Chandi Chandi ( sa, चण्डी, ) or Chandika () is a Hindu deity. Chandika is another form of Mahadevi, similar to Durga. Chandika is a powerful form of Mahadevi who manifested to destroy evil. She is also known as ''Kaushiki'', '' Katyayan ...

under

Nalanda District Nalanda district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the state of Bihar in India. Bihar Sharif is the administrative headquarters of this district. The districts contain the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara a UNESCO World Heritage site. Nalanda is ...

in a Bhumihar Family. She was a student of Bankipore Girls College, now known as

Magadh Mahila College Magadh Mahila College, established in 1946, is a women's college in Patna, Bihar. It is affiliated to Patna University, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, arts and commerce. Accreditation Magadh Mahila College was awar ...

, in Patna. She was the President of the Bihar Students Congress, which had broken away from the All India Students Federation. She did her M.Sc in economics from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. She actively participated in the

Career

She contested elections from the Barh constituency in Bihar. After Indian Independence, she won the first general assembly elections from the Patna East Constituency in 1952, after getting a ticket from the Indian National Congress. Through Congress party, she got re-elected in 1957, 1962 and 1967. Sinha appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth on 19 November 1957, fooling two of the four members on the panel.YouTube
/ref> She was considered close to

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

and was on his side in the battle of succession between Desai and

to replace

Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; 2 October 1904 – 11 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of India from 1964 to 1966 and 6th Home Minister of India from 1961 to 1963. He promoted the White Re ...

as Prime Minister. When Desai and other leaders resigned from Congress to form a splinter group, she too joined it. In the Indira wave during 1971 Lok Sabha elections, she lost from

as Congress(O) candidate to the Congress nominee Dharamvir Sinha, her first taste of electoral defeat. She lost the assembly election next year as well, and returned to Indira Gandhi's party. In 1977, she fought Lok Sabha election from

Begusarai Begusarai is the industrial and financial capital of Bihar and the administrative headquarters of the Begusarai district, which is one of the thirty-eight districts of the Indian state of Bihar. The district lies on the northern bank of th ...

as Congress candidate and lost in the Janata wave as Congress was completely routed in Bihar. After this defeat, she fought a by-election to Lok Sabha in November 1978 from

Samastipur Samastipur is a city and a municipal corporation (nagar nigam) in Bihar, India. It is the headquarter of Samastipur district and comes under Darbhanga division. The Budhi Gandak river flows through the town. It is one of the five railway divisi ...

as Congress candidate but lost again. Eventually, she retired from politics and took up social work.

Social Work

Tarkeshwari Sinha, had set up a hospital, in Tulsigarh, in the memory of her brother Capt Girish Nandan Singh, pilot with Air India who died in an air crash in New Delhi. She had raised nearly Rs 25 lakh, a big sum in those days, for the construct of the two floored hospital where treatment was almost free. She also took the initiative to construct a road to link the village with Chandi and Harnaut in Nalanda.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha 1926 births 2007 deaths 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 Indian independence activists from Bihar Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar Lok Sabha members from Bihar Politicians from Patna Union deputy ministers of India Women in Bihar politics Women Indian independence activists Women union ministers of India Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians