Lalitha Kumaramangalam (born 1958) is an Indian politician who is a member of 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 ...

(BJP) and former chairperson of the

National Commission for Women The National Commission for Women (NCW) is the statutory body of the Government of India, generally concerned with advising the government on all policy matters affecting women. It was established on 31 January 1992 under the provisions of the I ...

. She was previously the National Secretary of the

(BJP).

Family

Lalitha Kumaramangalam was born January 14, 1958 in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, the daughter of

Mohan Kumaramangalam Surendra Mohan Kumaramangalam ( ta, சுரேந்திர மோகன் குமாரமங்கலம்) (1 November 1916 — 30 May 1973) was an Indian politician and communist theorist who was a member of the Communist Party of I ...

, a communist ideologue, politician, and trade union leader. Her paternal grandfather, P. Subbarayan, was the

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 the Madras Presidency. Her paternal uncle,

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

P.P. Kumaramangalam, PVSM, DSO, was Chief of the Army Staff of India. Lalitha's mother, Kalyani Mukherjee, was the niece of

Ajoy Mukherjee Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the fourth and sixth Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Be ...

Chief Minister of West Bengal The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and ap ...

, and of Biswanath Mukherjee, husband of the communist ideologue and parliamentarian

Geeta Mukherjee Geeta Mukherjee (8 January 1924 – 4 March 2000) was an Indian politician and social worker and a four times MLA from Panskura Purba, from 1967 to 1977. As a Member of Parliament, she was elected seven times from the Panskura constituency, ...

. Lalitha is the sister of

Rangarajan Kumaramangalam Phanindranath Rangarajan Kumaramangalam (12 May 1952 – 23 August 2000) was a prominent politician of the Indian National Congress and later the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from the Salem constituency from 1 ...

, another prominent politician. Note: Used as source of birth year 1957/58 based on age of 43 in 2001.

Career

Kumaramangalam is a graduate of St. Stephen's College, Delhi, with a degree in economics, and has an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...

. She contested

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 ...

elections twice as BJP candidate (2004 from Puduchery and 2009 from Tiruchirapalli) after her brother's death, but lost on both occasions. She runs an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

named Prakriti. She was appointed Chairperson of the National Commission for Women on 29 September 2014.

References

Women in Tamil Nadu politics Living people Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Tamil Nadu Lalitha Puducherry politicians Women in Puducherry politics 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians 1958 births {{TamilNadu-politician-stub

Family

Career

See also

References