Tarapatie "Tara" Oedayraj Singh Varma (born August 29, 1948) is a former Dutch politician and former member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the GreenLeft party.

Life before politics

Although Tarapatie "Tara" Oedayraj (Udairaj) Singh Varma was born in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was ...

, she attended vocational education in the neighboring Dutch Surinam, which was a colony of the Netherlands at the time, studying

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, without graduating. She then moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, in the continental part of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In Amsterdam she became active for the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

. Between 1982 and 1994 she was member of the Amsterdam

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

for the CPN, between 1986 and 1990 for the Left Accord, a common list of the

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party histor ...

and the

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to ...

, and between 1990 and 1994 for

GreenLeft GroenLinks (, ) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of th ...

, which was formed by a merger of CPN, PSP, PPR, and the small Evangelical People's Party. Singh Varma was very active in civil society. She was a member various boards of associations and foundations for migrants, women and other social groups. She founded and led an Amsterdam information point. She had a column in the women's weekly ''Furore'', and was a member of the radio panel of the

VARA Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia *Vara Municipality, municipality in western Sw ...

radio show Punch. She also was treasurer of the Grenada Committee.

Political life

After the 1994 election, Singh Varma became a member of the

. She succeeded Ina Brouwer, who had stepped down after the poor election results. She was the first female member of the House of Representatives who was not born in the Netherlands. When she entered parliament questions were raised about her integrity. There were questions surrounding

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

efforts for the Grenada Foundation in which Singh Varma was involved. A committee led by former minister Dieuwke de Graaff-Nauta came to the conclusion that Singh Varma had not embezzled money, but that her actions as

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

had been neglectful. In parliament Singh Varma spoke on home affairs, health, and welfare. She paid particular attention to the position of migrant women. While in parliament she took many positions outside of parliament in boards of foundations and associations for migrants, women and other social groups. She chaired the Surinam Women's Council and was member of the board of the Volunteer Centre in Amsterdam, the migrant women centre Zami, and the

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

the Red Thread. In 1996 she claimed to be intimidated and attacked by

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...

groups. No proof of this was ever found. In 1997 she was put on the ninth place on the GreenLeft list for the 1998 election. The committee for candidacy stated that she "did not excel in parliamentary work," but because of the unexpectedly good election result for the GreenLeft she was re-elected. She also got a large number of

preference votes In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

. In 1998 she was a member of the parliamentary inquiry committee on the airplane crash in the

Bijlmermeer The Bijlmermeer (), or colloquially Bijlmer (), is one of the neighbourhoods that form the Amsterdam-Zuidoost borough (Dutch: ''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands. To many people, the Bijlmer designation is used to refer to Amsterdam Zuidoost ...

. This position got her national fame.

Singh Varma Affair

In 2000 Singh Varma claimed that she was less able to perform her work as Member of Parliament. Twice she appeared in the House of Representatives in a wheelchair. She claimed to suffer from an incurable form of cancer and announced that she would leave the House of Representatives to prepare for the end of her life. In June 2001 the TROS television show '' Opgelicht?!'' (in English ''Conned?!'') discovered that Singh Varma did not suffer from cancer. Moreover, according to this program, Singh Varma had not fulfilled financial promises to the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n development organization Ninash Foundation, which had put the organization into financial problems. First Singh Varma denied both claims and sued the journalists. In August 2001 she claimed that she had not suffered from cancer and instead suffered from

post traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

after self-fabricated

threats and her commitment to the victims of the plane crash in the Bijlmermeer. In 2002 she publicly apologized for her actions. She denied lying on purpose about her diseases and stated that she suffered from delusions and medical condition called pseudologia fantastica. Paul Rosenmöller, political leader of the

at the time writes that he felt "cheated and angry" because of her revelations. Paul Rosenmöller (2003), ''Een mooie hondenbaan'', Amsterdam: Balans, p. 234

Life after politics

After leaving parliament Singh Varma became editor of the People's Newspaper Suriname around 2005. Later she worked in a Surinam deli.

References and footnotes

External links

profile
on parlement.com Dutch language {{DEFAULTSORT:Varma, Tara Singh 1948 births Living people Dutch communists Dutch people of Indian descent Dutch people of Guyanese descent Dutch people of Surinamese descent GroenLinks politicians Guyanese emigrants to the Netherlands Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Political scandals 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians