Renu Devi (born 1 November 1959) is an Indian politician who served as the 7th Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar from 16 November 2020 to 9 August 2022. She became the fifth female Deputy Chief Minister of India from Bihar in 2020. A former national vice-president of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

, she is currently a Member of the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

and the formerly deputy legislative leader of party for the

National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

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Personal life

Renu, eldest of her parents' three sons and five daughters, comes from the Noniya caste, an extremely backward Class (EBC) community. She completed

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

education in 1977 from the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University. She was married to a

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

-based insurance inspector named Durga Prasad in 1973. However, the sudden death of her husband within seven years of marriage made her return to Bettiah, her mother's hometown, and pursue it as her ''karmabhoomi''. She is a single parent with two children.

Political career

Renu Devi's mother was associated with the

Sangh Parivar The Sangh Parivar (translation: "Family of the RSS" or the "RSS family") is an umbrella term for the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the pol ...

, which is said to have strongly influenced her. Renu Devi was also part of Durga Vahini, the women's wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Beginning her political career through social activism in 1981, she later joined the BJP Mahila Morcha or BJP women's wing in 1988. Next year, she was given the responsibility to head the wing in the Champaran region. She was further chosen as the wing's state head for two terms, in 1993 and 1996. Though she unsuccessfully contested her first election in 1995 from the Nautan Assembly seat, she was successful in being elected four times from

Bettiah Bettiah is a city and the administrative headquarters of West Champaran district ( Tirhut Division) - ( Tirhut). It is near the Indo-Nepal border, northwest of Patna, in the state of Bihar, India. History In 1244 A.D., Gangeshwar Dev, a B ...

(2000–2015; 2020–present), another division of

West Champaran West Champaran is an administrative district in the state of Bihar in India, located just west of Birgunj. It is the largest district in Bihar with an area of 5,228 km2(2,019sq mi). It is a part of Tirhut Division. The district headquart ...

district, to the

. She lost 2015 elections to a Mahagathbandhan candidate from whom she recovered the seat again in 2020. She served as the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture in the Bihar State Government between 2005 and 2009. She was also a national vice-president of the BJP between 2014 and 2020, and was nominated as a member of the National Working Committee of the party by

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

. Her appointment in 2020 as a Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar has been positively received.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Renu Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar Living people State cabinet ministers of Bihar People from West Champaran district People from Bettiah Women members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly Bihar MLAs 2000–2005 Bihar MLAs 2005–2010 Bihar MLAs 2010–2015 Bihar MLAs 2020–2025 Deputy chief ministers of Bihar 1958 births 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Women deputy chief ministers of Indian states 21st-century Indian women politicians