Sucheta Kriplani

 

Born: June 25, 1908
Died: December 1, 1974

Achievements:: Sucheta Kriplani was a great freedom fighter of India. She was the first woman to be elected as the Chief Minister of a state in India. In this article, we will present you with the biography of Sucheta Kriplani, an important personality who has made an immense contribution in fighting for the freedom of India.

Early life

           Sucheta Kriplani was born to a Bengali family in the Ambala city. Her father S.N. Majumdar was a nationalist of India. Sucheta took education from Indraprastha College and St.Stephen's College in Delhi. After completing her studies, she took the job of a lecturer in the Banaras Hindu University. In the year 1936, she tied her wedding knots with a socialist Acharya Kriplani and joined the Indian National Congress. Read on to know the complete life history of Sucheta Kriplani.   



Sucheta was greatly inspired by the works of Mahatma Gandhi and in 1946 she joined the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust as Organizing Secretary. In her later years, she started working with Gandhi Ji. She was actively involved in Quit India Movement and the partition riots. She also worked to combat the sufferings of Indian people. In 1946, she went with Gandhi to Noakhali and there she became the real mother of the victims of atrocities. She also got elected to the Constituent Assembly and sang the national song in the Independence session of Constituent Assembly on August 15, 1947.

Even after independence she had not stopped working for the weaker sections of the society and was greatly involved in the upliftment of Indians. In 1952 and 1957, she was elected as the member of Lok Sabha and had also served as the Minister of State. She was the first woman who was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1963.

Due to ill health Sucheta took retirement in 1971 and on December 1, 1974 she died of a massive heart attack. 


She came into the Indian historical scene during the Quit India Movement. Sucheta worked in close association with Mahatma Gandhi during the time of partition riots. She went along with him to Noakhali in 1946. She was one amongst the handful women who got elected to the Constituent Assembly. She became a part of the subcommittee that was handed over the task of laying down the charter for the constitution of India. On the 15th August, 1947, i.e. the Independence Day, she sang the national song Vande Mataram in the Independence Session of the Constituent Assembly. 


During the post Independence period, she was instrumental in politics in U.P. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in the year 1952 and 1957. She also served as the Minister of State for Small Scale Industries. In the year 1962, she was elected to the U.P Assembly. In the year 1963, she became the first woman to hold a prestigious position of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. During her long tenure of work, one of her biggest achievements has been the effective handling of the 62 day long strike by the state employees. In the year 1971, she took retirement from the politics and went into seclusion. This prominent personality died in the year 1974.