Meira to boost Congress’ image of inclusivity

NEW DELHI: On Sunday, when Union minister for Water Resources Meira Kumar made her way to 10 Janpath, residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, it was clear that Ms Kumar has emerged as the top contender for Speaker���s post. Leaving Ms Girija Vyas and Mr V Kishore Chandra Deo far behind in the race.

In elevating the newly appointed water resources minister to Speaker, the glass ceiling will have been decidedly shattered. Though a Dalit Speaker is no novelty ��� the late GM Balayogi of TDP had presided over the House of Representatives ��� it will be the first time that a woman and Dalit will grace the Speaker���s chair. The move will further consolidate Congress��� claim as the party of inclusive growth. Ms Kumar���s elevation could well be the harbinger of an era of greater gender and caste parity.

Born in 1945, Ms Kumar is second of the two children of the Dalit leader from Bihar, Jagjivan Ram. The soft-spoken five time MP could well be said to have grown up in the corridors of power. Her father became the youngest minister in the Jawaharlal Nehru���s provisional government in 1946. From then on till 1978, Mr Ram served virtually uninterrupted in one capacity or another in successive governments. Parliament too was not a strange or far off concept for Ms Kumar, after all her father who was an influential Dalit leader, had been a member of Parliament right up until his death in 1986.

Ms Kumar���s career trajectory was far removed from the hurly burly of Indian politics. Her only brief foray in her early twenties was as the chairperson of the National Drought Relief Committee of the Congress during the 1967 drought. As the head of the committee she launched a Family Adoption Scheme ��� drought-affected families were adopted by affluent families.

As was the wont of most well educated youngsters of her time, Ms Kumar took the civil services route, making it to the Indian Foreign Service. As an officer of the 1973 batch, Ms Kumar served in Madrid and London.
It would appear that the pull of politics, which had been a constant in Meira Kumar���s life proved to be hard to resist. Her induction into formal politics came in 1985, barely a year before her father passed away. She became yet another successful professional, who had the added advantage of family involvement, to join politics after Rajiv Gandhi assumed the office of prime minister.

Her first venture electoral venture was in Bijnore in Uttar pradesh, from where she was elected to the eighth Lok Sabha. However, it proved to be beginner���s luck, Ms Kumar lost the next two elections. In 1996, she contested from the Karol Bagh parliamentary constituency in Delhi, which she won. Ms Kumar retained the seat in the twelfth Lok Sabha. Once again, in 1999 she was voted out. For her next electoral venture in 2004, Ms Kumar chose to return to Sasaram, a seat her father had held for nearly three decades. She won the elections and was made minister for social justice and empowerment.

Soft-spoken, and not known to court controversy, Ms Kumar broke her habit when she took on the private sector. As minister for social justice, Ms Kumar pushed for reservation quotas for Scheduled Castes and Tribes in the private sector. In the present Cabinet she was allocated the water resources ministry. Her move from social justice could be seen as some kind of an oblique signal from Congress to the private sector about a softening of stance on the reservation issue.

Ms Kumar���s candidature for the Speaker���s job could well have been aided by the protests made by Srikant Jena, Congress MP from Balasore. Mr Jena who has been inducted as minister of state had earlier served as Cabinet minister. Rightfully so, the senior leader refused a ministerial berth, preferring to remain an ordinary member of Parliament. Her elevation would help the prime minister and Congress president to avoid an embarrassing situation, at the same time earn brownie points for giving the charge of the House to a Dalit woman.