Sumitra Mahajan (born 12 April 1943) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party who was Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019, the second woman to hold the office after Meira Kumar. She won the Indore seat in Madhya Pradesh eight times in a row between 1989 and 2014, the longest unbroken run by a woman MP from one constituency. She is popularly called “Tai” (elder sister) and received the Padma Bhushan in 2021.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Sumitra Mahajan |
| Born | 12 April 1943, Chiplun, Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra, India |
| Age | 83 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Office | Speaker of the Lok Sabha (2014–2019) |
| Constituency | Indore (1989–2019) |
| Education | Devi Ahilya University, Indore (M.A., LL.B.) |
| Spouse | Jayant Mahajan (d.) |
| Children | 2 sons |
| Honour | Padma Bhushan (2021) |
Early Life
Sumitra Sathe was born in Chiplun on the Konkan coast into a Marathi Brahmin family. She moved to Indore after marrying Jayant Mahajan, a lawyer, and completed her master’s and law degrees there. She became known in the city for her religious discourses and social work, and admires the 18th-century queen Ahilyabai Holkar, about whom she has written a book.
Political Career
She was elected a municipal corporator in 1982 and became deputy mayor of Indore in 1984. In 1989 she defeated the former Chief Minister P. C. Sethi to win the Indore Lok Sabha seat and held it in every election until she stepped aside in 2019.
In Atal Bihari Vajpayee‘s government she was Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology, and Petroleum and Natural Gas. She chaired several parliamentary committees.
Elected unanimously on 6 June 2014, she presided over the passage of the constitutional amendment for the Goods and Services Tax. In August 2015 she suspended 25 Congress members for five days for disrupting the House. She set up a research initiative for members and often scolded them like a schoolteacher. She was succeeded by Om Birla.
Personal Life
Her husband died some years ago. She has two sons, Milind and Mandar, and lives in Indore.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sumitra Mahajan born?
Sumitra Mahajan was born on 12 April 1943 in Chiplun, Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra, India and is 83 years old.
Featured image: Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, speaks at an exhibition marking 75 years of the Quit India Movement, New Delhi, 1 September 2017. Photo by Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
