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Brinda Karat (b. 1948) is a communist politician from India. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) on April 11, 2005 for West Bengal. Karat, also recently became the first woman to be a member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She has also been the general secretary of the All India Democratic Women's Association for the last ten years.
Her father Sooraj Lal Das who was the head of the British engineering firm Stuarts and Lloyds based in Calcutta. Brinda was educated at the elite Welham Girl's School in Dehradun and went on to do her bachelors at Miranda House, a college affiliated to theUniversity of Delhi and her masters degree in history at the University of Calcutta. She was active in sports on campus and joined Air India as an airhostess. While working for Air India in London, she campaigned against the mandatory wearing of skirts in the airlines, after which she became an activist. In an interview to rediff, Karat says she returned to India motivated to work for the people .
While working in London, she became associated with the anti-imperialist, anti-war movements and joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) under the guidance of B.T. Ranadive. In a recent interview she attributed many of her political ideals to the economist Devaki Jain, her professor at Miranda House.
Her political career started as a trade union organiser with textile mill workers in North Delhi. She grew to be active with worker's movements and the Indian women's movements. She gained prominence in the campaign for reform of rape laws in the 80's. Karat resigned from the central committee of the CPI(M)protesting the lack of representation of women. Even today, Brinda stands out as a prominent campaigner for gender issues. However, despite no significant improvement in the representation of women in leadership roles in the party, she recently accepted a position in the party politburo.
Recent Controversies
Remarks on Baba Ramdev
Her controversial remarks accusing the respected Hindu seer Baba Ramdev of violating labor laws, as well her publicising of accusations originating from his striking workers of mixing human body parts in potions , have drawn strong condemnation from some in North India, including reprimands from politicians like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ambika Soni, and Narayan Dutt Tiwari who otherwise exhibit leftist tendencies. Pawar noted that Baba Ramdev's 'scientific approach' to yoga was useful .
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh totally condemned the attack with spokesman Ram Madhav stating "The allegation levelled by Karat against Swami Ramdev is a conspiracy hatched by the retrograde Leftists to demean reputed persons of Bharatiya culture." The RSS' Organiser newspaper quoted medical experts, including Dr. Purushotam Lal of Delhi Metro Hospital, Dr. Mohan Agashe, and Dr. Anuj Bhatnagar as supportive of Baba Ramdev during this attack.
Subsequently, four samples sent to the government-recognized research center (Shriram Institute of Industrial Research, Delhi) confirmed that the medicines contained no objectionable ingredients and were purely herbal. Uttaranchal state Health Minister Tilak Raj Behad announced this to BBC in March 2006. This refuted Karat's claims that Ramdev was part of any wrongdoing. Ancient Ayurvedic texts do, at times, proscribe the use of animal materials .
Election Controversy
Despite having protested the election of Manmohan Singh to the Rajya Sabha from the state of Assam, a state he does not reside in, Karat was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha from the state of West Bengal; although she is of Bengali descent, she has not lived in the state since her time in college.
Family
Brinda is married to Prakash Karat, general secretary of CPI(M). Her sister Radhika Roy is married to Prannoy Roy -founder and CEO of NDTV. She recently acted in Amu, a film made by her niece on the anti-Sikh riots in 1984.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/09/stories/2006010916751500.htm
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