A Dalit, An SC & An Ace Shooter: Meet The Women In Bihar Politics

Bihar has been going through a political crisis for the past couple of days with Janata Dal (United) Nitish Kumar snapping ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that it had made in 2017. On Wednesday, Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the eighth time after it joined hands with its old allies in the Mahagathbandhan including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other parties.

In the Bihar election in 2020, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP was announced the winner. Kumar had taken oath as the chief minister in November 2020.

During the 2020 elections, Bihar had 113 women candidates out of 1,000 candidates. However, Bihar has never had a woman chief minister yet. At a time when Bihar politics is a national talk, let’s take a look at some of the notable women politicians in Bihar.

Pushpam Priya Chaudhary

Hailing from political lineage, newcomer Pushpam Priya has emerged as a prominent face in Bihar politics. Though Priya is the daughter of former JDU MLC Vinod Chaudhary, she came up with her newly formed party Plurals and reportedly gave the largest female representation in the state.

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Pratima Kumari

In a state and country where caste issues are still prevalent, Pratima Kumari is a Dalit woman who has made a prominent independent political identity in the state. Around 10 years ago, she established an organisation named Gaurav Grameen Mahila Sangathan through which she has trained women in garment work and employment for 100 women. She is also known for encouraging girls in sports and teaches gender equity and sexuality through football camps.

Bhagirathi Devi

Belonging to the Scheduled Caste community, Bhagirathi Devi became an activist from a sweeper and fought for wages for the poor. She is four-time MLA and famous for fighting from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s constituency over the non-payment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) wages.

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Shreyasi Singh

The Commonwealth gold medalist in ace shooting and an Arjuna awardee athlete, Shreyasi Singh was a BJP candidate from the Jamui Assembly constituency. She is the daughter of former JDU leader Digvijay Singh.

Ritu Jaiswal

Initially a teacher in Delhi, Ritu Jaiswal cut her teeth in politics when she was elected as a Mukhiya in 2016 of Singhwahini Panchayat in Bihar. Her achievements include 2500 toilets, open defecation free, and sanitary napkins made and sold by women paid a commission.