Chandrawati: First woman MLA from Haryana

Ranbir Singh

Chandrawati was the first woman from the Haryana region to become an MLA in the mid-term elections in PEPSU in 1954 after the dismissal of Gian Singh Rarewala-led United Front government in 1953 on account of large-scale corruption and lawlessness. She was born into a Sheoran Jat family at Dalawas village of Dadri tehsil (then in the princely state of Jind) in Dadri district in 1928.

Chandrawati lost her mother in 1932 when she was a child. Her father Hazari Lal, an ex-Army man, had decided to send her to school. She had also become a child widow. She had a chance meeting with Nihal Singh Takshak, who was then Education Inspector at Birla Institutions at Pilani and had subsequently become a minister in PEPSU. He motivated Chandrawati to pursue education. She did schooling from Birla School, Pilani, and later went on to do LLB from the University of Delhi.

Chandrawati was the first woman advocate from the Haryana region and also the first woman from the region to become an MLA from the Badhra constituency (then in Mahendragarh) on the Congress ticket in the mid-term elections to the PEPSU Legislative Assembly in 1954. The disenchantment of voters with the United Front government made her task all the more easy. 

Chandrawati was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in Brish Bhan-led Congress government and she continued in office till the merger of PEPSU with Punjab in 1956. However, she lost in the 1957   Punjab Legislative Assembly elections from the Dadri Double Member constituency. But she was re-elected to the Punjab Assembly from the Badhra constituency in 1962 and she served as a deputy minister from 1964 to 1966.

In 1967, she was defeated in the first elections to the Haryana Legislative Assembly from the Badhra constituency because of factionalism in the Congress. But she staged a comeback in the mid-term elections to the Haryana Assembly in 1968 on the Congress ticket from the Loharu constituency (then in Hisar district) because of disillusionment of people with Rao Birender Singh-led Samyukta Vidhayak Dal government, which had become notorious for the politics of defections.  However, the then Chief Minister, Bansi Lal, ignored her claim for a ministerial berth. 

Chandrawati was once again elected to the Haryana Assembly from Loharu in 1972 due to her personal image and that of the Bansi Lal government of a development-oriented regime that had brought political stability in the state.  Bansi Lal made her a minister of state in 1973 but dismissed her in 1974 when she protested against his authoritarian style of functioning as Chief Minister and the Riwasa episode in which a woman was stripped naked in the presence of her brother allegedly at the instance of Surinder Singh, younger son of Bansi Lal. 

She then decided to contest the 1977 parliamentary elections against Bansi Lal from the Bhiwani constituency as a candidate of the Janata Party. She won the elections and became a celebrity in her own right. 

Thereafter, she was elected to the Haryana Assembly from Loharu (then in Bhiwani district) in 1982 as a candidate of the Lok Dal (HN Bahuguna) and remained the Leader of the Opposition till she resigned in protest against the unjust clauses of the Punjab Accord (1985). After this, she participated in Naya Yudh against the accord under the leadership of Devi Lal. 

The National Front government of VP Singh appointed Chandrawati Lt. Governor of Pondicherry on February 19, 1990, but she had to quit on December 13, 1990, when the government fell. She was once again elected MLA from Loharu on the Janata Dal ticket in 1991. But she remained in political wilderness from 1996 to 2005 because of her inability to adjust in the changed political culture of Haryana. However, Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government rehabilitated her as Chairperson of the Haryana Dairy Development Commission in 2005 and she remained in office till 2014.  Although Chandrawati has now retired from politics, she continues to be active in social work that has always been a passion for her. 

(The writer is former Dean, Social Sciences, Kurukshetra University)