Meira Kumar a diplomat-turned-politician

New Delhi: Opposition’s presidential nominee Meira Kumar has had the dual distinction of being part of the government not only as a top political functionary but also as a seasoned diplomat. The soft-spoken 72-year-old Meira Kumar is the daughter of the former dalit icon and deputy prime minister Babu Jagjivan Ram has had an illustrious career in public service during which she held several positions.

Joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1973, Ms Kumar continued as a diplomat till 1985 when she joined active politics. Born in a political family, she became the heir apparent of her father’s legacy and contested elections winning from his constituency Sasaram in Bihar. Ms Kumar left the Congress in 2002, citing differences with the party’s leadership, but was back in 2004 only to contest and win Lok Sabha elections once again from Sasaram.

After her diplomatic stint of nearly 15 years in the Indian missions to United Kingdom, Mauritius and other countries, she joined politics. Her first foray in the electoral arena came when she contested a Lok Sabha by-election from Bijnor ,Uttar Pradesh in 1985. The reserved seat of Bijnor had fallen vacant and Ms Kumar had been asked by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to contest. Interestingly, Meira Kumar won the by-election by defeating Kumari Mayawati who was also contesting.

She has also contested Lok Sabha elections from Karol Bagh in Delhi and won. In 2004, she shifted to her father’s constituency Sasaram in Bihar. She won the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Sasaram. She has been a five-term Lok Sabha MP. At the Congress organisational level, she has served as general secretary of the Congress.

In 2004, after winning from Sasaram, she served as a Cabinet minister in the Dr Manmohan Singh government. In 2009, she became the first dalit woman to be elected as the speaker of the Lok Sabha by beating her party colleague and the then Lok Sabha MP Girija Vyas.

In the present scenario, with the NDA naming the former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as the Presidential candidate who is a dalit, Meira Kumar also ticked the right boxes to become the Opposition candidate.