Pratibha caps rich and varied political career

New Delhi, July 21: Weathering a bitterly-contested campaign, Pratibha Devisingh Patil's election as the country's first woman President caps a rich and varied political career in which she held key positions both at the state and national levels, including a gubernatorial assignment.

The 72-year-old veteran politician from Maharashtra bravely faced the Opposition in the run up to her election countering various allegations, including that she was shielding her brother in a murder case, for being the chairperson of a cooperative bank that had its license revoked by the Reserve Bank of India for ''alleged financial irregularities,'' heading a sugar factory that defaulted on its bank loans and misuse of her MPLAD funds.

Controversy was also sparked off by her purported remarks on the 'purdah' system and her claim she had spoken to the spirit of a deceased spiritual leader.

However, Ms Patil, the only Maharashtrian to have been elected to the highest office, denied all the charges against her, while asserting she would in no way be a ''rubberstamp'' Head of State.

In a career spanning over four decades, she has handled some of the most sensitive political assignments and played a pivotal role in the installation of the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra.

Ms Patil was the Governor of Rajasthan, the first woman to occupy the Raj Bhavan in Jaipur, before resigning recently after her nomination as the UPA-Left candidate for the highest constitutional office. She began her public career as a lawyer in her native Jalgaon before being elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1962.

In that year -- when the Chinese aggression occurred -- she organised the Women Home Guard detachment in the district and was its Commandant.

A five-time MLA till 1985, she was inducted in the Vasantrao Naik ministry after the 1967 elections, holding the portfolios of Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing&Parliamentary Affairs as Deputy Minister. After the next elections, she was elevated to Cabinet rank and given charge of Social Welfare, holding it till 1974, when she was given charge of Public Health Department too.

In the Shankar Rao Chavan and Vasantdada Patil governments, she continued in the ministry, holding charge of Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs (1975-76) and Education (1977-78).

After the Congress' split in 1977 following its electoral rout, she remained steadfast to Indira Gandhi, even though many leaders including her political mentor Y B Chavan and others left the party to join the Congress (U), led by former Karnataka Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs.

When the Congress lost power in the state in 1978, Ms Patil served as Leader of Opposition in the state assembly between July, 1979 to February, 1980.

When the party came back to power in 1980, Ms Patil was widely tipped to be the Chief Minister but the post instead went to Sanjay Gandhi loyalist A R Antulay. After his resignation, she served in the Babasaheb Bhosale and Vasantdada Patil cabinets, holding charge of Urban Development and Housing (1982-85) and Civil Supplies and Social Welfare Cabinet Minister (1983-85).

In 1985, she made her first foray into national politics, being elected to the Rajya Sabha and serving till 1990. She also was the Deputy Chairperson of the Upper House from November 1986 to November 1988. She also headed the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee from 1988 to 1990.

Ms Patil was also elected to the 10th Lok Sabha in the 1991 General Elections and was the Chairperson of the House Committee.

She also attended the World Womens Conference at Beijing in 1995 and spoke on behalf of the delegation.

After 1996, Ms Patil was not much politically active until the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government appointed her Governor of Rajasthan in November 2004.

During her tenure in Jaipur, she clashed with the Vasundhara Raje government over the Rajasthan Freedom of Religion Bill 2006, which sought to control ''unlawful conversion from one religion to another by allurement or by fraudulent means or forcibly.'' The Governor returned the bill, passed in April that year, unsigned, stating that certain clauses in the Bill infringed on ''the fundamental rights such as freedom of speech and expression, freedom of conscience and freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion.'' When it was re-sent to her, Ms Patil took no action on it for over an year, before sending it for the President's consideration a day, before she resigned from her post.

Born in Jalgaon on December 19, 1934, Ms Patil studied at the M J College there and Government Law College, Mumbai. She married Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat in July 1965 and has a son and a daughter.

Holding an abiding interest in woman's rights, she was leader of the Indian delegation to Austria on Status of Women Conference as well as attended the Beijing conference.

Ms Patil is also the Director of National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks&Credit Societies and a member of the Governing Council of National Co-operatives Union.

UNI