Sumitra new Speaker of Lok Sabha
Sumitra Mahajan, veteran leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected yesterday unanimously as the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha, the lower House of the Indian parliament.
She is the second woman to hold the position after Meira Kumar of Congress, who had presided over the House between 2009 and this year.
Mahajan, 71, who has been representing Indore parliamentary constituency in central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh since 1989 without ever losing, is the longest-serving woman parliamentarian.
Mahajan's name for the post of Speaker was proposed by senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of 13 parties cutting across the political spectrum.
Congratulating the new Speaker, Modi said, “It is inherent in your name [Sumitra] that you will have friendly and cordial relations with everyone."
"There are 315 new members in the House. This means we can leave some old traditions behind and start some new traditions. We can take the great traditions of the past forward; this new blood has the opportunity to present a strong [picture of] democracy in front of the world," he added.
Modi also thanked all lawmakers for unanimously electing her as the Speaker.
Mahajan had served as a former federal Indian minister of state in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 2002 and 2004 in a number of ministries, including Petroleum, Communications and Human Resources Development.
Popularly known as “tai” (elder sister in her mother tongue Marathi), Mahajan was born in 1943 in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Mahajan was a housewife before she joined politics.
With a weak opposition in the House, presiding over the Lok Sabha should not be a problem for Mahajan, who is revered by all parties across the political spectrum for her amiable nature.
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