Introduction:
She was also among the 15 women chosen to draft the Indian Constitution as part of the legendary Constituent Assembly. A freedom fighter, a drafter of the Constitution, a chief minister and a path-breaker for women everywhere. She inspired students to join the freedom movement. She was jailed by the British. She even worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi. On August 14, 1947 – she sang the national anthem before PM Nehru made his famous ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech.
Freedom movement and independence:
- Like her contemporaries Aruna Asaf Ali and Usha Mehta, she came to the forefront during the Quit India Movement and was arrested by British .
- She later worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi during the Partition riots. She accompanied him to Noakhali in 1946.
- She was one of the few women who were elected to the Constituent Assembly of India.
- She was elected as the first woman CM of state of Uttar Pradesh from the Kanpur constituency and was part of the subcommittee that drafted the Indian Constitution.
- She became a part of the subcommittee that laid down the charter for the constitution of India.
- On 14 August 1947, she sang Vande Mataramin the Independence Session of the Constituent Assembly a few minutes before Nehru delivered his famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech.
- She was also the founder of the All India Mahilla Congress, established in 1940.
- She remained involved with politics. For the first Lok Sabha elections in 1952, she contested from New Delhi on a KMPP ticket: she had joined the short-lived party founded by her husband the year before.
- She defeated the Congress candidate Manmohini Sahgal. Five years later, she was reelected from the same constituency, but this time as the Congress candidate.
- She was elected one last time to the Lok Sabha in 1967, from Gonda constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
- Meanwhile, she had also become a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. From 1960 to 1963, she served as Minister of Labour, Community Development and Industry in the UP government.
- In October 1963, she became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the first woman to hold that position in any Indian state.
- The highlight of her tenure was the firm handling of a state employees strike. This first-ever strike by the state employees continued for 62 days.
- She relented only when the employees’ leaders agreed to compromise. Kripalani kept her reputation as a firm administrator by refusing their demand for a pay hike.
- When Congress split in 1969, she left the party with Morarji Desai faction to form NCO.
- She lost 1971 election as NCO candidate from Faizabad (Lok Sabha constituency). She retired from politics in 1971 and remained in seclusion till her death in 1974.
