Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (néeSwarupNehru;[2] 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician. She served as the 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman appointed to this post. She was also the 3rd Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964. Noted for her participation in the Indian independence movement, she was jailed several times during the movement.
Vijaya Lakshmi's (born Swarup)[2] father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community,[4] served twice as President of the Indian National Congress during the Independence Struggle. Her mother, Swaruprani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Pandit family settled in Lahore,[5] was Motilal's second wife, the first having died in child birth. She was the second of three children; Jawaharlal was eleven years her senior (b. 1889), while her younger sister Krishna Hutheesing (b. 1907–1967) became a noted writer and authored several books on their brother.
Career
She attended the 1916 Congress session that took place in Lucknow. She was impressed by Sarojini Naidu and Annie Besant.[6]
In 1920, she spent time in Mahatma Gandhi's ashram close to Ahmedabad. She participated in daily chores including dairy work and spinning. She also worked in the office that used to publish Young India.[6]
Pandit was the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post in pre-independent India. In 1936, she stood in general elections and became member of parliament by 1937 for constituency of Cawnpore Bilhaur.[7] In 1937, she was elected to the provincial legislature of the United Provinces and was designated minister of local self-government and public health.[8][9] She held the latter post until 1938 and again from 1946 to 1947.[10][11]
She spent significant time in jail for her participation in the Indian independence movement. She was jailed for 18 months from 1931 - 1933. She was jailed again for 6 months in 1940 before getting jailed in 1942 for 7 months over her participation in the Quit India Movement.[12][7] After her release, she helped the victims of the Bengal famine of 1943 and served as president of the Save the Children Fund Committee which rescued poor children from the streets.[7]
Following the death of her husband in 1944, she experienced Indian inheritance laws for Hindu widows and campaigned with All India Women's Conference to bring changes to these laws.[7]
Hon. Members Shrimati Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit has resigned her seat in the House with effect from 17 December 1954.[23]
In India, she served as Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964. She returned as a member of parliament for 1964 to 1968 with her election victory in Phulpur.[7][24] Pandit was a harsh critic of Indira Gandhi's years as prime minister especially after Indira had declared the emergency in 1975.[7]
Pandit retired from active politics after relations between them soured. On retiring, she moved to Dehradun in the Doon Valley in the Himalayan foothills.[25] She came out of retirement in 1977 to campaign against Indira Gandhi and helped the Janata Party win the 1977 election.[26] She was reported to have considered running for the presidency, but Neelam Sanjiva Reddy eventually ran and won the election unopposed.[27]
In 1979, she was appointed the Indian representative to the UN Human Rights Commission, after which she retired from public life. Her writings include The Evolution of India (1958) and The Scope of Happiness: A Personal Memoir (1979).
Personal life
In 1921, she married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (1921–1944), a successful barrister from Kathiawar, Gujarat and classical scholar who translated Kalhana's epic history Rajatarangini into English from Sanskrit. Her husband was a Maharashtrian Saraswat Brahmin, whose family hailed from village of Bambuli, on the Ratnagiri coast, in Maharashtra. He was arrested for his support of Indian independence and died in Lucknow prison in 1944, leaving behind his wife and their three daughters Chandralekha Mehta, Nayantara Sehgal and Rita Dar.
She died in 1990. She was survived by her daughters, Chandralekha and Nayantara Sahgal.
^ abNehru, Krishna (1945). With No Regrets: An Autobiography. New York: The John Day Company.
^Rakesh Ankit, "Between Vanity and Sensitiveness: Indo–British Relations During Vijayalakshmi Pandit’s High-Commissioner (1954–61)." Contemporary British History 30.1 (2016): 20–39.
^Moraes 2008, p. 4. sfn error: no target: CITEREFMoraes2008 (help)
^Zakaria, Rafiq A Study of Nehru, Times of India Press, 1960, p. 22
^Khan, Abdul Majid (1946). "Lakshmi Resigns". The Great Daughter of India. Lahore: Indian Printing Works. p. 152. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
^Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi (1979). "Interim Government". The Scope of Happiness: A Personal Memoir. New York: Crown Publishers Inc. pp. 200–201, 203, 204–205. ISBN0-517-53688-9. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
^Brittain, Vera (1965). "The Conquest of Britain". Envoy Extraordinary: A Study of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and her contribution to Modern India. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. p. 135. Retrieved 12 September 2022. Spain and India had decided in May 1956 to establish diplomatic relations at Embassy level, and now made her the first woman, and probably the first diplomat, to hold three ambassadorships simultaneously. She visited Madrid to present her credentials on October 30, 1957, and was officially photographed with General Franco.
Ankit, Rakesh. "Between Vanity and Sensitiveness: Indo–British Relations During Vijayalakshmi Pandit's High-Commissionership (1954–61)". Contemporary British History 30:1 (2016): 20–39. doi:10.1080/13619462.2015.1049262.
Menon, Parvathi (2023). "Vijayalakshmi Pandit: Gendering and Racing against the Postcolonial Predicament" in Immi Tallgren (ed.) Portraits of Women in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2023).