Brinda Karat

Brinda Karat is an Indian Marxist politician and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. She was born in Kolkata on October 17, 1947, to Oshrukona Mitra and Suraj Lal Das. Her mother was a Bengali, while her father was a Punjabi refugee in Lahore. She grew up with her four siblings in a secular and liberal house. She talked about her life with her family and how she never had to fight any personal battles due to the freedom her parents gave her. She married Prakash Karat, a prominent CPI(M) leader, in 1975.

She studied at Loreto House under the guidance of the Irish nuns until the age of 13. After that, she moved to Dehradun, where she studied at Welham Girls’ School. She was well known for her tremendous athletic abilities, due to which she was able to secure admission to Miranda House, situated in New Delhi. She was 16 years old at that time. She expressed great interest in drama, theatre, and debates. She graduated in 1967 and went to work for Air India at Bond Street for four years. She campaigned against the mandatory rule of wearing a skirt as the uniform. The Indian Headquarters finally agreed with her and allowed them to choose between a saree and a skirt while working.

Her major turning point was the anti-war protests across the Atlantic and Europe against the US. She came back to Kolkata in the year 1967. She joined a political party as a student activist while enrolled at Calcutta University. She also worked at the refugee camps during the Bangladeshi war. She also worked alongside the then-general secretary, P. Sundaraiah, in Delhi.

She became a CPI(M) leader in the Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha, on 11  April 2005. She was also the first woman elected to the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She is the author of Survival and Emancipation: Notes from Indian Women's Struggles, a book on the struggles of women movements in India. She also acted in the film Amu(2005), a film made by her niece, Sonali Bose. Her recent contribution is publishing a paper on the women's reservation bill titled “Salute the Women Who Kept the Women’s Reservation Bill Alive” in The Indian Express.