Nirmala Sitharaman
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A brief biography
As in 2019, May
May 31, 2019: The Times of India
Born: Aug 18, 1959
Experience: 2 Rajya Sabha Terms
The last five years have seen a meteoric rise of this former JNU student, who joined the BJP just over a decade ago. She was nominated as party spokesperson in 2010. Under the government led by AB Vajpayee, she served as a member of the NCW 2003 till 2005.
The two time Rajya Sabha member started out in May 2014 as an unsure minister of state with independent charge of commerce and industry. In September 2017, she went on to become India’s first full-time woman defence minister and a member of the hallowed cabinet committee on security.
As the ‘Raksha Mantri’, Sitharaman took some time to find her feet in the complex defence ministry, and the overwhelmingly male dominated environs of the armed forces, with all its national security challenges. It was, of course, not easy to follow heavy-weight predecessors like Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar.
She was also confronted with the tough task of countering Congress’ charge of crony capitalism in the Rs 59,000-crore Rafale deal, inked during Parrikar’s tenure. She vigourously defended the government’s stand on the defence deal. There was persistent talk she was kept out of the loop on major decisions, like the pre-dawn air strikes on the JeM facility in Balakot. But the earnest minister, who rarely smiles, did not let go. She retains PM Modi’s trust.
