Nirmala Sitharaman – India’s only second female Defence minister and Finance minister after Indira Gandhi

Nirmala Sitharaman is a prominent female politician belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party. In the second cabinet of Narendra Modi which took power in 2019, she swore in as the finance minister, only the second female after Indira Gandhi to take this position. In the previous cabinet of Narendra Modi, she served as Minister of Commerce and Industry followed by Minister of Defence, only the second female defence minister after Indira Gandhi. She serves as member of Rajya Sabha since 2016, and has been nominated from the southern state of Karnataka.

Nirmala Sitharaman was born in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu in 1959. She is married to Parakala Prabhakar, TV anchor, political economist and commentator. After marriage Nirmala moved to London where she worked as a salesgirl in Home Décor store. Later she started working as a translator for Tamil section of BBC which changed her drift of life. Then she worked as a senior manager and analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving back to India in 1991 following daughter’s birth. Later she started Pranav School in Hyderabad before getting involved with politics.

When she joined politics very late, many fellow politicians felt that she is inexperienced. She was appointed as the National Commission for Women, after which her whole journey took a surprise turn. She joined National Executive Council in 2010 and also became national spokesperson. Since 2014 she serves as cabinet minister handling some prestigious portfolios like defense and finance at different points of time. As a defense minister her stand during Cyclone Ockhi and Balakot airstrike and speech about Rafale Deal made her one of the most powerful woman leaders of independent India.

Nirmala Sitharaman – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. After Indira Gandhi, she is the only woman to handle the portfolios – defence and finance.

2. She holds PhD from London School of Economics.

3. She has earlier served as a member of National Commission for Women.

4. She is an educationist and one of the founding directors of Pranava School in Hyderabad.

5. She served as the Spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party during 2010-2014, before she took power as cabinet minister.

6. She is active in political debates in national news channels and her sensible replies always receive overwhelming response.

7. She met her future husband while doing her M Phil in International studies at JNU. Her husband Dr. Parakala Prabhakar was a fellow of JNU then.

8. Her father-in-law Parakala Seshavatharam has also served as an MLA of Andhra Pradesh thrice and cabinet minister once, while her mother-in-law Parakala Kalikamba also served as a legislator once. They represented Congress party and the family had close relations with then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s. 

9. Her husband was affiliated to a Congress political party of Andhra Pradesh, when she married him. Later he became active in BJP during Vajpayee’s rule. Nirmala also got interested in politics almost at the same time.

10. She loves Krishna bhajans (devotional songs) and reading. Every day she reads newspapers at 9 am.