Since 2014, 8 women Governors and Lieutenant Governors (LGs) have been appointed by the Modi government.
In what could be seen as the Prime Minister’s push to empower India’s Nari Shakti mission, a record of women governors have been appointed in Narendra Modi-led NDA government.
The women who were given the responsibilities of Governorship include Mridula Sinha, Draupadi Murmu, Najma Heptulla, Anandiben Patel, Baby Rani Maurya, Anusuiya Uikey, Tamilsai Soundarajan, and Kiran Bedi.
Notably, five out of the eight women governor appointments by the Modi government were from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Minority communities.
Highly respected Muslim leader Najma Heptulla has been Governor of Manipur since 2016. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel is currently serving as Governor of Uttar Pradesh.
Draupadi Murmu, currently serving as Governor of Jharkhand, is not just the first woman governor of the state but also the world woman and tribal leader from Odisha to serve as governor. SC leader Baby Rani Maurya as Uttarakhand’s Governor, ST leader Anusuiya Uikey as Chhattisgarh’s Governor. While Telangana got OBC leader Tamilisai Soundararajan as its Governor and Kiran Bedi was made Puducherry Lieutenant Governor.
Sarojni Naidu, Padmaja Naidu, and Vijayalakshmi Pandit (JL Nehru’s own sister) were appointed under the government of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. Late BJP leader and prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also appointed Rajani Rai during his tenure.
It was only in Congress’ Manmohan Singh’s government which gave as many as six women major roles to play - Pratibha Patil, Prabha Rau, Margaret Alva, Kamla Beniwal, Urmila Singh, and Shiela Dixit.
