Lok Sabha Election: Remembering Sanyogita Rane, Goa’s first & only female Member of Parliament
Sanyogita Rane was known to be one of the most talking members in the Parliament and she raised many questions about issues ailing Goa.
Kumari Vimala Dat’tajirao Tirodkar. If you check the annals of parliamentarians’ history, there is no mention of a Vimala Tirodkar. But Goans remember a disciplined, parda-wearing, daughter of an aristocrat from Maharashtra’s Konkan region. A Gwalior-born girl who lived in a palatial bungalow allocated to her grandfather, the Chief of Gwalior princely state’s army. The little Vimala and her four sisters grew up in the aristocratic environs, hopping to the palace to play with the princesses of Gwalior royal family and going to an all-girls school in curtain-covered horse carriages. After Grade VII, Kumari Vimala Dat’tajirao Tirodkar was homeschooled by private tutors and then took the Matriculation examination.
Then, everything changed. Including her name. As was wont in early 1900s, Kumari Vimala Dat’tajirao Tirodkar, then, barely 17, was married to Jaiba Rane Sardessai, an aristocrat serving the British army as a Major. Kumari Vimala Dat’tajirao Tirodkar was christened Sanyogita Devi Jaiba Rane, a name that lives in the annals of Goa’s political history as its first – and so far, only – female Member of Parliament.
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But Sanyogita Rane wasn’t to politics born. As the wife of an army officer and a mother of four, Sanyogita lived a life far removed from politics. But she worked relentlessly with wives of the soldiers teaching them skills to be financially self-sufficient. And when Jaiba Rane retired from the army in 1968, they moved to their ancestral home in Goa. She joined the ruling Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP). When Bhausaheb Bandodkar, Goa’s first chief minister passed away and the reins of power were held by his daughter Shashikala Kakodker as the next Chief Minister, politics and power came knocking Sanyogita’s door. The Bandodkar and Rane families were known to each other and Sanyogita was perched as the MGP candidate for North Goa Parliamentary Constituency in the 1980 General Election. Her rival was Purushotam Kakodkar of the Indian National Congress (INC). She won by a margin of over 27,500 votes and became Goa’s first female Member of Parliament (MP).
As MP, she used to visit Delhi every Monday and return to Goa on Fridays. Those days the honorarium being paid to MPs was ₹500 and the dearness allowance was mere ₹750 a month. But Sanyogita Rane took her political role very seriously.
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Goa University: Not many have forgotten her role in the establishment of Goa University. B.Shankaranand, then Education Minister in the Central Cabinet was opposed to the idea of establishing a separate University for Goa. However, the Bill, which was tabled by Sanyogita Rane got passed in the Parliament despite the adverse view of the Minister concerned and soon Goa had its own university.
Gold recovery: During Portuguese regime in Goa, a large quantum of gold was lying deposited in the Portuguese Bank. In 1961, when Goa was liberated, the Portuguese Bank was closed down and the Goans’ gold was taken to Portugal along with its assets. The issue of the recovery of this gold remained unsolved for many years. It was Sanyogita Rane who tabled a Bill in the Parliament seeking urgent action for recovery of gold that belonged to the Goans. After a long wait, Goans who could furnish relevant documents to prove that the gold belonged to them were able to recover their gold.
Free ration to jawans of the Indian army: It was because of her Sanyogita Rane’s efforts in Parliament that free ration is provided to the jawans of the Indian Army. During her time, the salary of army men was quite insufficient and it was her contention that at least the ration quota must be given to them free of cost.
Pension to Customs officials: During the Portuguese regime, there were Customs check-posts on Goa borders. Soon after the change in regime, the Indian personnel working at these check-posts became jobless. Sanyogita Rane undertook the important task of getting a pension sanctioned for these erstwhile Customs employees.
Most Talking Member of the Lok Sabha: Sanyogita Rane was known to be one of the most talking members in the Parliament and she raised many questions about issues ailing Goa. A quick crawl of the Parliament’s digital library shows that during her 5-year term, Sanyogita Rane raised 376 questions – topics ranging from development of Goa to visit of Goan women’s hockey & football team to Pakistan, liquor preparation in Goa from cashew apples, late running of trains, quality of postal stationery to death of animal in a zoo.
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In 1985, Sanyogita Rane was given the ticket for parliamentary candidature by the Goa Congress. This time her rival candidate was Advocate Shantaram Naik of the INC. She lost the election but continued serving the people as Chairperson of Social Welfare Board. She lived long; she died in 2017 at age 94.
Not many remember the name Kumari Vimala Dat’tajirao Tirodkar. But Goa has not forgotten Sanyogita Rane, its first female parliamentarian. The disciplined, parda-wearing, daughter of an aristocrat who contributed immensely to the glory of Goa.
(Source: The Land of Sunflowers (Suryaphulaanchaa Pradesh) by Madhav Desai. Translated from the Marathi original by Prakash G Thali. Courtesy: Krishnadas Shama Goa State Central Library)
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