Kolkata: The inclusion of West Bengal’s Debashree Chaudhuri as a minister of state in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new cabinet may have come as a surprise to many given that she was not a prominent leader in state politics but like many in Bengal BJP, she is certainly not unknown to Sangh leaders.
Debashree, general secretary of the party’s Bengal unit, was made MoS in the ministry of women and child development in PM Modi’s new cabinet, which has a strong RSS imprint.
Her father, Debi Das Chaudhuri, was a high school teacher and president of the Bharatiya Jan Sangha (BJS) from 1967 to 1980 in Balurghat in undivided Dinajpur district (later it was separated into South and North Dinajpur). The Bharatiya Jan Sangha was the political arm of the RSS.
During his stint as the president, Emergency was declared in India in 1975 and several leaders of the BJS were arrested. Though it was difficult for BJS leaders to work under the Congress and Left rule in Bengal, Debashree’s father gave his all to serve the nation.
Born on January 31, 1971, Debashree recalls the struggles the family faced. “There was struggle and crisis but we all managed to overcome it because of my mother Ratna. She was a force behind all of us which gave us inspiration to move forward. I have one sister and two brothers and the common link among us is service to the nation. All of us are attached either to the BJP or Sangha.”
She added, “When my mother first heard that I became an MP, she started shivering. She was numb. For her, it was a struggle of more than 50 years in the family when my father was with the Jan Sangha. In college (Burdwan University), I was an active member of ABVP and in 2001, I joined the state BJP. Since my college days, I surrendered myself in the service of the nation. I moved forward with my father’s baton (who died in 2010) without expecting anything in life.”
When asked how she felt on receiving the call from Amit Shah ahead of the announcement on Friday, she said: “I took it as an instruction and reached there. Due to the Jan Sangha’s ideology, I grew up in a disciplined atmosphere. For me, there is nothing above service to the nation. I will try my best to deliver on this front.”
Debashree did her Masters from Burdwan University and she briefly worked for a private company in Kolkata from 1995 to 1996. She contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Bardhaman-Durgapur seat of West Bengal but was defeated by TMC candidate. In this Lok Sabha, she managed to win Raiganj seat by defeating sitting CPI(M) MP Md. Salim by 3,28,552 votes and TMC’s Kanailal Agarwal by 60,593 votes.
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