Jamuna Devi , veteran tribal woman leader of Madhya Pradesh MP Dies At The Age Of 81

Jamuna Devi , veteran tribal woman leader of Madhya Pradesh MP Dies At The Age Of 81

81 year old Member of Parliament of Madhya Pradesh, Jamuna Devi passed away on 24th Sep. morning at 06:25. She was suffering with the stomach cancer.

Jamuna Devi was hospitalized since many days for the treatment of her disease but was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Thursday. It is said that she was diagnosed with stomach cancer since many months.

She leaves behind her daughter and politician nephew Umang Singhar and a host of well wishers to mourn her loss.

Jamuna Devi was elected as the Deputy Chief Minister at the times when Digvijay Singh was leading the government. In the year 1952, she was elected for the Madhya Bharat Assembly. Jamuna Devi was also a Rajya Sabha member and a Minister during the Motilal Vora government.

She belonged to the socialist ideology and has enjoyed almost 60 years of public life.

Devi, who was born on November 29, 1929, at Sardarpur in tribal Dhar district, was elected as the Leader of Opposition for the first time in 2003 and was again given the responsibility to lead the Opposition for a second term last year.

A veteran tribal woman leader, she represented Kukshi in Dhar district in the state Assembly.

Devi was also the member of the first Assembly of the Madhya Bharat State (1952-57) and later got elected as Lok Sabha member from Jhabua seat (1962-67). She was also the member of Rajya Sabha from 1978-81.

In the year 1985, Devi was elected as the member of the state Assembly and inducted as Minister of State (independent charge) in the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet. She rose to become a Cabinet Minister in the state in the year 1993 after she was elected as an MLA for the third term.

In 1998, she again won the polls for the third time and was inducted as the first woman deputy Chief Minister.

In 2003, though Congress lost power in Madhya Pradesh, Jamuna Devi was elected as MLA for the fifth time and was elected as the Leader of Opposition.

She was again given the responsibility of leading the Opposition in 2008, when she was elected as MLA for the sixth term.