Ranee Narah | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2012 | |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 3 April 2016 – 2 April 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Naznin Faruque |
| Succeeded by | Pabitra Margherita |
| Constituency | Assam |
| Minister of State ofTribal Affairs,Government of India | |
| In office 28 November 2012 – 23 May 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
| Preceded by | Mahadeo Singh Khandela |
| Succeeded by | Mansukhbhai Vasava |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 16 May 2009 – 16 May 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Arun Kumar Sarmah |
| Succeeded by | Sarbananda Sonowal |
| Constituency | Lakhimpur |
| In office 10 March 1998 – 13 May 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Arun Kumar Sarmah |
| Succeeded by | Arun Kumar Sarmah |
| Constituency | Lakhimpur |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jahanara Choudhury (1965-10-31)31 October 1965 (age 60) |
| Party | Indian National Congress(1995–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Asom Gana Parishad(1988–1995) |
| Spouse | Bharat Narah |
| Children | 2 sons |
| Alma mater | Gauhati University |
| Source:[1] | |
Ranee Narah (born 31 October 1965) is an Indian politician fromAssam and a member of theIndian National Congress. She represented Assam as aMember of Parliament in theRajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, from 2016 to 2022. She also representedLakhimpur in theLok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, from 1998 to 2004, and again from 2009 to 2014. Narah served as theMinister of State forTribal Affairs in theUnionGovernment of India from 2012 to 2014. She was alsoDeputy Chief Whip of theCongress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2012.
Narah is a graduate ofGauhati University.[1] She played professional cricket and captained theAssam women's cricket team.[2][3] She served as the President of theWomen's Cricket Association of India (WCAI) and the President of theAssam Women's Cricket Association.[2][4] She merged the WCAI with theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2006 and became a BCCI member.[5][6][7] She was also Vice-President of theAssam Cricket Association and theAssam Football Association.[8][9]
Narah joined theAsom Gana Parishad in 1988, and was elected General Secretary of the party's women's wing, theAsom Mahila Parishad.[2][10] She joined the Indian National Congress in 1995 after ideological disagreements with the Asom Gana Parishad leadership.[2][11] She was elected General Secretary and Vice President of theAssam Pradesh Youth Congress in 1996-1997.[12] She was elected President of the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress in 1998.[13] In 1998, she was elected also to theLok Sabha fromLakhimpur constituency by defeating theAsom Gana Parishad candidate and incumbent,Arun Kumar Sarmah.[14] She was re-elected from Lakhimpur in 1999, defeating the Asom Gana Parishad candidate,Sarbananda Sonowal, who was the President of theAll Assam Students' Union.[15] She began lobbying for the construction of an airport atNorth Lakhimpur, which culminated in 2003 with the inauguration ofLilabari Airport.[16] As a Member of Parliament until 2004, Narah was on the committees forUrban andRural Development,Libraries, andCommunications during the12th Lok Sabha, and on the committees forDefence,Home Affairs,Civil Aviation,Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Urban and Rural Development during the13th Lok Sabha.[12]
As Assam Pradesh Youth Congress President, Narah led anAssam Bandh in November 2000 demanding the imposition ofPresident's rule against the Asom Gana Parishad government of Chief Minister,Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, whose party was a constituent member of theNational Democratic Alliance federal government.[17] Between 1997 and 2001, theinsurgency in Assam had led to 1548 deaths, including 333 security personnel. The mass-killings ofHindi-speaking migrants by theUnited Liberation Front of Assam became a catalyst for the bandh.[18][19] She was imprisoned by the Asom Gana Parishad government, and the federal government had to authorise military operations after another round of mass-killings in December 2000.[20][21] In 2003, Narah was elected to the National Council of theIndian Youth Congress.[22]
In 2004, Narah was nominated as the candidate for Lakhimpur despite opposition from the Indian National Congress Chief Minister,Tarun Gogoi, and many partyMLA's in Lakhimpur constituency.[4][23][24] She lost the election to the Asom Gana Parishad candidate, Arun Kumar Sarmah, who was an incumbent Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament for Assam.[25][26] In 2009, Narah was nominated as the candidate for Lakhimpur despite opposition from the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, and many party MLA's in Lakhimpur constituency.[3][25][26][27][28] She won the election by defeating the Asom Gana Parishad candidate and incumbent, Arun Kumar Sarmah. After re-entering parliament in 2009, Narah was appointedDeputy Chief Whip of theCongress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.[29] She was on the committees forEstimates,Transport,Tourism,Culture, andInformation and Broadcasting from 2009 to 2012 during the15th Lok Sabha.[12]
In 2012, Narah was inducted into theUnion Cabinet of India asMinister of State in theTribal Affairs ministry.[1] In 2013, Narah opposed theSubansiri Lower Dam Hydro Electric Project.[30] Much of Lakhimpur'sBogibeel Bridge was completed byIndian Railways during Narah's tenures as Member of Parliament from 1998 to 2004 and 2009 to 2014,[31][32][33] although project delays meant that the bridge was inaugurated in 2019.[34] In 2014, she lost her re-election campaign from Lakhimpur against theBharatiya Janata Party candidate and state president, Sarbananda Sonowal, who became the Chief Minister after the2016 Assam Legislative Assembly election.[15][35][36][37] In2016 Rajya Sabha elections, Narah was elected as a Member of Parliament from Assam. She received 47 votes, the most of any candidate in theAssam Legislative Assembly.[38][39] She represented Assam in the Rajya Sabha until 2022.[40] She was on the committee for Petroleum and Natural Gas until 2019, and on the committees forIndustry and theDevelopment of North Eastern Region until 2022.[12] In 2024, the Indian National Congress did not nominate Narah as the candidate from Lakhimpur.[41]
Narah — born as Jahanara Choudhary into anAssameseMuslim family in Guwahati's Gandhibasti — is married toBharat Narah, a six-termmember of theAssam Legislative Assembly, and former cabinet minister in the Assam government.[3][42][43] The couple married in 1986, and she converted toHinduism, the religion of her indigenous tribal husband whoseMishing people live mostly inUpper Assam andArunachal Pradesh.[44] Their marriage has repeatedly come under attack by supporters of the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party, including conspiracy theories that she was a spy who persuaded her husband — an Asom Gana Parishad legislator — to join the Indian National Congress with her in 1995, and also that their marriage was a "coup against the first right-wing government of the state".[45][46]
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