Thirty-five years since India’s defence ministry last saw a woman at its helm, there is another: Nirmala Sitharaman.
Until now, the only woman to head India’ defence ministry was Indira Gandhi: first in 1975 and again in 1980-82.
Madurai-born Sitharaman, who was earlier minister of state for commerce, has a master's in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and has worked for PwC, London and briefly with BBC World Service.
She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2008, and was made a member of the national executive and was nominated as party spokesperson in 2010.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the only woman minister in the Sunday's Cabinet reshuffle, has been appointed as new Defence Minister. Sitharaman, who was Commerce Minister in the Narendra Modi government, was promoted as a Cabinet Minister on Sunday.
“Somebody who has come from a small town, grown into the party with all the support of the leadership, and if given such responsibility, it just makes you feel sometimes that cosmic grace is there. Otherwise it is impossible,” she said after taking oath.
To a query over the opposition’s criticism of her working as commerce minister, the BJP leader said she was neither averse nor frightened by criticism.
“Every criticism is a message and we have to learn from it. I am not averse to criticism and also not frightened of it (criticism), but certainly take messages from them... Criticism per se do not reflect on performance, it only adds to your performance if you are ready to take on-board the corrections that may be workable,” she said.
BJP's Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, Sitharaman has also actively defended government's stand on various issues as party spokesperson.
Under the global economic slowdown and with exports being in decline, the sector was going through tough times when Sitharaman took charge of the Commerce and Industry Ministery.
Known for her firmly defending her policies, it would be interesting to see how this JNU alumni replicates her success at the Defence Ministry.
With Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj, PM Modi's Cabinet Committee on Security has now two female members.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had been the adhoc Defence Minister since Manohar Parrikar resigned from the post to become Goa's Chief Minister.
