Wikipedia

Lata Thakur

Lata Thakur (21 August 1941 - 14 December 1976) was an Indian politician. She was an MLA from the Lahaul and Spiti Assembly Constituency in the 1972 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. She belonged to the Indian National Congress. Lata Thakur was the first female legislator from Lahaul and Spiti, and the first Scheduled Tribe MLA in all of Himachal Pradesh.[1][2]

Lata Thakur
MLA from Lahaul and Spiti assembly constituency
(1972-76)
ConstituencyLahaul and Spiti
Personal details
Born(1941-08-21)21 August 1941
Gemur, Lahaul, Kullu sub-division, Kangra district, Punjab Province, British India
Died14 December 1976(1976-12-14) (aged 35)
Pandoh, Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, India
Political party Indian National Congress
OccupationPolitician

Political career edit

Lata Thakur was a Scheduled Tribe candidate and won the 1972 MLA seat from Lahaul and Spiti against Thakur Devi Singh of the Lok Raj Party.[1][3]

At Lata Thakur's request, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the Lahaul and Spiti valleys in June 1972.[4][5][6][7] Gandhi again visited Spiti in June 1974, though this time only to Sumdo, near the Indo-Tibetan frontier. This visit nonetheless further bolstered Congress's and Lata Thakur's position there.[8] Lata Thakur brought about the provision of supplying fuelwood at subsidized rates and without transportation charges to all locals of the remote Spiti valley for the winter.[6]

Alongside, Lata Thakur served as the president of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress Committee.[9] As Youth Congress convener, she contended that the youth should be involved in the drawing of development projects.[10] She also served as the president of the Himalayan Buddhist Society at Manali.[11] Lata Thakur and Vidya Stokes were critical of Yashwant Singh Parmar's book Polyandry in the Himalayas, claiming that the book could have a negative effect on the women of the state, and that Parmar did not understand Himachali women well.[12]

 
Lata Thakur's native village of Gemur, as seen in October 2020.

Around the time of the inauguration of the Atal Tunnel in October 2020, there were claims that Lata Thakur had been instrumental in initiating the idea of building a tunnel under the Rohtang Pass, so as to provide the Lahaul valley with round-the-year road connectivity. The claims were that she had talked to Indira Gandhi of this need on one of the PM's visits to the Lahaul and Spiti district during Lata's tenure as MLA, and that the chain of events set-off by this discussion had materialised several decades later in the form of the Atal Tunnel.[13][14][15]

Personal life edit

Lata Thakur belonged to village Gemur of Lahaul tehsil, Lahaul and Spiti district.[16]

Marriage edit

She was married to Nihal Chand Thakur of Gemur.[17] Nihal Chand came from a local noble family. His forefathers had been the wazirs of Kolong in Lahaul since the seventeenth century. He was the younger brother of Lt. Col. Kushal Chand, MVC. Nihal Chand served on the Punjab Tribes Advisory Council until 1966, when Lahaul was merged into the emerging state of Himachal Pradesh. Nihal Chand had also contested the Himachal Pradesh Assembly seat, but was unsuccessful. He died in 1975.[18][19]

In 1962, Lata Thakur and Nihal Chand Thakur had a son, whom they named Ravi Thakur, and who upon growing up also became a politician.[9]

Death edit

Lata Thakur was killed in a car accident near Pandoh (in Mandi district) on 14 December 1976, at the age of 35.[16]

Memorial edit

The Lata Thakur Memorial Stadium in village Udaipur of Lahaul and Spiti district is named after her, where a Lata Thakur Memorial T-20 Cricket Competition is held.[20][21]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Jaffrelot, Christophe; Kumar, Sanjay (2012-05-04). Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-51661-0.
  2. ^ "Rahul Gandhi visits Lahaul-Spiti to woo electorate". India Today. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  3. ^ Socialist India. Indian National Congress. All India Congress Committee. 1972.
  4. ^ Sharma, Ashwani (2022-02-14). "PM Modi To Relive Old Memories In Himachal's Keylong". Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  5. ^ India, Granthshala (2022-09-28). "Congress leader Dunichand Thakur no more: Died at the age of 91, Lahaul-Spiti Congress lost priceless Ratan- Ravi Thakur". Granthshala India. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  6. ^ a b Bodh, Top Singh. "122 Winter Days Stranded in a snowed-in place". Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Roberto Vitali (2000). A Short Guide To Key Gonpa. p. 58.
  8. ^ Issar, Brigadier Satish K. (2021-06-15). Vision, Courage and Service: Life and Times of General T.N. Raina, MVC. Vision Books. ISBN 978-93-86268-52-5.
  9. ^ a b "Biodata of Ravi Thakur" (PDF). Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  10. ^ Women on the March. Smt. Mukul Banerjee for the Women's Front of All India Congress Committee. 1976. p. 14.
  11. ^ "Himalayan Buddhist Society Manali". testwebsites.cybraintech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  12. ^ Elmore, Mark (2016-07-05). Becoming Religious in a Secular Age. Univ of California Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-520-29054-9.
  13. ^ Panwar, Tikender Singh (30 September 2020). "Rohtang Tunnel – Remember the Workers who Built it". NewsClick. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  14. ^ Gupta, Dharam Prakash (2020-10-16). "BJP and Congress leaders vie to draw political mileage from Atal tunnel". Himachal Guardian. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  15. ^ Service, Statesman News (2020-10-04). "BJP, Cong spar to stake claim over Atal Tunnel construction". The Statesman. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  16. ^ a b "महिला दिवस पर याद आईं लता और इंदिरा". Amar Ujala (in Hindi). Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  17. ^ Ghosh, Tapash Kumar (2002). A Profile of the Himalayan Lahaula. Anthropological Survey of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture, Government of India. p. 216. ISBN 978-81-85579-52-8.
  18. ^ Brentnall, Mark (2004). The Princely and Noble Families of the Former Indian Empire: Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing. p. 364. ISBN 978-81-7387-163-4.
  19. ^ Sahni, Ram Nath (1994). Lahaul - The Mystery Land in the Himalayas. New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company. pp. 96–100.
  20. ^ "Lata Thakur Memorial Stadium (Stadium) - Udaipur, Himachal Pradesh". www.helpmecovid.com. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  21. ^ "कुल्लू| लताठाकुर क्रिकेट मेमोरियल टी-20 क्रिकेट प्रतियोगिता लाहौल-स्पीति के उदयपुर". Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi). 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
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