Nandini Satpathy: The Iron Lady of Orissa

Obliterated from the pages of history, as women often are, Odisha’s first woman Chief Minister, Nandini Satpathy, known also as the Iron Lady of Orissa, was born to a family of revolutionaries and intellectuals. During her teenage years in the ‘40s, this petite girl in a starchy cotton saree was jailed for pulling down the Union Jack from atop the edifice of Ravenshaw College.Thus began the makings of a force to be reckoned with.Coming up through the ranks to ultimately reach the hallowed halls of the Rajya Sabha at the mere age of 31, this grassroots student politician went on to become the I&B minister in Indira Gandhi’s first government, where she facilitated the working of the Free Bangla Radio that played a key role in the information war that was ’71. She hobnobbed with the likes of Raj Kapoor, Nargis, and Meena Kumari as India produced films around socialist films and warmed up to Russia. And still, in Delhi circles, she is best remembered as ‘Indira Gandhi’s friend’.