Margaret
Alva, a united Indian Opposition’s vice-presidential nominee, will be going up
against BJP-nominated candidate Jagdeep Dhankar in the upcoming Vice-President
elections. The 80-year-old has had a long and illustrious political career spanning
over five decades. She’s been an MP for a sum total of 23 years, a union
minister, and the governor of two states. Once at the helm of affairs, Margaret
Alva’s political career had nearly come to an end, until now.

With the
BJP picking an Adivasi woman — Droupadi Murmu — as its presidential nominee against BJP
leader-turned-critic Yashwant Sinha, there was an imperative to have a woman
candidate in the fray on the part of the Opposition. It has come up with
Margaret Alva, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar announced on
Sunday.

Following
the announcement, Margaret Alva tweeted: “It is a privilege and an honour to be
nominated as the candidate of the joint opposition for the post of Vice
President of India. I accept this nomination with great humility and thank the
leaders of the opposition for the faith they’ve put in me. Jai Hind.”  

Born in the
southern state of Karnataka, Margaret Alva first did her bachelors degree from
Mt Carmel College followed by her law degree from Government Law College,
Mumbai. Her entry into politics was caused by her marriage to her GLC classmate
Niranjan Thomas Alva. Both of Margaret’s in-laws, Joachim Alva and Violet Alva,
were members of Parliament.

Until then,
Margaret Alva had been working on women’s issues. She’d also founded an NGO
named ‘Karuna’. She entered Parliament for the first time in 1974 as a Rajya
Sabha MP. Over the years, Margaret became closer and closer with the Gandhi
family. She writes in her autobiography that Rajiv Gandhi took a personal
interest in her political career when her Rajya Sabha term was expiring and
ensured that she returned to the Upper House.

Meeting
with Fidel Castro

The year
was 1983. In Cuba, Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro was at the helm of
affairs. The then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, maintained very close
ties with Communist and socialist regimes across the world. In a long
interaction between Castro and Margaret Alva, Castro reportedly asked her: “Do
you know how different history would have been if the Spanish had landed in
India instead of Cuba?”

Alva
replied, “Then we would have an Indian Fidel Castro.” Castro reportedly laughed
out loud and said: “I would have loved it! India is a great country.” The story
is related in a report by Business Standard based on her autobiography titled “Commitment
and Courage: An Autobiography”.

Rift
with Sonia Gandhi

Margaret
Alva had always been very close to the Gandhi family. Rajiv Gandhi, especially,
had always held her in high esteem. Alva had also worked very hard to ensure
that Indira Gandhi won the polls when she stood for elections from Chikmagalur.
Her trouble with the Gandhi family emanated after she claimed that the Congress
was distributing tickets for money, back in 2008.

Alva had
publicly claimed that tickets were for sale in Karnataka and was enraged that
her son Nivedith did not receive a ticket. This led to a fallout between Alva
and Sonia Gandhi, a jolt to the relationship that would take years to recover.

For now,
Margaret Alva is a consensus candidate. As the numbers stack up, it is unlikely
that Alva will be able to defeat Jagdeep Dhankhar. But the joint opposition
decided that she was the best bet.