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“We record our homage and deep
admiration for the Womanhood of India who in the hour of peril for
the motherland forsook the shelter of their homes and with unfailing
courage and endurance stood shoulder to shoulder with their menfolk,
in the frontline of India’s national army to share with them the
sacrifices and triumphs of the struggle”.
From a Resolution passed on
January 26, 1931.
Role of Indian women:
The entire history of
the freedom movement is replete with the saga of bravery, sacrifice
and political sagacity of great men and women of the country. This
struggle which gained momentum in the early 20th century,
threw up stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, Motilal
Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, C. Rajagopalachari, Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subash Chander Bose.
Their number and stature often gives us an erroneous impression that
it was only a man’s movement. But it is not so. Many prominent women
played a leading role in the freedom movement.
The important place
assigned to women in India dates back to the time of the Vedas
and Smritis. Manu declared that where women were adored,
Gods frequented that place, During the Vedic age the position of
women in society was very high and they were regarded as equal
partners with men in all respects. Who had not heard of Maitri,
Gargi, Sati Annusuya and Sita?
In keeping with this
tradition, burden of tears and toils of the long years of struggle
for India’s freedom was borne by the wives, mothers, and daughters,
silently and cheerfully. The programme of self-imposed poverty and
periodical jail going was possible only because of the willing
co-operation of the worker’s family. In the various resistance
movements in the villages, the illiterate women played this passive
but contributory part as comrades of their menfolk.
Rani Laxmibai
The first name that
comes to mind is that of the famous Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. Dressed
in men’s clothes, she led her soldiers to war against the British.
Even her enemies admired her courage and daring. She fought
valiantly and although beaten she refused to surrender and fell as a
warrior should, fighting the enemy to the last. Her remarkable
courage inspired many men and women in India to rise against the
alien rule.
Begum Hazrat Mahal
Another woman whom we
remember in this connection was Begum Hazrat Mahal, the Begaum of
Oudh. She took active part in the defence of Lucknow against the
British. Although, she was queen and used to a life of luxury, she
appeared on the battle-field herself to encourage her troops. Begam
Hazrat Mahal held out against the British with all her strength as
long as she could. Ultimately she had to give up and take refuge in
Nepal.
During the later half
of the 20th century the struggle for freedom gained
momentum and more women took leading part in it.
Kasturba Gandhi
The life companion of
the Father of the Nation contributed her mite to the freedom
movement in a subtle manner. As the closest associate of Gandhiji
during his epic struggle in South Africa and in India, she suffered
in no small measure.
One simply marvels and wonders how
this quiet self-effacing woman underwent countless trails as
Gandhiji’s wife, and how gallantly she agreed to the Mahatma’s
endless experiments and self-imposed life of poverty and suffering.
Swarup Rani and Kamala
The mother of
Jawaharlal Nehru, Swarup Rani Nehru cheerfully gave her husband and
children to the country’s cause and herself, old and trail entered
the pray at its thickest.
Jawaharlal’s brave
wife, Kamala; kept smiling all through the long years of travail of
her brief life.
Kamala Nehru was a
flame that flickered briefly in the raging storm of the freedom
movement in India. Not everybody knows that she braved
lathi-charges, picketed liquor shops and languished in jail for the
cause of Indian independence. She influenced her husband Jawaharlal
and stood by him in his determination to plunge into the movement
started by Mahatma Gandhi, to free the mother Mahatma Gandhi, to
free the motherland from the clutches of the British rulers.
With Jawaharlal away in
prison, Kamala took to social work to begin with. She started a
dispensary in her house in Allahabad and also started a movement for
women’s education and to get them out of purdah.
As a member of the
Rashtriya Stree Sabha which was set up on a Jallianwala Day in 1921,
Kamala Nehru worked for the entry of Harijan into temples.
Kamala Nehru was first
among the group of volunteers to sell contraband salt during the
Salt Satyagraha. All through the long months of 1930, the Desh
Sevika Sangh which she led along with Kusturba Gandhi and Sarojini
Naidu, did hard jobs like policing disturbed areas in Bombay. While
the men were in jail, they took over.
Sarojini Naidu:
Great as a poet and
orator, Sarojini Naidu was one of the most enlightened women of
modern India.
She was one among the many men and
women who dedicated their lives for the freedom struggle of the
counry under the guidance of Gandhiji. At a very young age she wrote
many patriotic poems which inspired people in India to throw off the
foreign yoke. She joined the Home Rule movement launched by Annie
Besant. This was her first step in politics. On the call of Gopal
Krishna Gokhale, she joined the Indian National Congress in 1915.
She propounded the idea of Swarajya in her powerful speech at the
Lucknow Conference in 1916. in 1921 she participated in the
Non-Cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi. She became
President of the Congress in 1925. When Mahatma Gandhi started his
Civil disobedience movement in 1930, Sarojini Naidu became his
principal assistant. She was arrested along with Gandhiji and other
leaders. But this did not deter her spirits. In 1931, she was
invited along with Gandhiji to the Second Round Table Conference in
London. In 1942, Sarojini Naidu joined the “Quit India” movement
launched by Gandhiji and again was victim of the wrath of the
British government and jailed. The repeated jail terms only gave her
more courage and she continued to take active part in the freedom
movement. After India became independent in 1947, she was appointed
Governor of Uttar Pradesh as a token of recognition of her services.
Padmaja Naidu
Sarojini’s daughter
Miss Padmaja Naidu devoted herself to the cause of Nation like her
mother. At the age of 21, she entered the National scene and became
the joint founder of the Indian National Congress of Hyderabad. She
spread the message of Khadi and inspired people to boycott foreign
goods. She was jailed for taking part in the “Quit India” movement
in 1942. After Independence, she became the Governor of West Bengal.
During her public life spanning over half a century, she was
associated with the Red Cross. Her services to the Nation and
especially her humanitarian approach to solve problems will long be
remembered.
Vijay Laxmi Pandit
Sister of Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru also played a great role in the freedom movement.
She was elected to Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 1936 and in 1946. She
was the first woman in India to hold a ministerial rank. She was
imprisoned thrice for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement
in 1932. 1941 and 1942. After Independence, she continued to serve
the country. She was the first woman to become president of the
United Nations General Assembly.
Sucheta Kripalani
The contribution of
Sucheta Kripalani in the struggle for freedom is also worthy of
note. She courted imprisonment for taking part in freedom struggle.
She was elected as a member of Constituent Assembly in 1946. She was
general secretary of Indian National Congress from 1958 to 1960, and
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1963 to 1967. Sucheta Kripalani
was in the words of Shrimati Indira Gandhi, “a person of rare
courage and character who brought credit to Indian womanhood.”
Indira Gandhi
The most remarkable of
women in modern India’s was Indira Gandhi who from her early years
was active in the national liberation struggle. During the 1930
movement, she formed the ‘Vanar Sena’. A children’s brigade to help
freedom fighters.
She became a member of
the Indian National Congress in 1938. Soon after her return to India
in March 1941, she plunged into political activity.
Her public activity
entered a new phase with India’s Independence in 1947. She took over
the responsibility of running the Prime Minister’s House. The
Congress, which had been her political home ever since her
childhood, soon drew her into leading political roles, first as
member of the Congress Working Committee in 1955 and later as member
of the Central Parliamentary Board in 1958. In 1959, she was elected
President of the Indian National Congress. She oriented Congress
thinking and action towards basic issues confronting Indian society
and enthused the younger generation the task of nation-building.
In the eventful years
of her leadership as Prime Minister, Indian society underwent
profound changes. She was unremitting in her endeavour for the unity
and solidarity of the nation. A staunch defender of the secular
ideals of the Constitution, she worked tirelessly for the social and
economic advancement of the minorities. She had a vision of a modern
self-reliant and dynamic economy. She fought boldly and vigorously
against communalism, obscurantism, re-vivalism and religious
fundamentalism of all types. She repeatedly warned the nation that
communalism and obscuranatism were the tools employed by the forces
of destabilization. She laid down her life in defence of the ideals
on which the unity and integrity of the Republic are founded. The
martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi for upholding the
unity of India will reverberate across the centuries.
Rarely in history has
one single individual come to be identifie do totally with the
fortunes of a country. She became the indomitable symbol of India’s
self-respect and self-confidence. Death came to her when she was at
her peak, when her stature and influence were acclaimed the world
over.
FOREIGN WOMEN IN
THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT OF INDIA
Besides the hundreds
and thousands of Indian women who dedicated their lives for the
cause of their motherland, there were a number of noble and
courageous foreign women who saw in India – its religion, its
philosophy and its culture, a hope for the redemption of the world.
They thought that in India’s spiritual death shall world find its
grave.
These noble women were
sick of the material west and found in India and in its
civilization, solace for their cramped souls.
First of all we will
take up those who were influenced by the great men of India like
Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghosh, Mahatma Gandhi, and came to this
country to serve it.
Sister Nivedita
‘Here reposes Sister
Nivedita who gave her all to India’
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Epitaph on her Samadhi.
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Sister Nivedita
was one among the host of foreign women who were attracted towards
Swami Vivekananda and Hindu philosophy. Born in Ireland on 28
October 1867, she arrived in India in January, 1898, in search of
truth. She was impressed by the ideals of Womanhood in India. She
once remarked that India was the land of great women. She, however,
felt that Indian women needed, to cultivate among themselves a wider
and broader concept of the nation, so that they could participate
along with men in building a free and strong nation.
On the death of her spiritual
Master, Swami Vivekananda, she freed herself from the obligations of
the Monastic Order, spoke and wrote against the British policy in
India. She attacked Lord Curzon for the Universities Act of 1904 and
partition of Bengal in 1905. She held the British responsible for
disastrous state of Indian economy; she attended the Benares
Congress in 1905 and supported the Swadeshi Movement. She helped
Nationalist groups like the Dawn Society and the Anusilan
Samiti. She was a member of the Central Council of Action formed
by Aurobindo Ghosh and took up the editorship of the Karmayogin
when he left for Pondicherry.
She propagated for the cause
of India throughout America and Europe. Swami Vivekananda described
her as a real Lioness. Rabindranath Tagore regarded her as
Lok-Mata and Aurobindo Ghosh as Agni-sikha.
The Mother
Mira Alphonse, the
Mother, was born in Paris in 1978. She had shown depth of vision and
fragrance of expression even in her early childhood. She came to
India in 1914 and met Shri Aurobindo. She was associated with the
work of Shri Aurobindo when he started a philosophical monthly named
Arya on August 15, 1914, to express his vision of man and his
divine destiny.
She took charge of Ashram in
Pondicherry in 1926. She was the inspirer of Auroville, the
international town near Pondicherry. It was to serve as a meeting
place for the followers of Shri Aurobindo.
Paying her tribute to the
Mother at a women’s gathering in Kanpur the late Prime Minister,
Mrs. Indira Gandhi said: “The Mother was a dynamic lady, who came
from France and adopted the Indian culture. She played an important
role in motivating women like Mrs. Annie Besant and Mrs. Nellie Sen
Gupta, The Mother had also contributed to enrich India’s age-old
heritage and culture”.
Mira Behn
Mira Behn, or Mira as
she was most often called was the western world’s acknowledgement of
guilt and the will to atone for it. This was not at all in her won
consciousness, but in that which put her forth. Gandhi did not evoke
her. The most he did was to tell her she could come if she wished.
She came as a daughter not only of the western mind but,
specifically, of that class which had made and governed the British
empire in India. Her father had been the naval commander-in-chief
there.
This is how Madeleine Slade
brought up in affluent environment of a proud aristocracy came to
serve the cause of India’s freedom by identifying herself completely
with the life and work of Gandhi, who promised to Romain Rolland
that he would leave no stone unturned, to assist her to become a
bridge between the East and the West.
Daughter of a British
Admiral Madeleine Slade renounced the life of luxury and worked in
the service of India. She accompanied Gandhi to England in 1931 and
undertook a tour of America and Britain in 1934 to enlist sympathy
for the Indian cause. She suffered imprisonment in 1932-33 and
1942-44 for the cause of India’s Independence.
Dr. Annie Besant
Dr. Annie Besant,
along with Charles Braudlaugh, it is said, did more than anyone had
done in a hundred years to break down the barriers of bigotry and
prejudice, who won the greatest victories of their times for the
freedom of speech and liberty of the press which Britain enjoys
today.
A strong votary of truth, she
came to India in 1893 at the age of 46, impressed as she was by its
great religion and philosophy. On arrival, she found that the state
of things in India were bad, and that the Indians had almost lost
their moorings. Through her lectures, she tried to awaken them to
their lost heritage by dedicating herself to the cause of religion,
society and education of India. In doing so, she was watchful that
Indian revival must be through Indian traditions and customs and not
through any of the European concepts. As early as 1898 and later in
1902 she urged Indians to were native dress, use and develop Indian
manufacturers and also develop a national language.
Dr. Annie Besant entered active
politics in 1914. She demanded Home Rule for India and suffered
internment for it from June to September 1917. By then she had tried
and achieved unification of the Congress and Hindus and Muslims in
1916. She had done ample work to formulate favourable opinion about
the Indian question in outside world. The August declaration of 1917
is attributed to her efforts.
She fittingly became the
president of Indian National Congress in 1917. Tilak declared that
if we were nearer our goals, it was due to Dr. Annie Besant’s
sincere efforts. Gokhale considered her a true daughter of Mother
India. Subash considered her a doughty fighter for Indian freedom.
Jawaharlal Nehru said that in India, her memory would endure,
especially for the part she played in our freedom struggle in the
dark days of the Great War and afterwards. Sarojini Naidu, had this
to say.
“Had it not been for her and
her enthusiasm, one could not have seen Mr. Gandhi leading the cause
of Indian freedom today. It was Mrs. Besant who laid the foundation
of modern India – Dr. Besant was a combination of Parvati, Lakshmi
and Saraswati.”
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Dr. Raj Kumar
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