Independence Day 2021: Saluting India’s unsung women freedom fighters

Mai Bhago, also called Mata Bhag Kaur was the first woman from Punjab to enter the battlefield and fight against the Mughals. The daughter of a prominent landowner, Mai Bhago persuaded a group of 40 Sikh warriors, who had initially deserted Guru Gobind Singh at the siege of Anandpur Sahib, to return to the Guru.

A skilled warrior, Kaur led the group against Mughal invaders in the Battle of Muktsar and forced them to retreat. Kaur went on to serve as the personal bodyguard of Guru Govind Singh during his years in exile in Maharashtra. She has been featured among the three most badass women in history by the BBC.

Image credit: Sikh warrior statue at Sikh temple as on 21 Jan 2018 in Woolgoolga Australia. Statue of Mai Bhago. Statue of Bhago Kaur

The queen of the princely state of Kittur in what is present-day Karnataka, Rani Chennamma is one of India’s first queens to rebel against the British. After the death of her husband and son, Rani Chennamma adopted a boy and named him the heir to her throne.

This was not accepted by the British East India Company, as per the British Doctrine of Lapse, a policy of annexation brought on by the British in connection to the princely states. The British also plundered Kittur's jewels and treasures, but could not succeed.

In 1824, Rani Chennamma led an army rebellion against the British at the age of 33. She was defeated and died while in prison.

Image credit: City square and Kittur Rani Chennamma Statue.

The wife of activist Chittaranjan Das, Basanti Devi was among the first Indian women to be jailed under British rule for her involvement in the independence struggle. She joined the freedom struggle after her husband was arrested in 1921. Devi took part in many movements and freedom struggles including the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Khilafat Movement.

Devi collected gold coins for the Tilak Swaraj Foundation and when freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai was killed by the police when they charged his peaceful protests, Devi called on Indian youth to avenge his death.

Image credit: (GERMANY OUT) Supporters of Gandhi, Chitaranjan Dasr with his wife Basanti Devi - 1924 - Photographer: Walter Gircke Vintage property of ullstein bild (Photo by Gircke/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

The ‘Grand Old Lady’ of the Independence movement, Aruna Asaf Ali is the woman behind the Quit India Movement. Born Aruna Ganguly in 1909 to a Bengali family, Aruna, then a school teacher, met and married Asaf Ali, a Muslim and prominent member of the Indian National Congress, who was much elder to her.

It was through her husband that Ali entered into the world of politics and became a part of the INC. A follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals, Ali actively participated in the Salt Satyagraha. Giving the impetus for the Quit India Movement, Ali hoisted the Indian flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan which began the Quit India Movement.

Known for her fiercely independent streak, Ali courted arrest twice and had to go underground as the British were looking out for her, emerging only after the warrant against her was withdrawn in 1946. Post-Independence, Ali continued her work towards the upliftment and education of women.

Freedom fighter and social reformer Ramadevi Chaudhary joined the independence movement in 1921, along with her husband Gopabandhu Chaudhary, a deputy collector.
A true Gandhian, Rama Devi, affectionately called Maa by the people of Odisha, took an active part in organising the Salt Satyagraha across Odisha.

After India gained independence, Rama Devi continued to spread Gandhian ideals.
During the Emergency, protesting the curtailment of democratic freedom, Devi began to publish her own newspaper. The Ramadevi Women’s University, the first women’s university in eastern India, was established in Odisha in her honour.

Image credit: By Unknown author - Photograph, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57838985

The Indian revolutionary, who fought against the British, died chanting Vande Mataram. Hazra affectionately called Gandhi Buri in Bengali, or old lady Gandhi, joined the Indian Independence Movement after being widowed at the age of eighteen. She took part in the Civil Disobedience Movement and courted arrest for breaking the Salt Act.

On 29 September 1942, as a part of the Indian Congress, Hazra led a procession of around 6,000 supporters, mainly women, to take over various police stations and other Government offices of Medinipore district. At the outskirts of the town, the group was asked to disband under Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code.

When Hazra stepped forward to appeal to the police to not fire, she was shot. As she continued to advance with the tricolour, chanting Vande Matram, the police shot her repeatedly and she died holding the flag.

Image credit: By P.K.Niyogi at English Wikipedia - Own work (P.K.Niyogi), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12632275

Born Bhikaiji Rustom Kama in 1861 to a Parsi family in Bombay, Madam Bhikaiji Cama hoisted the first version of the Indian flag – a tricolour of green, saffron and red stripes - at the International Socialist Congress held at Stuttgart, Germany.

Madam Cama got inspired by the the Indian nationalist movement that was taking place, at a very early age. Her marriage to Rustomji Cama, a well-known lawyer, was not a happy one – while Rustomji Cama liked the British and felt they were good for the country, Madam Cama believed in independence and felt the British were exploiting the country.

In 1896, after the bubonic plague broke out, Cama volunteered to help those working with plague victims. She soon caught the disease and had to travel to Europe to recuperate. In London, she met Dadabhai Naoroji, Vir Savarkar and other freedom fighters.

Madam Cama gave away all her assets to the Avabhai Petit Orphanage for girls.

It was after hearing her father and friends talk about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that Sucheta Kripalani felt anger against the British, burning in her. This ignited in Kripalani and her sister, the passion to join in the independence movement against the British. A Gandhian, Kripalani was at the forefront of the Quit India Movement.

She founded the All India Mahila Cingress in 1940. Post-independence, Kripalani remained active in politics. She became the first woman Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1963.

Image credit: Kripalani with (from left to right) Ulla Lindström, Barbara Castle, Cairine Wilson and Eleanor Roosevelt in 1949

Born Lakshmi Swaminathan in the Palakkad district of what is today's Kerala, the Indian revolutionary and officer of the Indian National Army, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal fought for the Indian National Army, founded by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

A doctor by qualification, Captain Sahgal led the Rani Jhansi Regiment, the women’s regiment of the INA. Sahgal was the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind Government. Post-independence, she continued her work towards women empowerment, equality and against social injustice.

Image credit: Former Indian freedom fighter Lakshmi Sahgal speaks at a news conference in the eastern city of Calcutta on July 2, 2002. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw JS/

Born in a village called Saras in Gujarat, Usha Mehta was just eight when she took part in her first protest against the Simon Commission. She shouted her first words of protest – “Simon Go Back.” While growing up, Mehta continued to take part in protests and actively participated in the freedom struggle.

At the age of 22, Mehta launched an underground station, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's ‘ quote, "Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt," speech. Mehta spent the next few months broadcasting news about the freedom struggle and urging people to join in the fight. After the Government found out about the broadcast, the police tracked her down and she was jailed until March 1946.

After the country won independence, Mehta continued to live life according to Gandhian principles – she dressed in khadi, lived on only tea and bread and shunned the car for the bus.