The contribution of women in the struggle for an Independent India is unparalleled. A lot of courageous women raised their voices against the British, who ruled India for about 200 years. Many such women took to the streets, led processions, and held lectures and demonstrations.
As India celebrates 76 years of Independence, let’s remember some of the prominent women freedom fighters who shaped India’s independence struggle
Sarojini Naidu
A poet, politician, and independence activist, Sarojini Naidu played an active role in supporting Mahatma Gandhi’s movements during India’s freedom struggle. She also led other campaigns like the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafat issue, the Sabarmati Pact, the Satyagraha Pledge, and the Civil Disobedience Movement and received global attention for her determination and contribution as a freedom fighter.
She became the second woman president of the Indian National Congress. She was the first woman Governor of an Indian state post-independence.
Matangini Hazra
Gandhi Buri or old lady Gandhi, Matangini was an Indian revolutionary who participated in the Indian independence movement until she was shot dead by the British Indian police in front of the Tamluk Police Station (of erstwhile Midnapore District) on September 29, 1942. The first statue of a woman was put up in Kolkata, in Independent India and that was Hazra’s in 1977.
At the age of 35 years, in 1905, Matangini became an active participant in the independence movement and became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1932, she took part in the Non-Cooperation Movement and was arrested for breaking the Salt Act.
At the age of 73, Matangini led a procession of six thousand supporters, mostly women volunteer as a part of the Quit India movement.
Aruna Asaf Ali
Aruna Asaf Ali was one of the leading female figures and revolutionaries of India’s freedom movement who picked up the mantle of leadership during the Quit India Movement in 1942 and is best known for hoisting the Indian National Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay during the movement.
Also known as ‘The Grand Old Lady’, she also took part in the Salt Satyagraha movement as well as other protest marches and was imprisoned. She organized a protest against the ill-treatment given in the prisons to political prisoners by launching a hunger strike.
Kittur Rani Chennamma
Chennamma was the queen of Kittur, a princely state (in present-day Karnataka). She married Raja Mallasarja when she was 15. The raja died in 1816, and her only son died in 1824.
She was one of the first Indian rulers to lead an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824, against the implementation of the Doctrine of Lapse.
Her rebellion against the British ended with her imprisonment for life at Bailhongal Fort. She became a celebrated freedom fighter in the state of Karnataka and a symbol of the independence movement in India.
‘Kittur Utsava’ is organised every year in the month of October, since 1824, to celebrate the unforgettable rebellion of Rani Kittur Chennamma.
Uda Devi
Uda Devi was a warrior and one of the prominent ‘Dalit Veeranganas’, who participated in the revolt of 1857 against the British East India Company and led one of the fiercest battles in Lucknow which was termed as Battle in Sikandar Bagh.
She was born in a Dalit family in a small village in Awadh. To revolt against the British administration, she reached out to Begum Hazrat Mahal to enlist her for the war. It is believed that Devi climbed a pipal tree, from where she shot dead 32 or 36 British soldiers before she died on the battlefield on November 16, 1857.