These women were brave. In the face of adversity, they dared to look death in the eye, their intense loving nature and love for their motherland; served the same purpose – to flare up minds and strive for a better world. But these women leaders have been long gone and forgotten. They gave selfless sacrifices and even laid their lives to see their nation free and prospering.
Matangini Hazra was known as Gandhi Buri. She participated in the Quit India Movement and Non-Cooperation Movement. During one procession, she continued to lead with the Indian flag even after being shot thrice. She kept shouting “Vande Mataram”. The first statue of a woman was put up in Kolkata, in Independent India and that was Hazra’s in 1977. The statue stands at the spot where she was killed in Tamluk. Even Hazra Road in Kolkata is also named after her.
Kanaklata Barua is also known as Birbala. She was an Indian freedom fighter from Assam. She took a leading part in the Quit India Movement in 1942 at Barangabari and stood at the head of the women volunteers’ line with the National Flag in her hand. She aimed to hoist the flag at the British-dominated Gohpur Police Station by shouting the slogans “British imperialists should go back” etc. but was prohibited by the Britishers. Though she tried convincing that her intentions were noble, British police shot her with several other picketers and at the age of 18, she sacrificed her life for the country.
An eminent personality of the Indian Nationalist Movement, she was born as Bhikaiji Rustom Cama on 24th September, 1861 to a Parsi family in Bombay (now Mumbai). Well, we are talking about none other than Madam Cama, who is a well-known freedom fighter. She came from a good family and her father Sorabji Framji Patel was a powerful member of the Parsi community. She emphasised equality between men and women. She gave away all her assets to help out an orphanage for young girls. As an Indian ambassador, she also travelled to Germany in 1907 to hoist the Indian National flag.
Dr. Charu Garg
Gaziabad, India.
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