Revolutionary Sheroes

Any mention of Indian Independence struggle is incomplete without the mention of women who contributed to it. Their determination to serve and save the motherland in the face of adversity should be celebrated spectacularly. Here are some lesser known female freedom fighters who fought bravely for their motherland.

1. Kittur chennamma
   Kittur Chennamma was one of the earliest female freedom fighters of India. She was born in a small village Kakati , present day Belgavi in karnataka. She recieved horse riding and archery lessons from a very young age. Her bravery was well known around the village.

She was married to Mallasarja Desai, the king of Kittur, at the age of 15 and became the queen of Kittur. After a few years she lost her husband and son so she took the responsibility of the crown. She adopted Shivalingappa with an aim to make him the successor of the throne.

The British wasn’t happy with her act and demanded the exile of Shivalingappa under the pretext of doctrine of lapse according to which adoptive children of rulers cant be named as successors and the rulers had to surrender their kingdom to the British if they had no successors.

Rani Chennamma defied Shivalingappa’s exile and wrote a letter to the governor of bombay to plead the cause of Kittur But Mr. Elphinstone denied her request and it eventually came under the Dharwad administration. The collectorate in charge Mr.Thackarey and the commissioner Mr.Chaplin didn’t recognise her as a regent and Shivalingappa as a ruler. They apprised Rani Chennamma to surrender the kingdom which she denied again resulting in the war.

Two wars were fought. In the first one Rani Chennamma and her army fought bravely ,killed two officers and took another two as hostages. To avoid further destruction she released the hostages owing to the British promise that the war would be ended which turned out to be an act of deception. Humiliated by defeat by a small indian ruler, Mr. Chaplin attacked Kittur with a larger army. Rani Chennamma and her army fought valourously to protect the fort but faced defeat because of the betrayal of two of her own soldiers who mixed cow dung and mud in the gunpowder used for the canon. She was arrested by the British and sentenced to life long imprisonment. After 5 years of being imprisoned she died.

Though Kittur Chennamma didn’t win in the end, she stood as an inspiration for everyone in the upcoming years to revolt against the British. To conmmemorate her bravery and contribution people in kittur celebrate Kittur utsava. Her story is still told in the forms of drama, dance and Lavani performances.

2. Sucheta kripalani
   Sucheta Kripalani was an Indian freedom fighter and the first female Chief Minister of India. Shy and self conscious as a child, the time she grew up in and the situations she faced shaped her into a leader.

As a child she didn’t understand enough to hold great anger against the British but was outraged when she overheard her father speaking to someone about the Jallianwala Bagh masaccre.

Sucheta, after completing her studies went on to work closely with Mahatma gandhi during the partition riots. She is especially remembered for her role in the quit India moment of 1942.

Post independence she went on to become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from the Kanpur constituency. Her crowning moment though, was on 14th august 1947 when she opened the independence session of parliament by singing vande mataram just before Nehru delivered his “tryst with destiny” speech.
She was also the founder of the All India Mahilla Congress, established in 1940.

3. Lakshmi sahgal
   Lakshmi sahgal born as Lakshmi Swaminathan was born into an aristocratic family in Pattambi Kerala. As a young adult, she pursued MBBS from Madras Medical College and also received a diploma in gynaecology and obestetrics.

In 1940, she left for Singapore . In 1942, during the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese by the British, she aided wounded prisoners of war. Singapore at that time had a lot of nationalist Indians working there who formed a council of action. Their Azad Hind Fauj however recieved no commitments or approval form the japanese government regarding their participation in the war .

It was agianst this backdrop that Subhash Chandrabose came to. When Lakshmi Sahgal came to know about his visit and his keen interest in drafting women into the organisatio, she requested a meeting with him and came back with a mandate to form an all women regiment called the Jhansi Lakshmi regiment . Women responded enthusiastically to join this all women brigade and she became captain Lakshmi ,a name and identity that would stay with her for life.

The INA marched to Burma with the Japanese army in December 1944, but by March 1945, with the tide of war turning against them, the INA leadership decided to beat a retreat before they could enter Imphal. Captain Lakshmi was arrested by the British army in May 1945, remaining in Burma until March 1946, when she was sent to India – at a time when the INA trials in Delhi heightened popular discontent with and hastened the end of colonial rule

In 1971, Sahgal joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and represented the party in the Rajya Sabha. During the Bangladesh crisis, she organised relief camps and medical aid in Calcutta for refugees who streamed into India from Bangladesh. She was one of the founding members of All India Democratic Women’s Association in 1981 and led many of its activities and campaigns.She led a medical team to Bhopal after the gas tragedy in December 1984, worked towards restoring peace in Kanpur following the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and was arrested for her participation in a campaign against the Miss World competition in Bangalore in 1996.She was still seeing patients regularly at her clinic in Kanpur in 2006, at the age of 92.