On this auspicious day of Republic Day, I am sharing some brave stories of women freedom fighters who have etched their names in the pages of history . The names are long forgotten and the dust have settled on those pages ,as not many have the appetite and patience to dwell and deliberate on past in ‘Modern’ India of today, where people in certain quarters hurl epithets “Nationalist” or “Patriot” in a fashion that it sound as insults. I am here trying to apprise my fellow readers with few women freedom fighters, who made supreme sacrifice in the service of their beloved motherland. It is due to the concerted efforts of our freedom fighters that laid the foundations of the Republic—Liberty, equality, fraternity .
Chennamma was born in Kakati, a small village in Karnataka and became ‘Queen of Kittur’ after her marriage to Raja Mallasarja. After their son's death in 1824 she adopted Shivalingappa, and made him heir to the throne , which was rejected by British as they wanted to usurp the kingdom. Interestingly, policy of lapse has yet not been implemented by then. This led to the war, and, Rani Chennamma lead an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824. Rani Chennamma fought valiantly and caused severe loses to the British and became victorious in the first wave of attack by British which was repulsed, but soon reinforcements came to strengthen British forces.The British incurred heavy loses, which includes death of nephew of Thomas Munro. But due to limited resources to continue the war, Rani was ultimately captured and imprisoned at Bailhongal Fort, where she died on 02 February 1829. Rani Chennamma's legacy and first victory are still commemorated in Kittur, during the Kittur Utsava held on 22–24 October annually.
Pritilata Waddedar was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist . Born in a middle-class Vaidya-Brahmin family at Chittagong (Bangladesh). Being a meritorious student, she pursued her graduation in philosophy with distinction from Bethune College, Calcutta. Under the influence of nationalists, while pursuing her education destiny gave her opportunity to put her contribution in freedom struggle. Her colleague Kalpana Dutta introduced Pritilata to the revolutionary leader Surya Sen. Although Surya Sen was reluctant to include Pritilata in his group, but her determination to eliminate British supremacy impressed Surya Sen immensely who accepted Pritilata as the woman comrade and member in his revolutionary group. It was Pritilata’s intelligence, strategy and efforts that helped Surya Sen and other members to attack the armory raid, telegraph office, railway lines and make the uprising of Chittagong successful on on 18 April 1930. To avenge the death of innocent teenage comrades in Jalalabad encounter, Surya Sen’s next strategy was to attack the Pahartali European club which had a board titled – “Dogs and Indians are not allowed”. Surya Sen selected Pritilata who led a team of fifteen revolutionaries and attacked the club on September 23rd 1932. Although the attack on the club was successful and the club was torched, Pritilata was injured with bullet, she consumed cyanide capsule and embraced death to escape being arrested.
The two brave hearts , who made me sit and drop my jaw in admiration were Suniti Choudhury and Santi Ghose.
Suniti Chowdhury was born on 22 May 1917 in Comilla of Comilla District of Bengal (present Bangladesh) while Santi Ghose was born on 22 November 1916 in Calcutta, India. Both of them were fierce nationalists and joined Jugantar party, a militant revolutionary organization which "used murder as a political technique to dislodge British colonial rule like Anushilan party in Bengal . On 14 December 1931, Ghose, then 15, and Suniti Chowdhury, who was 14, walked into the office of Charles Geoffrey Buckland Stevens, a British bureaucrat and the district magistrate of Comilla , notorious for cruelty, under the pretense that they wanted to present a petition to arrange a swimming competition amongst their classmates. While Stevens looked at the document, Ghose and Chowdhury removed automatic pistols which were hidden under their shawls and shot and killed him. In February 1932, Ghose and Chowdhury appeared in court in Calcutta. Being a minor, both of them were sentenced to jail for 10 years but in 1939, after having served seven years of her sentence they were released because of the amnesty negotiations between Mahatma Gandhi and the British Indian government.
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