India’s freedom struggle could not have succeeded without the contributions of its freedom fighters. Today, every Indian is aware of the stalwarts of the country’s fight for independence – Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, B R Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, K M Munshi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, etc. Each one of these played a crucial role in creating and building an independent India. Many of these were also involved in the debates and decisions of the Constituent Assembly and in creating the Constitution of India that made it a sovereign republic.
Besides these, there were revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sukhdev, Ram Prasad Bismil, Udham Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan, Batukeshwar Dutt, Shivaram Rajguru, etc., who laid down their lives for their country. Other than a few famous names, most people are not aware of the many revolutionaries and freedom fighters who sacrificed everything for the freedom of the country
Knowing the freedom fighters
In April 2022, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated an exhibition on India’s freedom struggle in the Parliament Library that was organised by Indian Council of Historical Research under the aegis of Ministry of Education. The event took place in the presence of Union Education and Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MoS for Education Annapurna Devi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal and Members of Parliament from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The exhibition showcases stories from India’s history in the duration of about 200 years i.e., from 1757 to 1947. The purpose of this initiative is to bring to light the stories of unsung heroes of India’s freedom struggle whose sacrifices went unnoticed. Indian citizens and legislators from across India can see the
exhibition and suggest more names for the exhibition – unsung freedom heroes – from their own zones or constituencies, respectively. The exhibition is being showcased at 100 locations across India through digital platforms also. This will be done through the Ministry of Culture in association with the respective state governments.
In January 2022, a pictorial book on India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle was released as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in New Delhi. An initiative of the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha, the pictorial book celebrates the lives of India’s women freedom fighters who led the independence fight from the front. Another edition documenting the lives of unsung Tribal Freedom Fighters is underway.
In India’s fight for freedom there was no gender discrimination. The history of the country is a testimony to how both men and women fought equally and together for the independence of their nation. The women not only fought like soldiers in the battlefield but were equally courageous when it came to questioning illegal and forceful colonisation of the British.
Women leading from the front
The Queen of Ullal, Karnataka, Rani Abakka from the Chowta dynasty is one of the many unsung freedom fighters and that a woman. She fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century and ruled over the area from the temple town of Moodabidri whereas the port town of Ullal served as the subsidiary capital.
Owing to the strategic location of Ullal, the Portuguese made several attempts to capture the port town but Abbakka repulsed each of their attacks for over four decades. She came to be known as Abhaya Rani for her bravery and is one of the earliest Indians to fight the colonial powers that invaded the country.
Similarly, Queen of Sivaganga Velu Nachiyar was the first Indian queen to wage war against the British East India Company. Also known as Veeramangai by the Tamils, Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of Raja Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Rani Sakandhimuthal of the Ramnad kingdom and trained in martial arts, archery, etc.
She was compelled to fight when her husband, Muthuvaduganathaperiya Udaiyathevar, was killed by British soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot. She escaped with her daughter and lived under the protection of Palayakaarar Kopaala Naayakkar at Virupachi near Dindigul for eight years. Later, she reclaimed the throne and succeeded her husband in 1780.
Bravery and courage personified
Everyone knows about Rani of Jhansi but very few will know of her woman soldier Jhalkari Bai who became one of the key advisors to the queen and played an important role in India’s first war of independence in 1857. Her courage knew no bounds and during one battle she disguised herself as Rani Laxmibai to given the queen a chance to escape.
Andhra Pradesh’s Durgabai Deshmukh worked tirelessly for the emancipation of women and was also an eminent member of the Constituent Assembly. Accamma Cherian from Travancore was also a leader of the freedom struggle and was given the name ‘Jhansi Rani of Tranvancore’ by Mahatma Gandhi. She was working as a teacher and later as a head mistress when in February 1938 the Travancore State Congress was formed and Accamma gave up her teaching career to join the freedom struggle.
Rani Gaidinliu born in present-day Tamenglong district of Manipur was a Naga spiritual and political leader who led an armed uprising against the British in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. In 1927, at the age of 13, Gaidinliu joined the Heraka Movement, which aimed at revival of the Naga tribal religion and establish self rule of the Nagas (Naga Raj) ending the British rule. She was arrested in 1932 and sentenced to life imprisonment by the British.
Durgawati Devi provided safe passage to Bhagat Singh after the killing of John Saunders and furthered the freedom movement. There are many more such as Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta, Matangini Hazra from Bengal, Gulab Kaur, Chakali Ilamma, Padmaja Naidu, Bishni Devi Shah, Parbati Giri, Tarkeshwari Sinha, Tileshwari Baruah, Snehlata Varma, etc.
Selfless sacrifices for the nation
Apart from the women freedom fighters whose role in the freedom struggle is invaluable, there were several men who sacrificed everything to see India as a free nation. A member of the Anushilan Samiti, Atulkrishna Ghosh played a significant role in the Jugantar Movement and later provided refuge to several revolutionaries in his home and that of his relatives. Freedom fighter Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose carried out the Muzaffarpur Bomb Case of 1908 and later shot himself with his own revolver when he was about to be caught in the bomb case.
Bal Krishna Sharma, a politician and a freedom fighter, dropped out of college to join India’s freedom movement. He was jailed by the British six times for his role in the independence movement and was later nominated to the Constituent Assembly from the United Provinces. A lawyer and freedom fighter, M A Iyengar was part of the non-cooperation movement and was jailed twice for his role in the freedom struggle. He fought hard to eradicate untouchability from the society.
Born in 1805, Maharashtra’s Raghoji Bhangre, a Koli, challenged and defied the British rule in Maharashtra. He was the son of Ramji Rao Bhangre who also resisted the British rule and was subsequently hanged in Cellular Jail. He had killed a British Officer and ten constables in an ambush in 1844. Nashik’s Anant Kanhere was a freedom fighter who killed the Collector of Nashik in British India. The incident was an important event in the history of Nashik and the Indian revolutionary movement. He was later prosecuted and hanged in Thane Prison in April 1910 at the age of 18 years only.