Govt releases pictorial book on women freedom fighters

The first of the series was launched in the national capital on Friday by MoS Culture Meenakshi Lekhi.

While the entire series will enumerate the life and times of 75 such personalities who fought for Independence, the first part is dedicated to 20 women whose contributions remain largely unknown. These include Rani Abbakka, the first Tuluva Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the latter half of the 16th century; Matangini Hazra, the Bengali revolutionary who was shot dead by the British Indian police in September 1942; Chakali Ilamma, whose act of defiance against the local zamindar became an inspiration for many during the rebellion in the Telangana region; and Parbati Giri, nicknamed the Mother Teresa of western Odisha, who was a prominent female freedom fighter from the state.

‘India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle’ — a pictorial book released by the Ministry of Culture. (Twitter)

On the occasion, Lekhi said the book celebrates the lives of some of the women who led the charge and lit the flame of protest and rebellion throughout the country. It contains the stories of queens who battled colonial powers in the struggle against imperial rule, and women who dedicated and even laid down their lives for the cause of the motherland, she said.

“If we go through Indian history, we find that the Indian culture was the one which celebrated women and there was no place for gender discrimination. This is evident from the fact that women had the courage and physical strength to fight like soldiers on the battlefield,” she added.

The minister said it is important for the youth to understand the history of freedom struggle through an Indian perspective rather than the colonial one, which the book seeks to do.

The digital book, which will be available free of cost on the Amar Chitra Katha app, also includes the stories of Gulab Kaur, a freedom fighter who abandoned her dreams of a life abroad to mobilise Indians against the British Raj; Padmaja Naidu, the daughter of Sarojini Naidu and a freedom fighter in her own right, who later became Governor of West Bengal; and Bishni Devi Shah, who inspired a large number of people in Uttarakhand to join the freedom movement.

The second edition of the series, which is in process, will be on 25 unsung tribal freedom fighters. The third and final edition will be on 30 unsung heroes drawn from other areas.