India’s Freedom Struggle has been a significant aspect in framing the country’s identity and our national interest. Our nonviolent independence movement served as the impetus for the development of several renowned Indian policies in the international landscape. This includes our policy of peaceful coexistence, Ahimsa, non-interference, and the most pivotal of all was the rigorous policy against all kinds of racial discrimination and ethnic inequality. Today, history honours Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent resistance, Nehru’s political vision and charisma, and Subhas Chandra Bose’s militant courage. Their names are etched in all our textbooks and monuments, and it’s a proud standing for the nation. But history often hushes the voices of women who, with equal passion and unparalleled courage, marched beside and ahead of male equivalents. These empowered women, such as Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Matangini Hazra, were not just participants but revolutionaries, reformers, and torchbearers of India’s fight for independence.
Matangini Hazra: The 73-Year-Old Who Refused to Fall
To best describe Matangini Hazra, imagine a frail woman in a white saree, with determined eyes, clutching and harbouring the tricolour in her hands, and she is marching forward even as the bullets pierce her body. She is affectionately honoured as “Gandhi buri” or “the old lady Gandhi” in the state of Bengal. In addition to her involvement in the fight for independence, Matangini Hazra is renowned for defending the value of women in a country’s life. She embodies unending bravery and leadership.
She was born in 1870 in the modest village of Tamluk, Bengal. Matangini Hazra’s life was marked by resilience and extraordinary courage. Her husband passed away at a young age, thus leading her to turn her loss into strength and dedicate her life to serving society and joining the fight for India’s independence.
In 1932, when she was in her sixties, Mrs. Hazra joined the Salt March, defying the British laws with silent defiance. For this, she was arrested several times, and she was imprisoned during her lifetime. Even after her release, she remained undeterred and strong. She continued to raise her voice against taxes like Chowkidari Tax, and continued to stand shoulder to shoulder with her fellow citizens in numerous protests and marches, while she often faced police batons and brutality.
But it was in 1942, at the time of the Quit India Movement, that Matangini Hazra wrote her name for all eternity into the pages of history. She led a procession of 6000 protesters at the age of 73 to the police station under British control in Tamluk in violation of Section 144, prohibition of assembly. The police asked her to turn back, but she refused. They opened fire.
As British troops opened fire, chaos erupted. Hazra, shot once, staggered but stood firm. Another bullet tore through her, but she continued forward. Eyewitnesses, including her granddaughter Kamalini, who recounted the event in a 1975 oral history interview, recall her final moments vividly:
“Dida was bleeding heavily. People shouted at her to fall back. But she waved them off with her hand still holding the flag. ‘Vande Mataram,’ she said again. The third bullet went through her head. She fell… but the flag never touched the ground.”
She died on the spot, but her sacrifice became a symbol of undying resistance in Bengal. A statue of Hazra now stands in Kolkata, the only one of a woman freedom fighter at a major city crossing.
Today, a monument of Matangini Hazra rises in Kolkata, at a prominent city intersection, to honor her sacrifice and as a testament to her bravery. In Medinipur, her hometown, she continues to live on in the Shahid Matangini Hazra Government College for Women. The college was built to commemorate her unbreakable spirit and to empower the very individuals she struggled for, the women of India.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: The Cultural Warrior
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay is a phenomenal figure of courage and boldness. This was observed when Kamaldevi Chattopadhyay attempted to sell her wedding jewelry to fund the Salt Satyagraha in 1930, and people were stunned by her sacrifice. But that was only the beginning. Kamaladevi was a theater artist who turned into an activist for the freedom of her country. She was the first Indian woman to run for a legislative seat in British India, and she narrowly lost. Undeterred, she organized countless women’s marches, protests, and relief for Partition victims. She was arrested multiple times, but that never shook her resolve.
After independence, she played an instrumental role in reviving Indian handicrafts.
Post-independence, she played a key role in revitalizing Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre by establishing the All India Handicrafts Board and Sangeet Natak Akademi. Political freedom was of little value without cultural identity, something that she believed in and which contributed towards giving post-independence India’s soul.
For research purposes I utilized these sources:
- Roy, S. (2010). Women in the Indian National Movement: Unseen Faces and Unheard Voices, 1930–42. SAGE Publications.
- Bandyopadhyay, S. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Orient Blackswan.
- Jain, J. (2016). Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: The Romantic Rebel. Viking/Penguin.
- Chattopadhyay, K. (1986). Inner Recesses, Outer Spaces: Memoirs. Navrang.
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