Women’s participation in India’s freedom struggle began as early as in 1817. The history of Indian Freedom Struggle Movement will be incomplete without mentioning the contribution of women to the struggle. The sacrifice made by Indian women will occupy the foremost place. They fought with courage and faced various tortures, exploitations and hardships to ensure freedom for India from the British administration. When most of the male freedom fighters were arrested by British Police and kept in prisons, women came forward and took charge of the struggle. The list of great women whose names have been listed in the history of freedom struggle for their dedication and devotion to the service of India is a long one.
Many women, including Rani Channama of Kittur and Rani Begam Hazrat Mahal of Avadh fought against British East India Company in the 19th century. The role played by women in the First War of Independence (the Revolt of Palassey) of 1857 was memorable and remarkable. Rani of Ramgarh, Rani Jindan Kaur, Rani Tace Bai, Chauhan Rani, Tapasvini Maharani daringly led their troops into the battlefield. Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, whose heroism and superb leadership laid an outstanding example of real patriotism. Indian women, who joined the freedom struggle, belonged to educated and liberal families, as well as those from rural areas and from all castes, religions and communities. Sarojini Naidu, Kasturba Gandhi, Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Annie Besant in the 20th century are the names who are remembered even today for their singular contribution both to the freedom struggle and to the political field.
In Assam women have earned the status of symbol of strength. They have shown their strength in the freedom movement of the country. The sacrifice of Kanaklata Barua, Bhogeswari Phukanani and Khahuli Nath is the best example in the history of Assam women’s contributions to the Indian freedom struggle.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF ASSAMESE WOMEN
The participation of women of the country up to the 19th century was restricted only to the members of the royal and noble families. During the first part of the 20th century when the wave of women participation in the freedom struggle was blowing in the country and Mahatma Gandhi had started Non-Cooperation Movement against the British rule, the women from Assam took a leading part in the struggle. In the Non-Cooperation Movement, women’s participation was more important than that of men, because they were the symbol of strength. This strength encouraged the womenfolk of Assam to come out of the four-walls of their homes and participate in social and political activities.
In 1920, Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation Movement as an instrument to expel the British from India. Right from the days of consolidation and expansion of the British imperialist design in India, a feeling of non-cooperation and anti-imperialism prevailed in the country. The East India Company – a British commercial company that had established rule in India – was mainly concerned with making profit. They were primarily motivated to maximise profit through minimum capital investment. So it was a period of exploitation of local resources and expansion of private business. The people of India tried to resist it from its inception. The first big resistance of its kind came in the form of a revolt in 1857.
Though it was the first great struggle of the people of India to gain freedom from British imperialism yet it failed due to the organisational weakness. Mahatma Gandhi started his first Non-Cooperation Movement in the form of “Satyagraha”. The two major elements of “Satyagraha” were truth and non-violence. He defined it to be the soul force or love force, the force which is born out of truth and non-violence. The “Satyagraha” would refuse to do whatever he considered to be wrong. He would remain peaceful under any circumstances and instigations. He would resist evil but would not hate the evildoer. He would keep trust not by inflicting suffering on the opponent but by accepting suffering himself. He hoped thereby to purify the conscience of the evildoer.
At that time, the Assamese women participated in the Freedom Struggle Movement through the Assam Sahitya Sabha till the formation of Assam Mahila Samiti (Assam Women Association). A large number of women joined the movement by participating in meetings, organising processions and boycotting schools, courts and offices established by the British Govt. Under the leadership of patriots like Nabin Chandra Bordoloi, Tarunram Phukan and Chanrda Kumar Agarwalla some women mostly from the urban areas and belonging to the families of Congress leaders and workers came forward to take up organisational and publicity work among the rural women. They were namely Hemanta Kumari, Devi Bordoloi, poetess Nalinibala Devi, Bijuli Phukan, Sumitra Bhattacharya, Kiranmayee Agarwalla, Rjabala Das, etc. It was not an easy task to convince the common people about the need of a movement to expel the British Raj. Women in Assam organised picketing in front of the shops dealing in liquor, opium and foreign goods. They also picketed in front of the educational institutions to keep the students from taking lessons in any British Govt. school. They also actively participated in fund collection for the Congress and in campaign against untouchability and popularisation of Hindi, which was to be considered the national language.
At the time of Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930, some girl students of Assam decided to start a revolutionary organisation called the Mukti Sangha in the premises of Kamrup Mahila Samity building. The girls took a pledge to fight for the liberation of the country from alien rule and signed it with their blood. Thereafter, Sukumari and Parul Moitra, daughter of Suren Moitra, the famous revolutionary from Rajshahi, also joined the Mukti Sangha. In 1929, the historic Lahore Congress was held under the presidentship of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The resolution for independence was adopted in that session. There it was decided to celebrate January 26, 1930 as the first independence day of India. Accordingly more than 400 women of Kaliabar and Nagoan districts joined the celebration towards the Nagaon and Kaliabar headquarters under the leadership of Guneshwari Devi, Mohini Gohain, etc.
On that day when the national flag was about to be hoisted in the presence of a huge crowd, the police attacked the people. The women were beaten up and the national flag was taken away from them. In Sibsagar, a lady named Kamalabala Kakati was arrested. The Assamese women joined the movement in large numbers. Many training centres for the female Satyagrahies were opened in different places of Assam. In Quit India Movement, there were two types of programmes. Some people were in constructive activities and some others were in destructive activities. Some of them involved in meaningless activities by cutting telegraph and telephone lines and some people involved in destroying bridges, railway lines and government buildings. Such revolutionary and freedom fighters had to face untold miseries for the lack of communication and food supply.
The Assamese women accepted Gandhi’s concept of “Do or Die” and joined in all kinds of actions in the Quit India Movement. Consequently, under the leadership of Pushpalata Das a group of women planned to hoist the national flag on Sept. 20 in Gohpur, Dhekiajuli, Behali and Sootea. They came out in processions consisting of men and women from nearby villages of these areas. The police opened fire on the peaceful processions in Gohpur and Dhekiajuli. Kanaklata Barua, Khahuli Devi and Kamuli Devi died on the spot from bullet injuries and many others were rendered badly injured. The day for peaceful and non-violent action was decided as Sept. 20. In the midst of such firings, Tileswari Mahanta successfully hoisted the national flag at Bihali Police Station. In some other places like Darang, North Lakhimpur and Jorhat, many women fighters tried to raise the national flag on the British Govt. buildings.
On Oct. 15, 1942, many women from village and town areas of Assam tried to attack the police stations of various places. The women of Barpeta District attack the Patacharkuchi Police Station. The majority of the Assamese women generally followed the rules of Gandhi’s Non-Violent Movement. Aikan Bhuyan of Sibsagar district carried out many underground meetings where she allegedly initiated a number of youths to destroy some Govt. properties. The local Congress handed over the job of carrying top secret messages from one place to another to Sudhalata Dutta and Reboti Lahon who had to travel long distances on foot to carry out their duty. In this way, they spread the idea of underground movement even in remote areas of Assam.
In Nagaon district, Jaymoti Saikia along with some revolutionary women planned to burn the Bebejia road bridges on 25/26 Aug., 1942. In this district, girls like Pitrani Saikia and Dagati Bora and other educated girls belonging to the secret groups were used in conveying secret circulars and bulletins. They also worked for the safety of the secretive men and women workers. Another woman, Budeswari Hazarika, took a lively part in reducing cargo boats carrying military supplies through the Brahmaputra river.
In 1942, the British Police Raj was prevalent in Assam and the people were leading their lives unhappily. The policemen were given unlimited power to control the movement. The Assamese women as well as men passed their lives with depression. Beating, slapping, kicking, insulting, forcefully entering the houses at night and misbehaving with womenfolk were common methods used by the police and military groups for controlling the womenfolk. According to the Bordoloi Committee Report on such crimes committed in 1942, at least 80 women of Assam were the victims of such police outrages which also included mass rape. Even girls of lower age and pregnant women could not escape from such brutal activities of British police forces. According to this report, some babies also lost their lives in police attack. In this way, women were tormented both physically and mentally in different ways.
The participation of women in the Freedom Struggle Movement became huge in amount and similar in number to that of male participants. It was for this reason that the British P.M. along with other authorities was frightened not of Gandhi but of the countless educated and illiterate women of India who had become active representatives in every work of the struggle. No British military power could restrain such a huge number of participants. About 500 women freedom fighters had to face various kinds of firing and attack of the British police forces. Some of them lost their lives and some others were rendered badly injured. Thus, during the Freedom Struggle Movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, many Assamese women had to live with miseries and disgrace to make India free from the British administration.
The participation of the Assamese women in the freedom struggle of India and their sacrifices and contributions are remarkable in the history of the Indian Freedom Struggle Movement. Along with men, the women of Assam also participated in each and every phase of the movement initiated by Mahatma Gandhi, namely, the Non-Cooperation Movement, Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement. They contributed to the movement by arranging processions, picketings and undertaking tours to the remote areas of Assam to spread the significance of the movement. The male fighters were helped by the women fighters in different ways through their sacrifices and hard works to paralyse the British administration. Thus the role and participation of the Assamese women in different periods of the freedom struggle will remain as an outstanding contribution in the history of the Freedom Struggle Movement of India.
[The writer is Asst. Professor, Dept. of English, Uttar Barpeta College, Dhanbandha, Assam]