Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

Chapter - 6
WOMEN IN THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
gzikph d/thnK B{z ;zd/;k`
(tb'A L ;qh dhtkB uwB bkb ;kfjp phHJ/H p?fo;No w?Apo b?fi;b/fNt
n;?Apbh)
gzikp dhU d/thU` n?; t/b/ d/; B/ fJe tZvh sZeVh I[zw/tkoh dk Gko s[jkv/
T[FZs/ ;[ZfNnk j?, T[j eh< d/; dk nZrk
...
1
The above mentioned extract is taken from the article ‘Punjabi
Deviyan Nu Sandesa’ by Chaman Lal, B
...
Barrister, Member
Legislative Assembly, Punjab
...


He hoped to see

women of Punjab leading women of other provinces, and teaching the
lessons of cleanliness, sound health, bravery and good moral
character
...


And he believed that the women of India could act as

tools in the process of nation building
...
10-11
...
She has the right to participate in the minutest details of
the activities of man, and she has the same right of freedom and
liberty as he
...
” 2
“Since resistance in Satyagraha is offered through self-suffering
...
She can become the
leader in Satyagraha which does not require the learning that books
give but does not require the stout heart that comes from suffering
and faith
...
In these extracts Gandhi discussed the importance
of women in social revolution, reconstruction and in the nationalist
struggle
...

Similarly, Kamala Devi Chattopadhyaya4 also tried to rouse the
entire womanhood of the country to come forward to take their place
in the society and in the body politic as an equal partner of man
...
284
...
284
...


194
its attempt to scale the ladder of freedom
...


Woman has her own unique contribution to make for the

purpose of enriching life so that it may fulfill its own divine mission to
perfection, so in the struggle for freedom they are destined to play
their legitimate part and bear their share of the responsibility in
breaking the chains that weigh heavily on people
...

They encouraged their women to join this struggle in either active or
in passive way
...

Responding to the calls of local and national leaders, women of
different communities and from all walks of life came out to join the
struggle, marches and demonstrations, as constructive workers,
participating in and often taking charge of the village reconstruction
programmes, as workers in the cause of social, economic justice
working for the removal of social evils and other forms of social
oppression
...


5

The People, Lahore, 19 December, 1929, pp
...


195
Women who had spent their lives behind purdah came out to fight
orthodoxy, superstition and communal seperatism
...
In the late nineteenth
and early twentieth century, the people in Punjab were more oriented
towards the social upliftment of the women
...
Even in the early two decades
of 1900s local reformers and leaders were more inclined to reforms
and were working against social customs like female infanticide,
widowhood, purdah system, sati system, child marriage and others
...


Various organisations and associations were formed

which led the women of Punjab to come out of their homes to
participate in the public sphere
...
And most important, print media particularly vernacular
press played a significant role
...

The Nationalist struggle in India against the British colonial rule
brought about the political mobilisation of both men and women
...
284
...
7

From liberal homes and conservative families, urban

centres and rural districts, women-single and married, young and oldcame forward and joined the struggle against colonial rule
...
8
Politics completely altered the goals and activities of the
organized women
...
9
The participation of the women of Punjab in the nationalist
movement can be divided into five phases from 1901-10, 1911-20,
1921-30, 1931-40 and 1941-47
...

In the early years of 1900s that is, from 1901-10, some of the
women of Punjab mainly participated in the reformative works
...

7
8
9

Suruchi Thapar - Bjorkert, Women in the Indian National Movement : Unseen Faces and
Unheart Voices, 1930-42, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 2006, p
...

Geraldine Fobres, The New Cambrdge History of India : Women in Modern India, New Delhi,
Cambridge University Press, 1998
...
121
...
121
...
10
Debi Chaudharni11

Sarla

along with Rambhuj Dutt Chaudhari founded

‘Hindu-Sahayak Sabha’ in Lahore in 1906
...


The Sabhas were opened to make men and women

physically fit as they were taught gymnastics, swordplay, Gatka fights
and other activities
...
In 1910, she founded Bharat Stree Mahamandal at
Lahore with branches in many Indian cities and village for imparting
education to purdah women
...
’
A general hartal was announced in Bengal and people fasted and went
bare foot to take bath in the Ganga
...
15 Meetings
10
11
12
13
14
15

Bhai Suraj Singh, Sri Mata Bibi Harnam Kaur : Adbhut Jeevan, Amritsar, Wazir Hind Press,
1908, pp
...

S
...
Sen (ed), Dictionary of National Biography, Vol
...
289-290
...
41
...
P
...
290
...
82
...
96
...
16
The partition of Bengal infused a new spirit of patriotism in the
women of Punjab
...
17 Thus, the political incidents happening in the other
provinces of India influenced the women of Punjab and provided a
fillip to the Swadeshism
...
18 Smt
...
Har Devi, wife of Roshan Lal, Barrister of Lahore, who was
a great social reformer and editor of a Hindi Magazine ‘The Bharat
Bhagini’, also joined the ranks of the political workers
...
Smt
...
19
Agyavati of Delhi was also a freedom fighter
...
20
16
17
18
19
20

Valentine Chirol, Indian Unrest, London, 1926, p
...

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement 1857-1947, p
...

Radha Kumar, History of Doing, p
...

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, 1857-1947, p
...

Usha Bala, Indian Women Freedom Fighters 1857-1947, New Delhi, Manmohan Publishers,
1986, p
...


199
All these women helped in circulating revolutionary leaflets and
literature and in maintaining liason between different revolutionary
and national leaders
...

There were no women leaders (with the possible exception of Sarla
devi), girls were not included in the samities or volunteer movements,
the prevailing ideology of the time was still too conservative to allow
women to participate on an equal basis with men
...
Education was foremost on their
list, followed by child marriage and the problems of widows and
dowry
...

The most important event of the decade was the first World War
(1914-18)
...
22
The declaration of war by Great Britain against Germany in
1914 automatically drew India into its vortex
...
R
...
18
...
147
...


The

contribution of India, although not voluntary, was considerable
...


One in ten became a casualty
...
23
At the beginning Indian leaders declared their sympathy and
support for Britain
...


Even the women of Punjab and other provinces were trying to collect
money for the war debt
...
A meeting was organised in
Karachi by the women and rupees one lakh and twenty five thousand
were collected and given to the government officials
...
In the article ‘Jung,
Europe Ate Sikh Deviyan Di Sewa’ of the September issue, it
encouraged the Punjabi people to support the Britishers whole
heartedly
...
108
...
22
...
, 1917, p
...


201
During this time some people of Punjab were pro-British and
not against the policies of British
...


Similarly, in August, 1917, one

widow of Ferozepur district voluntarily came out on the call of Lieut
Governor for recruiting Punjabis in the army
...
26
However, during this period from 1914-18, women of Punjab
and other provinces were influenced by various women leaders like
Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Madam Bhikaji Rustom K
...
Cama
...
They used to get
their articles published in vernacular newspapers and journals
...

‘In that article she encouraged women to participate against the
government and fight for their own Home Rule
...

‘Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) returned to India in
1915 as the hero of the South African struggle
...
20
...
17
...
124
...


With his

experience of South Africa behind him he was aware of the
potentialities of women as passive resisters
...


The immediate factor which led to this

participation was the Jallianwala Bagh Tragedy of 1919
...
Entry of Gandhi
gave a fillip to this involvement but the Rowlatt Act and the Amritsar
massacre set the stage for the active participation of women
...
I of 1919 and the Criminal Law (Emergency Powers) Bill, No
...
30 The Bill
No
...
31 It contained forty three sections and was divided into
five parts
...
32 In other words, this act
29
30
31
32

Aparna Basu, “The Role of Women in the Indian Struggle for Freedom” in B
...
Nanda (ed),
From Purdah to Modernity, p
...

Report of the Commissioners appointed by the Punjab Sub-committee of the Indian National
Congress, Lahore, 1920, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Ibid, pp
...


203
was designed to give the government power to crush popular liberties,
to arrest and detain suspected persons without showing any cause
and warrant to imprison them without trial
...
They expected rewards instead of this act
...
34

In Punjab, protest meetings

were held at various places in the month of February, 1919 35 against
the bills
...
He suggested that the second Sunday after the publication of
the viceregal assent to Bill No
...
36 Thus on 23 March 1919, Gandhi issued his
hartal manifesto to observe an All India Hartal Day on 6th April
1919
...
38

33
34
35
36
37
38

Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the Freedom Movement in Punjab, New Delhi, Abhijeet
Publications, 2003, p
...

N
...
Mitra, The Indian Annual Register, vol
...
33
...
32
...
40
...
I, 1920, p
...

The collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol
...
189
...
39 As the news of change of
date could not reach in due time to some places in the Punjab, so a
complete hartal was observed on 30th March, 1919 at Amritsar,
Fazilka,

Ferozepur,

Hoshiarpur,

Jhang,

Karnal,

Multan

and

Muzaffargarh
...
41
Punjab observed complete hartal on 6th April
...
There was
complete

fraternization

between

Hindus

and

Muhammadans
...
42 Even women and children participated in
the programme and observed fast and recited prayers in their homes
...


Smt
...
Bhag Devi (wife of Lala Dhuni Chand of Ambala), Smt
...
N
...
Guran Devi
(wife of L
...
Dutt of Sialkot)
...
43
39
40
41
42
43

Report of Disorders Inquiry Committee, Delhi, Superintendent Government Printing Press,
1920, p
...

Selections from the Report on the Punjab Disturbances, April 1919, Delhi, Superintendent
Government Printing Press, 1920, pp
...

Ibid, p
...

Report of the Commissioners appointed by the Punjab sub-committee of the Indian National
Congress, p
...

Manju Verma, The Role of women in the Freedom Movement in Punjab, p
...


205
The 9th April was the day of Ram Naumi and this Hindu festival
was largely participated in by Muslims and along with the usual
shouts and political cries were freely raised “Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai”,
“Hindu Musalman Ki Jai”
...
45
Even the orders of the local government for the deportation of Dr
...
Satyapal reached the Deputy Commissioner on the
evening of the 9th April
...
46 These three leaders were arrested on 10th April and
these arrests aroused great excitement and ignited the political
atmosphere in the province
...
47
In order to stop all these happenings, on the morning of the
13th April, General Michael O'Dwyer at Amritsar made a proclamation
read out by the naib-tehsildar
...
No procession and gathering was allowed and if some one did
so he was to be treated with the force of arms
...
20
...
3
...
21
...
32
...
m
...
49
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 13th April 1919 had a great
catalytic effect upon the political attitude of the people,50 especially on
the women
...
But now when they lost
their husbands, fathers and sons in this tragedy they got infuriated
...
51

Bibi

Attar

Kaur,

six

month

pregnant

lady

experienced this traumatic experience on the death of her husband
Bhag Mal Bhatia
...
And later she saw dead
48
49
50
51

Ibid, p
...

Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the Freedom Movement in Punjab, pp
...

Nina Puri, Political Elite and Society in the Punjab, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House,
1985, p
...

Kamlesh Mohan, Towards Gender History : Images, Identities and Roles of North Indian
Women with Special reference to Panjab, Delhi, Aakar Book, 2007, p
...


207
body of her husband and brought it to her home
...
53
Instead of having sympathy with the people of Punjab, martial
law was enforced and for long the Punjab was almost cut off from the
rest of the world
...
55
The intention behind this Marital law was not only punishing
the alleged rioters but also the political agitators
...
‘In Amritsar the innocent men and women were
made to crawl like worms on their bellies
...

Even the innocent women were humiliated
...
661, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre especially Bhag Mal
Bhatia File
...
, 1959
...
163
...
1919”, Report of the Indian
National Congres, Amritsar, 1919, p
...

Selections from the Report on the Punjab Disturbances, April 1919, pp
...

M
...
Gandhi, An Autobiography or the Story or My Experiments with Truth, Ahmedabad,
Navjivan Publishing House, 1940, p
...


208
asked to undergo the torture of holding their ears by passing their
arms under and round the legs, while being bent double
...
”

This

statement was also supported by other women of Manianwala
...
Rupees one per day
per head was paid
...
59 In Sheikhupura, houses were
locked and women along with their children were turned out
...
61 In Hafizabad, Hukma Devi's son was locked up in jail
because she was not able to find money to bribe the police
...
63 Further,
Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Martial law acted as a stimulant
or catalyst of women's conciousness in Punjab and in the whole of
India
...
128-129
...
134
...
139
...
18, pp
...

Ibid, p
...

Report the Commissioners, p
...

Ibid, p
...


209
in the nationalist struggle for freedom
...

Later the incidents of 1919 in Punjab led the government to
announce the Hunter Committee in connection with the Punjab
government's doings under the martial law
...
So it was decided to
appoint a non-official Inquiry Committee, to hold almost a parallel
inquiry on the behalf of Indian Nation Congress on 14th November
1919
...
K
...
R
...
R
...
65 To prepare
the report, the commissioners were required to visit Punjab
...
K
...

Gandhi visited the province when the ban on his entry was
withdrawn in October 1919
...


There he met the grieved people, consoled the women over the death of
their kith and kin in the different tragedies of Punjab
...
67 During this visit, the wives of
Dr
...
Satyapal and Diwan Mangalsen of Gujranwala met
64
65
66
67

M
...
Gandhi, An Autobiography, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol
...
261
...
286, 316, 328-32
...
68 At Lahore he stayed at Rambhuj Dutt Chaudhary's (who was
in jail at that time) house and his wife Sarla Devi Chaudharani acted
as a perfect hostess
...
69
In the mean while, the Khilafat Question arose out of the
Muslim's anger at the harsh treatment towards Turkey by the allied
powers after the war
...
These Indian Muslims protested against this action of the
British Government and decided to support Indian National Congress
in any agitation against the Government
...
71 So by persistent cultivation of Hindu
- Muslim unity and incorporation of Khilafat, Punjab grievances and
swaraj into his political creed,72 M
...
Gandhi on 1st August 1920 gave
the signal for the non-cooperation campaign
...
39-40
...
217-218
...
R
...
76
...
77
...
24
...
77
...
74 A large number of Punjabi Women also
participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement
...
75
In April 1920, a meeting of the Punjab Provincial Conference
was held at Jalandhar
...
76
Kumari Lajjawati (Principal of Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Jullundur) was
also one of the delegates and praised the participation of women in the
Conference
...


After the 1st August 1920, the women in

Punjab organized a meeting at Lahore under the Chairmanship of
Lado Rani Zutshi
...
78 Sarla Devi Chaudharani, an ardent follower of Mahatma
Gandhi established ‘A Swaraj Ashram’ in her home at Lahore
...

74
75
76
77
78
79

Ganda Singh Collection, File number 493, p
...

Manju Verma, The Role of Womenn in the Freedom Movember in Punjab, p
...

The Tribune, Lahore, April 6, 1920, p
...

Ibid, April 11, 1920, p
...

The Tribune, August 8 1920, p
...

Ibid, October 26, 1920, p
...


212
From 1921 to 1922 the wife of Duni Chand of Lahore, Kumari
Lajjawati, Shrimati Parbati Devi (daughter of Lala Lajpat Rai) and
Shrimati Puran Devi (wife of Thakur Dass) all appeared on the public
platform
...
80
Efforts were made to enlist more and more lady volunteers for
the propaganda work
...
The women leaders extensively toured the province along
with the other members and delivered speeches
...

In May 1921, five hundred ladies enrolled themselves as the
members of the Rawalpindi Congress Committee
...
81 Thus, it can be seen that women were
becoming active day by day in a single month in a district where
thousand women enlisted in the Congress Committee
...
Prem Kaur of Ambala accused the government of
tempering with religion
...
61-63
...
5
...
At Layalpur, Mussammat
Maqbul Begum (wife of Siraj-ud-din) spoke against the government
and

their

policies
...


82

The year 1921 brought no respite from the political agitation
...
‘The speeches
were entirely unrestrained’
...


There had been a number of demonstrations in almost

every district
...
Parmeshwari Devi, wife of Chaudhary
Ake Singh of Bhiwani, highlighted the importance of Swadeshi before
the women in a public meeting and organized a procession
...
The picketing was entrusted to the women by Gandhi and no
buyer dared to come near the shops where women picketers were seen
and even the shopkeepers used to behave well with the women

82
83
84

Ganda Singh Collection, File No
...
62
...
II, Lahore, Government of Punjab, 1923, p
...

The Tribune, January 7, 1922, p
...


214
volunteers
...

‘On 17th January 1922 Kumari Lajjawati of Jalandhar did picketing
in Lahore escorted by the other women volunteers and it was a
complete success
...
86 When the movement was at its peak, Gandhi had to retrace
his steps at Bardoli on 11-12 February, 1922, due to the eruption of
violence at Chaura Chauri (UP) on 4th February 1922
...

On 22 October 1922 Shrimati Parbati of Kamalia in Gurdaspur
said, “No one should obey the orders of white devils (Britishers) and
that all persons above the age of eighteen should join the Congress
...

Kasturba Gandhi (wife of Gandhi) visited Punjab in 1922 and Bi
Amman (mother of Ali brothers) also made an extensive tour in the
months of August and September, 1922
...
I, p
...

The Tribune, January 21, 1922, p
...

Indian Annual Register, Jan-June, 1922, vol
...
14
...
61-63
...
They held
the meetings, led the processions, boycotted foreign goods, adopted
the slogan of Swadeshi and indulged in the picketing of foreign cloth
shops and liquor shops
...


‘Sarla Devi Chaudhrani, Smt
...
Puran Devi, Smt
...
Duni Chand, Smt
...
Luxmi Arya, Smt
...
Chand Bai, Smt
...
This participation was
a sort of training programme for the future Satyagraha programmes of
1930-34 and 1940-42
...

The 1930s saw the freedom struggle take many steps forward
...
90

Gandhi launched a

movement in 1930 that attracted large number of women
...
60, 61
...
148
...
It was the women's
organizations and networks, developed between 1925 and 1930, that
laid the ground work for their positive reaction to Gandhi's call
...
92 The failure of the government to
take up the Nehru Report and take note of the demand of the people
within the stipulated period forced the Indian National Congress to
proceed with its plans of launching Satyagraha as had been decided at
its session in December 1928 at Calcutta
...
The Congress also decided
to launch the programme of Civil Disobedience including nonpayment of taxes
...
96 Shiama Zutshi
(daughter of Lado Rani Zutshi), Miss Shakuntala, Swadesh and
91
92
93
94
95
96

Geraldine Forbes, Women in Colonial India : Essays on Politics, Medicine and
Historiography, New Delhi, Chronicle Books, 2005, , p
...

Aparna Basu, “The Role of Women in the Indian Struggle for Freedom in B
...
Nanda (ed),
Indian Women : From Purdah to Modernity, p
...

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement 1857-1947, p
...

The Tribune, Lahore, 4 January, 1930, p
...

Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the Freedom Movement in Punjab, p
...

The Tribune, Lahore, 4 January 1930, p
...


217
Adarsh (daughters of Lala Pindi Dass), Jaya (daughter of Badri Dass),
Kumari Lajjawati (Principal of Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Jalandhar), Lado
Rani Zutshi, Kumari Shiv Dua, Pushpa Gujral and Sarla Devi
Chaudharani were some prominent women to attend this session
...
Several persons in Lahore hoisted national flags over houses
and many of them had illuminations at night
...


Smt
...
98
Gandhi started his historic march to Dandi from Sabarmati
Ashram on 12 March, 1930 and formally inaugurated the civil
disobedience campaign
...
99 In the Young India on 30 April, Gandhi
had appealed to Indian women to take up spinning yarn on the
Charkha and to come out of their household seclusion and picket
shops selling foreign goods or liquor and Government institutions
...

97
98
99
100

Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the Freedom Movement in Punjab, p
...

The Tribune, 28 January, 1930, p
...

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, 1857-1947, p 167
...
160-161
...


In Lahore

five thousand ladies took out a procession
...
Lado Rani Zutshi, Parvati Devi, Smt
...
101 On 23rd March 1930,
thousands of ladies clad in Khaddar assembled in Sari Sehglan,
Rawalpindi

where

a

meeting

of

ladies

was

held

under

the

presidentship of Shrimati Gopal Devi (Mrs
...

These ladies took vow solemnly declaring not to buy foreign cloth in
future
...
103 The
Satyagraha campaign against the salt law was inaugurated at
Jullundar on 17 April 1930 by Raizada Hans Raj
...
104
As the women were participating in all these activities of the
campaign, the government also started arresting these women
participants
...
Hariram

101
102
103
104

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement 1857-1947, p
...

The Tribune, 26 March, 1930, p
...

Ibid, April, 1930, p
...

Ibid, 19 April, 1930, p
...


219
(daughter-in-law of Sir Gangaram of Lahore), Mrs
...
Jung Bahadur) were sentenced
in Lahore for four months
...
She preferred jail
...
Leelavathi Munshi's imprisonment to one year
and rupees three hundred fine
...

Pindidass, Mrs
...
Ganga Ram, Mrs
...
Chatterjee were arrested while marching in a procession to
celebrate the inaugural day of the “Gandhi Week” on 6th April
...
‘One of the most
significant feature of four years 1930 to 1934 was the participation of
women in the nationalist movement on an unprecedented scale
...
I, Jan-June, 1932, Calcutta, The
Annual Register Office, 1932, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Vijay Agnew, Elite women in Indian Politics, New Delhi, Vikas Publishing House, 1979, p
...


220
Hoards of women poured out of their homes
...

The processions taken by the women, their untiring picketing of cloth
and liquor shops, their persuasive appeals for swadeshi are even
today marvelled at
...
111
Table 4
Number of Convictions (Women)
Months of 1932

110
111

Number

January

15

February

33

March

45

April

7

May

0

June

12

July

0

August

0

September

8

October

0

November

0

December

1

Suruchi Thapar - Bjorkert, Women in the Indian National Movement, p
...

Ibid, pp
...


221
Number of Convictions (Women) in 1932
50
45

45

Number of Women

40
35
33
30
25
20
15

15
12

10

8

7

5
0

0
January

February

March

April

May

0
June

July

0
August

0
September

October

0

1

November December

Months

The graph shows the number of women convictions month wise
in the year 1932 of the campaign
...
In India, the province like Punjab
where women were not so aware as of Bengal, Madras and other
provinces, were politically active and were trying to show their
existence in the campaign of 1930-34
...
K
...
In these two movements, again a
large number of Punjabi women participated and helped their male
counterparts
...


222
Before Second World War, under the Government Act of 1935,
all the political parties of India in the different provinces swept into
power and in 1937 they formed their ministries in the provinces with
Indian National Congress in majority
...
112 The war was declared
on 3rd September 1939
...
However, these demands were rejected so the Congress then
decided to propagate against and obstruct people from rendering any
help in the war effort
...
The presence of women in
the various movements of the day was as significant of the anti-British
movement during the war years as was their election to legislative
seats and their appointment to positions of power and authority
...


112
113
114

Sarladevi was directly linked with

Suruchi Thapar - Bjorkert, Women in the Indian National Movement, p
...

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, p
...

Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, p
...


223
Gandhi's working
...

So in protest against the government, Gandhi launched an
Individual Satyagraha in October 1940
...
”

So Vinoba

Bhave opened this campaign on 17th October 1940, during which
about thirty thousand men and women courted arrest
...
116
In Punjab, Satyagraha was initiated by Mian Iftikhar-ud-din,
President, Punjab Provincial Congress Committee on 25th November,
1940 and he went to visit Gandhi in Wardha
...
118

During

this Satyagraha movement, many men

and women were arrested
...
Duni Chand, MLA was the lady to be
arrested in the Punjab at Lahore on 5 December and she was
representing the Lahore Women (General) constituency
...
Bedi, (wife of Mr
...
P
...
Bedi) graduate of the Oxford

115
116
117
118
119

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, p
...

The Tribune, 19 Nov
...
13
...
7
...
1
...
2
...
120 Amar Kaur
(wife of Mohan Lal advocate of Gurdaspur, who renounced his practice
in 1921 and entered public life) offered Satyagraha at Kasur in Lahore
district and was arrested and later released in September 1942
...
122 Smt
...
Parvati Devi of Kamalia, Smt
...
Puran Devi and Smt
...
123
In the Individual Satyagraha from October 1940 to December
1941, various women offered Satyagraha and were arrested
...
124

The number of satyagrahis was

increasing every day
...

thousand

two

hundred

and

fifty

six

were

Among them four
women

Congress

members
...
2
...
9
...
221
...
122-126
...
3
...
5
...


But the

participation of the Punjabi women was limited as only a few women
of prominence chosen by Gandhi were given the right to offer
Satyagraha
...
Rameshwari Devi and others

were not allowed by Gandhi to court arrest and instead were asked to
participate in the constructive programme
...
126 Gandhi called on all Indians to begin
to feel that they are free and he asked teachers and students to be
ready to get out
...
Hemraj), Shrimati
Lakshmi Devi (Mrs
...
Savitri Devi (Mrs
...
132
...
1
...
8
...


Smt
...
Achint Ram) was also there and was

arrested along with her son and twelve year old daughter
...
Parbati Devi was also arrested
on the same day
...
Rameshwari Nehru, ex-president of the AIWC, president of
the Central Punjab branch of the AIWC, Vice president of the Punjab
Harijan Sewak Sang was also put into jail on 29 August and she had
been appointed as second ‘dictator’ of the Punjab Provincial congress
Committee by Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din
...
132
Sucheta Majumdar Kriplani (born in Ambala, Punjab and did
her studies from Punjab and Delhi and was married to Acharaya
Kriplani of Allahabad) was chosen to organize women's wing of the
Indian National Congress in 1940
...
133 A trusted lieutenant of
Gandhiji, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur took up the task of the uplift of
women on her shoulders and was very active during the Quit India
movement in 1942
...


One

Ibid, 27 August, 1942, p
...

Ibid, p
...

Ibid, 30 August, 1942, p
...

Ibid, 1 September, 1942, p
...

Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India, p
...

Personalities : A Comprehensive and Authentic Biographical Dictionary of Men who Matter
in India, New Delhi, Arunam and Sheel Publishers, p
...


227
procession was subjected to ruthless lathi charge in Simla
...
135
The women of Punjab organised spontaneous hartals and
demonstrations in several cities of the province to protest against the
Britishers
...
In Amritsar,
about three dozen young college girls hoisted the tri-colour flag as a
mark of ‘Gandhi Jayanti’ celebrations in Chowk Phuharawala on
October 2, 1942
...


But the police

reached there and to disperse the crowd, the police lathi charged and
removed the girls to some unknown place
...
136
During this movement everyday hartals were observed and
educational institutions were closed
...


Girl students took a

prominent part in these processions and in distribution of antigovernment literature
...
‘Smt
...


135
136

This paper was published in

Manmohan Kaur, Role of Women in the Freedom Movement, pp
...

The Tribune, October , 1942, p
...


228
Hindi from Delhi
...
I
...
officials and was
later arrested
...


She joined these underground political

activities after taking leave from her school
...


138

The political active women leaders were arrested and the
treatment meted out to them was vindictive and far from satisfactory
...
”139
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur when arrested at Kalka for leading processions
was kept in Ambala Jail like an ordinary prisoner for a month
...


There was no

arrangement for bathing and food given was bad, unclean and
uncooked
...
Smt
...


Their

relatives were not allowed to meet them
...
Subhadra Joshi cited in Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the
Freedom Movement in Punjab
...
Luxmi Arya cited in Manju Verma, The Role of Women in the
Freedom Movement in Punjab
...
II, New Delhi, S
...
761
...
Inadequate medical
treatment and bad food of the jail affected the health of women
political prisoners
...
Young girl students did not lag behind
...

In this campaign Gandhi asked women to use the previously
sanctioned techniques of salt making, boycotts of courts and schools,
picketing cloth and liquor shops and non-payment of taxes
...


The movement began in the province

with strikes, demonstrations and processions
...

Hence, the participation of women of Punjab in the nationalist
movement succeeded step by step from 1901-10, 1911-20, 1921-30,
1931-40 and 1941-47
...
The decade 1911-20 was the most
important decade as the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy and the Martial law
of 1919 acted as a catalyst for creating women consciousness for

230
fighting for the freedom of India
...


directly

jumped

into

the

Non-Cooperation

The decade 1921-30, witnessed the direct

involvement of women of Punjab in the freedom struggle and these
women came into the contact of M
...
Gandhi
...
The last
seven years from 1941 to 47 were those when the women of Punjab
province came forward and fought alongside men and suffered the
same consequences as the men suffered
...
And in the end in
1947 after the achievement of independence, the women of Punjab
were given credit to their deeds as Rajkumari Amrit Kaur of
Kapurthala, Punjab was appointed as the first women health minister
of the free Independent India

---