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What is the news?
Union Minister of State for Culture has released a pictorial book on India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle as part of Azadi ka Mahotsav.The book has been released in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha.
Who are the Women Freedom Fighters mentioned in the Book?
| Women Freedom Fighters | Contribution to Freedom Movement |
| Rani Abakka | She was the Queen of Ullal, Karnataka. She fought and defeated the mighty Portuguese in the 16th century. |
| Velu Nachiyar | She was the Queen of Sivaganga and was the first Indian queen to wage war against the British East India Company. |
| Matangini Hazra | She was a brave freedom fighter from Bengal, who laid down her life while agitating against the British. |
| Gulab Kaur | She was a freedom fighter who abandoned her own hopes and dreams of a life abroad to fight for and mobilise the Indian people against the British Raj. |
| Chakali Ilamma | She was a revolutionary woman who fought against the injustice of zamindars during the Telangana rebellion in the mid-1940s. |
| Subhadra Kumari Chauhan | One of the greatest Hindi poets, who was also a prominent figure in the freedom movement. |
| Durgawati Devi | Brave woman who provided safe passage to Bhagat Singh after the killing of John Saunders and much more during her revolutionary days. |
| Sucheta Kripalani | A prominent freedom fighter who became the independent India’s first woman Chief Minister of UP Government. |
| Accamma Cherian | She is an inspirational leader of the freedom movement in Travancore, Kerala. She was given the name ‘Jhansi Rani of Tranvancore’ by Mahatma Gandhi. |
| Aruna Asaf Ali | She was an inspirational freedom fighter who is perhaps best remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement in 1942. |
| Durgabai Deshmuk | She was a tireless worker for the emancipation of women in Andhra Pradesh and was also an eminent freedom fighter and member of the Constituent Assembly. |
| Rani Gaidinliu | Naga spiritual and political leader, she led an armed uprising against the British in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. |
| Usha Mehta | She was a freedom fighter from a very young age, who is remembered for organising an underground radio station during the Quit India Movement of 1942. |
| Parbati Giri | She was one of Odisha’s most prominent women freedom fighters who was called the Mother Teresa of Western Odisha for her work in the upliftment of her people. |
| Tarkeshwari Sinha | She was a prominent freedom fighter during the Quit India Movement, she went on to become an eminent politician in the early decades of independent India. |
| Snehlata Varma | She was a freedom fighter and tireless worker for the education and upliftment of women in Mewar, Rajasthan. |
| Tileshwari Baruah | She was one of India’s youngest martyrs, she was shot at the age of 12 by the British, during the Quit India Movement, when she and some freedom fighters tried to unfurl the Tricolour atop a police station. |
| Jhalkari Bai | She was a woman soldier who grew to become one of the key advisors to the Rani of Jhansi and a prominent figure in the First War of Indian Independence, 1857. |
| Padmaja Naidu | She was the daughter of Sarojini Naidu and a freedom fighter in her own right, who would later become Governor of West Bengal and a humanitarian after Independence. |
| Bishni Devi Shah | She inspired a large number of people in Uttarakhand to join the freedom movement. |
Source: This post is based on the article ‘Union Minister releases a pictorial book on India’s Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ published in PIB on 28th January 2022.
