Independence Day Special: 5 Women Freedom Fighters Who Took Part In India’s Independence Struggle

NEW DELHI: Every year on 15th August the country celebrates freedom from the British rule. During India's freedom struggle against the British rule, women also walked shoulder to shoulder with men, which encouraged thousands of other Indians to join the national freedom.

Here are five great female leaders/freedom fighters who participated in India's freedom struggle-

• Rani Lakshmibai 

Rani Lakshmi Bai was one of the leading warriors of India’s first struggle for independence. A symbol of bravery, patriotism and honour, Rani Lakshmi Bai was born on 19 November 1828 at Poona. After the death of her husband the head of the British government of India, Lord Dalhousie refused to allow her adopted son to become raja and Jhansi was then ruled by the British. Rani Laxmi Bai stood up to the British when they wanted to seize her kingdom and declare ownership. It is said that during the 1858 battle against the British army, Rani Laxmi Bai lost her life

• Begum Hazrat Mahal

The Begum of Awadh encouraged the rural folks to rebel against the East India Company and to rise against the British rule in India after her husband had been exiled to Calcutta. She finally found asylum in Nepal where she died in 1879.

• Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu, born February 13, 1879, Hyderabad was a political activist, feminist, poet, and the first Indian woman to be president of the Indian National Congress and to be appointed an Indian state governor. She was sometimes called “the Nightingale of India”. She played an active and leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and was jailed along with Gandhi and other leaders. In 1942, she was arrested during the “Quit India” movement.

• Aruna Asaf Ali

Known as the Grand Old Lady of the Independence Movement, the Bharat Ratna awardee Aruna Asaf Ali was an Indian Independence activist and a freedom fighter. She was the one who hoisted the Indian National Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay during the Quit India Movement, 1942.

• Lakshmi Sahgal

Lakshmi Sahgal was born Lakshmi Swaminadhan on October 24, 1914.  She was an officer in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose' s Indian National Army and Minister of Women's Affairs in the Azad Hind government which gave a 'Delhi Chalo' call to freedom fighters to liberate India from the yoke of British Imperialism.