The saga of Bi Amma, whom Gandhi addressed as 'meri maa'
By Mohammad Suaib khan
New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) Among the few Muslim women who had actively participated in the Indian Independence movement, Abadi Bano Begum (Bi Amma) was a prominent face.
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National Human Interest/ 04:30 PMNo takers for Mumbai's Jinnah House, where Gandhi, Nehru discussed Partition
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National FREEDOM FIGHTER 04:58 PMQuit India: At 33, Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted Tricolour at Mumbai's Gowalia Tank in 1942
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The Mahatma's time-keeper and a copious chronicler of his life
By Vishnu Makhijani
Painstakingly written, day-after-day, "Mahadevbhaini Dayari" (Mahadevbhais Diary) chronicles in minute detail the major events in life of Mahatma Gandhi and in the Indian Independence struggle over a quarter-of-a-century from 1917 to 1942 by his personal secretary Mahadev Desai, one of the few individuals who had the closest access to the Father of the Nation during this period.
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The gurdwara reforms activist who later dreamt of freedom in red
By Sukant Deepak
He may have come to prominence as an Akali leader and a known face of the Gurdwara Reform Movement, but Sohan Singh Josh, who later joined the Communist Party wrote in his will that no religious ceremony be performed post his death. His ashes were immersed in the Ravi river.
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On Netaji's secret service: Capt. Kanwar Singh Dalai's clandestine war
By Sukant Deepak
From being trained at the German Secret Service Training School under the management of the Gestapo, being promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant while under training to enter India secretly using a Japanese submarine, armed with wireless equipment to work as a personal representative of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Capt. Kanwal Singh Dalal was a legend in his own right.
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Lifelong fighter against the Raj who introduced Haryana to Gandhi
By Sukant Deepak
When the British offered to buy him out by offering free land, he said: "The whole country belongs to me."
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The 'Kranti Simha' who rattled the Raj with Satara 'Prati Sarkar'
By Quaid Najmi
Mumbai, Aug 7 (IANS) Akin to that tiny village in ancient Gaul which rattled the Romans in the fictional world of Asterix and Obelix, Satara's freedom hero, Nana Ramchandra Pisal, alias 'Kranti Simha Nana Patil', unnerved the mighty British Raj with his unique 'Prati Sarkar (Alternative Government) Movement' in the 1940s in Maharashtra.
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Maniram Dewan: Assam's first tea planter, freedom fighter, martyr
By Sujit Chakraborty
Guwahati, Aug 7 (IANS) Maniram Dutta Barua, commonly known as Maniram Dewan, was one of the first Assamese to establish Tea Industry in Assam and was initially a loyalist of the British.
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Bundelkhand's 'Jallianwala Bagh' led to martyrdom of 21 freedom fighters
By Sundeep Pauranik
Bhopal, Aug 6 (IANS) The people of Bundelkhand have also made a major contribution to the freedom struggle of the country.
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A martyrdom saga that lives on ballads, continues to inspire Kannadigas
By M.K. Ashoka
Sangolli Rayanna's martyrdom stories continue to inspire crores of Kannadigas with every child given examples of his bravery against the British. The giant banyan tree from where Sangolli and his revolutionary associates were hanged serves as a memorial to the martyrs and kindles the spirit of patriotism among the youth.
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The chief who led Andhra's now-forgotten first mass rebellion
By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, Aug 6 (IANS) Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy is hailed as the 19th-century hero who led the first mass rebellion in Andhra Pradesh against the British.
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History prof, Gandhian, UP's first woman CM: Sucheta Kripalani's inspiring journey
By Vishnu Makhijani
"A person of rare courage and character who brought credit to Indian womanhood," Mahatma Gandhi wrote of Sucheta Kripalani, who sang the "Vande Mataram" in the Constituent Assembly moments before Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his stirring "Tryst With Destiny" speech to mark Indias emergence as an Independent nation "at the midnight hour" on August 15, 1947, and who rose to be the first woman Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Indias most politically significant state.
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Martyred at the age of 12, Tileswari Barua finally gets her place in history
By Sujit Chakraborty
Twelve-year-old Tileswari Barua, the country's youngest martyr from Assam's remote Dhekiajuli village, who took a bullet from the colonial police and died for the country, has finally got her place in history after eight decades.
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When Jairamdas staved off a rift between Gandhi and Tilak
By Vishnu Makhijani
"I swear by Jairamdas. A truer man I have not had the honour of meeting," Mahatma Gandhi had once said of Jairamdas Daulatram, who wore many a hat during the freedom struggle and once staved off an impending rift between the Mahatma and senior Congress leaders by suggesting a compromise to cool tempers.
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Bengal house where Bhagat Singh hid after Saunders killing in a shambles
Kolkata, Aug 3 (IANS) As one reaches Uyari village of Khandaghosh community block under West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district, he is bound to be gripped by the essence of India's freedom movement associated with this remote village.
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Mill baron's sister who was also a trade union leader, Gandhi's acolyte
By Asmita Dave
Back in 2011, Ramon Magsaysay Laureate Ela Bhatt, founder of Ahmedabad's Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), was giving a talk at the India International Centre in New Delhi, where she introduced the audience to Ansuya Sarabhai.
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A poet-revolutionary who gave India its freedom song
By Amita Verma
It was Bismil Azimabadi of Patna who wrote "Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qatil mein hai" in 1921, and it was Ram Prasad Bismil who immortalised the lines. The poem became a war cry in India's freedom struggle against the British rule.
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The British editor who got deported for exposing Jallianwala Bagh massacre
By Quaid Najmi
Benjamin Guy Horniman was one plucky British journalist who scorned the Empire's Raj over India and with great courage exposed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (April 13, 1919) of several hundred people ordered by a trigger-happy Acting Brigadier-General Reginald E. H. Dyer.
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Sivaganga's forgotten suicide bomber whose sacrifice won a war
By Arun Lakshman
Kuyili, the commander-in-chief and personal bodyguard of Rani Velu Nachiyar of Sivaganga, is the epitome of sacrifice in the annals of the independence movement. Her name, sadly, is lost in the footnotes of history.
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Lifelong dissenter who challenged the Raj, then took on Nehru, Indira
By Vishnu Makhijani
The most abiding image that most Indians, who were present then, have of Acharya Kripalani was of him sharing the centrestage with Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan and naming Morarji Desai as the leader of the Janata Party in Parliament (and therefore India's first non-Congress Prime Minister) after the historic 1977 general elections.
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He died a forgotten man, but Pingali Venkayya lives forever in the Tricolour
By Sourish Bhattacharyya
Two Indians engaged in the Second Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa, which is known in history books as the 'dirty war', were to leave behind their imprint on their mother country's history.
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40 years before freedom, Bhikaiji Cama hoisted the first Indian flag in Stuttgart (Lead)
By Quaid Najmi
The moment of legendary freedom-fighter Bhikaiji Patel-Cama first hoisting the Indian flag in Germany and issuing a simple appeal to the world to support India's struggle for independence is etched in golden letters in the country's history, as it was during a time when the freedom movement had very few women at the forefront.
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The brave Rani Chennamma whom President Murmu hailed in her inaugural speech
By M.K. Ashoka
Bengaluru, July 31 (IANS) Kittur Chennamma, the queen of Kittur is a common household name in Karnataka. The armed struggle that she waged against the British much before the famous First War of Indian Independence in 1857, inspires the younger generation till date.
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How the scholar who put Deoband on the world map awakened Muslims
By Amita Verma
He is truly a forgotten warrior of the freedom movement.
