Basanti Devi | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1880-03-23)23 March 1880 Calcutta,Bengal,British India |
| Died | 7 May 1974 (aged 94) Calcutta,West Bengal, India |
| Known for | Independence activist |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Movement | Indian independence movement |
| Spouse | Chittaranjan Das |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (1973) |
Basanti Devi (23 March 1880 – 7 May 1974) was an Indian independence activist during theBritish rule in India. She was the wife of activistChittaranjan Das. After Das' arrest in 1921 and death in 1925, she took an active part in various political and social movements and continued with social work post-independence. She was awarded thePadma Vibhushan in 1973.[1]
Basanti Devi was born on 23 March 1880 to Swarnamayee Devi and her husbandBaradanath Haldar, thediwan of a largezamindary in Assam during the British colonial rule. Basanti studied at theLoreto House, Kolkata, where she met and married Chittaranjan Das at the age of seventeen.[2] The two had three children born between 1898 and 1901.[3]
Following her husband, Basanti Devi took part in various movements like theCivil disobedience movement and theKhilafat Movement and also participated in the Nagpur session of theIndian National Congress in 1920. The following year, she joined Das' sistersUrmila Devi andSunita Devi to establish the "Nari Karma Mandir", a training center for women activists.[4] In 1920–21, she was instrumental in collecting gold ornaments and 2000 gold coins fromJalpaiguri towards theTilak Swaraj Fund.[5]
During thenon-cooperation movement in 1921, the Indian National Congress called for strikes and a ban on foreign goods. In Kolkata, small groups of five volunteers were employed to sellkhadi, hand spun clothes, on the streets of Kolkata. Das, who was the leading figure of the local movement, decided to make his wife Basanti Devi lead one such group. Devi went on the street despite warnings fromSubhash Chandra Bose that it would provoke the British to arrest her. Although she was released by midnight, her arrest provided impetus to widespread agitation. Two prisons in Kolkata were filled with revolutionary volunteers and detention camps were hastily constructed to detain more suspects. On 10 December 1921, police arrested Das and Bose.[6]
After Das' arrest, Basanti Devi took charge of his weekly publicationBangalar Katha (The Story of Bengal).[7] She was the president of Bengal Provincial Congress in 1921–22. Presiding over the Bengal Provincial Conference atChittagong in 1922, she encouraged grassroots agitation. Travelling around India, she supported cultural development of arts in order to oppose colonialism.[3]
As Das was the political mentor of Subhash Chandra Bose, Bose had great regard for Basanti Devi. After Das's death in 1925, Bose is reported to have discussed his personal and political doubts with Devi.[8] Bose's fraternal niece-in-lawKrishna Bose characterized Basanti Devi as his "adopted mother" and one of the four important women in his life, the other three being his motherPrabhabati, his sister-in-law Bibhabati (wife ofSarat Chandra Bose) and his wifeEmilie Schenkl.[9]
Like her husband, Basanti Devi too was sympathetic towards therevolutionary activists in the Indian independence movement. In 1928, Indian freedom fighterLala Lajpat Rai died days after being injured by the police in a baton charge against his peaceful protest march. Following this, Basanti Devi exhorted the Indian youth to avenge Lajpat Rai's death.[10][11]
After India's independence in 1947, Basanti Devi continued with social work.[12]Basanti Devi College, the first women's college in Kolkata to have been funded by the government, was established in 1959 and named after her.[3][13] In 1973, she was honoured with thePadma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award.[14][15]
