Matangini Hazra | |
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| Born | Matangini Maity (1870-10-19)19 October 1870 |
| Died | 29 September 1942(1942-09-29) (aged 71) |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Known for | Humanitarian Activist and Martyr in theIndian independence movement |
| Movement | Civil Disobedience movement Chowkidari tax bandha movement Quit India movement |
| Spouse | Trilochan Hazra |
| Father | Thakurdas Maity |
Matangini Hazra (19 October 1870 – 29 September 1942[1]) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in theIndian independence movement. She was leading one of the five batches of volunteers (of theVidyut Bahini), constituted by theSamar Parisad (War Council), atTamluk to capture the Tamluk Police Station on 29 September 1942, when she was shot dead by theBritish Indian police in front of the police station, becoming the first "Quit India" movement martyr inMidnapore. She was a staunchGandhian and was fondly calledGandhi buri,Bengali for "old lady Gandhi".[2][3]
Not much is known of her early life apart from that she was born in aBengaliMahishya family of village Hogla, nearTamluk on 19 October, 1870,[4] and that because she was the daughter of a poor peasant, she did not receive a formal education.[5] She was married early (at the age of 12) and her husband name Trilochan Hazra and she became widowed at the age of eighteen without bearing any offspring. Her father-in-law's village was Alinan, of Tamluk thana.[2][6]
Matangini Hazra became actively interested in the Indian independence movement as aGandhian.[5] A notable feature of the freedom struggle in Midnapore was the participation of women.[7] In 1930, she took part in theCivil Disobedience movement and was arrested for breaking theSalt Act. She was promptly released, but then participated in the 'Chowkidari Tax Bandha' (abolition of chowkidari tax) movement and while marching towards the court building chanting slogan to protest against the illegal constitution of a court by the governor to punish those who participated in the movement, Matangini was arrested again. She was sentenced to six months imprisonment and sent to Baharampur jail. Again, she was incarcerated for six months atBaharampur.[2] After being released, she became an active member of theIndian National Congress and took to spinning her ownKhadi. In 1933, she attended the subdivisional Congress conference atSerampore and was injured in the ensuingbaton charge by the police.[2]
In 1930s, despite her meagre physical state, Hazra went back to her social work immediately after her release from prison to help untouchables.[8] Always engaged in humanitarian causes, she worked among affected men, women and children when smallpox in epidemic form broke out in the region.[2]
As part of theQuit India Movement, members of the Congress planned to take over the various police stations of Medinipore district and other government offices.[2] This was to be a step in overthrowing the British government in the district and establishing an independent Indian state. Hazra, who was 72 years at the time, led a procession of six thousand supporters, mostly women volunteers, with the purpose of taking over the Tamluk police station.[5][7] When the procession reached the outskirts of the town, they were ordered to disband underSection 144 of theIndian Penal Code by theCrown police.[5] As she stepped forward, Hazra was shot once.[5] Apparently, she had stepped forward and appealed to the police not to open fire at the crowd.TheBiplabi newspaper of the parallelTamluk National Government commented:
Matangini led one procession from the north of the criminal court building; even after the firing commenced, she continued to advance with the tri-colour flag, leaving all the volunteers behind. The police shot her three times. She continued marching despite wounds to the forehead and both hands.[7]
As she was repeatedly shot, she kept chantingVande Mataram, "hail to the Motherland". She died with the tricolour flag held high and still flying.[2][5][9][10][11]
The parallel Tamluk Government (Tamralipta Jatiya Sarkar) incited open rebellion by praising her "martyrdom for her country" and was able to function for two more years, until it was disbanded in 1944, atGandhi's request.[9]
India earned Independence in 1947 and numerous schools, colonies, and streets, including the long stretch of Hazra Road inKolkata,[8] were named after Hazra. The first statue of a woman put up in Kolkata in independent India was Hazra's in 1977.[12]A statue now stands at the spot where she was killed in Tamluk.[13]
In 2002, as part of a series ofpostage stamps commemorating sixty years of theQuit India Movement and the formation of the Tamluk National Government, theDepartment of Post of India issued a fiverupee postage stamp with Matangini Hazra's portrait. In 2015, theShahid Matangini Hazra Government College for Women was established in Tamluk,Purba Medinipur.[8]
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