Remembering Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Feminist and Indian Freedom Fighter

By A Staff Reporter: This year, India will celebrate its 78th Independence Day on August 15. India's freedom means sacrifice and struggle. India's freedom movement would not have been possible without the contribution of great freedom fighters.

India's freedom struggle was fought to liberate the country and the countrymen who were under the British Raj for a long time. There were many other freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for India. With the passage of time, many have forgotten the names of these warriors. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay is one such infamous fighter of the freedom struggle.

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay played an important role in India's freedom struggle. He was a prominent leader of the Indian freedom struggle. She was married to Harindranath Chattopadhyay. Then he went to London. In 1923, Kamaladevi came to know about Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and returned to India from London to join the movement.

In 1926, inspired by her participation in the Madras Provincial Assembly, she met Margaret E. Casins, the founder of the All India Women's Conference. She thus became the first woman leader to maintain law and order in India.

In 1927, she founded the All India Women's Conference and became its first organising secretary. Over the next few years, the All India Women's Conference became a respected national organisation, with its branches and volunteer programmes, and worked steadily for legal reforms through it.

In 1944, Kamaladevi visited West Bengal to visit an orphanage in the small town of Bankura, about 170 km northwest of Kolkata. As president of AIWC, Kamaladevi brought together local women's organisations to provide relief. She has made a special contribution to the protection of women in the country. She has also written a book titled 'Awareness of Indian Women'.