Sarojini Naidu is one of the great personalities which our Indian nation has ever been gifted with. What should we call her? A freedom fighter, a women’s empowerment activist or a poet of all! In the era when India was struggling for freedom against the British Empire, Sarojini Naidu always had her struggles against society thinking. Her parents always had been a great supporter of her work and act and needless to say, what she achieved was the entire credit because of her parent’s support during the entire journey.
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Her Education Life
Sarojini Naidu who was born in the year 1879 on February 13th is also popularly called Nightingale of India. She has been one well-known women’s emancipation, political activist and of all an important figure during the struggle of India for independence from British colonial rule. Born in the Bengali family, Naidu had always the zest for education and needless to say her father never discouraged her from doing what she aspired of. She did her schooling from Chennai and then went to College in London after she achieved her scholarship. She did her further studies in Cambridge and then her journey did not end there.
In England as well she worked as a suffragist but post the Indian national Congress member started when India started seeking independence against British ruling, she decided to return to the country. She highly followed Mahatma Gandhi and supported his footsteps. Her contribution to the idea of Swaraj set by Mahatma Gandhi was quite supportive. Later in the year 1925, she was also appointed as President of the Indian National Congress. In the year 1947, she became Governor of the United Provinces which now Uttar Pradesh. She was the only first woman till date who held the role of Governor Position in the Dominion of India.
Career Journey
He got her passion for reading and writing poems from her mother who was a poet herself. Sarojini Naidu then used her creativity to spread the messages to the mass audience. She became proficient in different languages than her mother tongue like English, Urdu, and Persian too. Later her volume of poetries like The Broken Wing, The Golden Threshold, and The Golden Threshold grabbed the attention of a mass audience and they are still popular and being told in the school. She was known to be the beauty of India because of her poems. There had been a title of Bharat Kokila designated to her for the beautiful words of the poems which she so far had made.
In her career peak when she studied in England, she got to know about the partition of Bengal. It was then she decided to join the country and serve the nation and then stuck to the commitment for such a noble cause till her death. When she joined the Indian National Congress, she came across great personalities like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru with whom she had a great bonding. She also traveled all across India to make people aware of social welfare and women empowerment and nationalism.
Her Role In Women Empowerment:
There is no doubt that women like Sarojini Naidu played great roles as freedom fighters. But it was she along with Annie Besant and Kamala Nehru who worked for the women’s political awakening too. Her approach for the betterment of India and the choices she made are still inspirational. She was not just a brilliant student but she used it wisely for many areas. Once she finished her studies, at the age of 19 she got married to a non-Brahmin personality who was a doctor by profession called Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu. It was her contribution and hard work that encouraged many women to get out of the kitchen and speak for their rights. For this, she had to travel every state and city to crusade for women’s rights.
An Inspiration To All Women:
Her spirit and dedication to bring quality for the woman just the way other activists had inspired many women in India. It was the time when a woman was not allowed to get out of the four walls of her house. She was only told to work, watch and do the household chores. But after her dedication to fighting for the woman empowerment, it was then a great change being noticed. That is the main reason, even if International day is celebrated on the 8th of March, in India, the national women’s day is celebrated on the 13th of February which is Sarojini Naidu’s birth anniversary as a tribute to such great personalities.
Shaping Women’s Indian Association
Sarojini Naidu had given her major contribution to shaping up the rights of women and this struggle was never easy. In the year 1917, with Annie Besant, she started with the Women’s Indian Association. The association was all about bringing women the equal rights which they deserve. Now, this is counted to be the right for visiting and resenting in the political field too. She presented the need for including more women in congress and even during freedom fighting. In the year 1918, British and Indian feminists started with a magazine also called “Stri Dharma” which stated only about presenting the international news that had a woman prescriptive in it.
Annie Besant then was the President’s Rule League at that time. To fight for the woman’s right, she was present in London where she got visited for being a part of Joint Select Committee. In 1931, Congress agreed to establish the right of the woman for voting when it comes to power. The enactment was done along with the Independence of India in the year 1947. From 1915 to 1918, she had to travel to many regions of Indian to lecture on the rights of women and even nationalism and special welfare.
Looking at her achievements and journey which she had in freedom of not just India but also Indian women’s rights was never easy. Unfortunately, she died in Lucknow Office due to cardiac arrest but her principles and followings are still alive and intact. Rather her example is set in school as a motivating and encouraging fellow student to participate in making society a better one.
Sarojini Naidu had always been a prominent figure for the woman in the Politics of Woman in India. Other than her role as a rights activist, poet, and governor, she had won many awards and recognition. Out of which Kaiser-i-Hind medal is one of the renowned ones which was given by the British government. It means the emperor of India and is given only to the person who without any occupation race and position or sex discrimination has to serve the nation and worked for the public interest of India. She also was a part of “non-violent” that Gandhiji had set for which she traveled quite a lot around India. Certainly to have such a famous personality in India was an honor and our future is expecting more of such people who can serve the nation without any kind of discrimination. Let us all pay tribute to her generous act that she served for not just the nation but also for the woman.