To be read and revered

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Dakshayini Velayudhan was socially disadvantaged and had to fight for her rights. She highlighted the plight of Dalits in the Constituent Assembly. Unlike the other women, she rejected the AIWC as an elitist organisation. To Indians, she taught the intersectionality of being a woman and a Harijan, and all the complications that come with it.

India’s first health minister Rajkumari Amrit Kaur wanted to study medicine and made up for it by sneaking into classes at the Oxford University. She was India’s finest tennis player and played at Wimbledon. In addition to being elected to the Constituent Assembly, she was also nominated to the 50-member Advisory Committee as well as for the subcommittees on fundamental rights and minorities.

No one in India needs an introduction to Sarojini Naidu, poet and freedom fighter. In 1946, she was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bihar. Her real work was in being the cultural ambassador of India where she spoke at various venues of her dreams for India. She participated in the Salt Satyagraha beside Gandhi in 1930 and, in 1931, attended the Second Round Table Conference. In 1947, she presided over the first Asian Relations Conference, which later became the Non-Aligned Movement.

Sucheta Kripalani was another well-known figure in the freedom movement and was known for the formation of the women’s wing of Congress, now known as All-India Mahila Congress. She went to prison for opposing the British call for Indian participation in World War II. On the eve of Independence, she sang the national anthem before Nehru’s tryst with destiny speech. In the Constituent Assembly, she spoke in favour of the Hindu Code Bill and how it stood for equality.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was torn between the lifestyle of her father and that of Gandhi, but she chose her own mix of the two. She moved the resolution for the repeal of GOI Act 1935 and set about forming the Constituent Assembly. With the passing of Ranjit Pandit, his family froze their bank account and the Hindu Succession Act was enacted in 1956 to give the wife, mother and direct descendants the right to property. She headed the delegation to the UN General Assembly session of 1946. In 1947, she was made the Ambassador to Russia. And two years later, to the US, launching her illustrious career as a diplomat.

These are the stories of women who inspire and burn with the fire to do something for the country. They must be read and revered.

There is some commonality in the stories of all these women. All of them struggled: some against deep poverty, others against mindsets. They fought to make themselves heard