Born: 24th September 1861
Died: 13th August 1936
Madam Bhikaji Rustom Cama was born on 24th September 1861. She was an Indian revolutionary who took active participation in the Indian Independence Movement. Madam Bikaji Rustom Cama was born and brought up in a Parsee family. She was an intelligent, disciplined, and bright student. She received her early education in Bombay. Being in an environment where the Indian nationalist movement was taking root she was focused on political issues at an early age. In 1885, she married a well-known lawyer, Rustomji Cama, but her constant involvement with sociopolitical issues led to a dispute between the couple. Cama left India and went to London because of their marital problems and her poor health (which required medical attention). During her stay in London, she met Dadabhai Naoroji and started working with the Indian National Congress. Cama also came in contact with other Indian nationalists, including Shyamji Krishna Varma, Vir Savarkar, Lala Har Dayal, she also attended and addressed several meetings in London’s Hyde Park. After the 1907 conference in Stuttgart, Cama traveled abroad for an extended lecture tour to arouse public opinion against British rule in India, especially among Indians living abroad. She also lectured in favor of women’s rights. After hearing the rumors that she would be expelled from England, she moved to Paris (1909), and there a headquarters for those struggling for Indian independence became her home. She helped Shri. Lala Har Dayal with his revolutionary paper named ‘Bande Mataram’ (copies of which were smuggled into India from London). For three years during World War I, after Great Britain and France became allies, the French authorities imprisoned her for her anti-British activities. She maintained her contacts with Indian, Irish, and Egyptian revolutionaries and co-operate with French Socialists and Russian leadership. In 1935, she was allowed to return to India, where she died on 13th August 1936, at the age of 75. She is also called the ‘Mother of the Indian Revolution. It was Madam Cama who first planned the Indian national flag. She waved the flag at the International Socialist Congress held at Stuttgart on 18th August 1907, in front of the vast assembly and requested the representatives to cooperate with the Indians in their efforts to free themselves from British rule.
