Smt. Durgawati Devi (Bhabhi), the unsung woman freedom fighter

Smt. Durgawati Devi (Bhabhi), the unsung woman freedom fighter

It has been over seventy years since India gained independence. Time, the one linear momentum in our lives slowly fades it all away. The struggle and sacrifice of our forefathers are slowly fading away. India has beautiful banknotes in different colors and intricate designs but one common feature on all the banknotes is the image of Mahatma Gandhi. We do owe a lot of Bapu but we are indebted to many more inspiring personalities that paved the way for our freedom.
 Today is the birth anniversary of one such unsung woman fighter who everyone respectfully called “Bhabhi”. Durgawati Ji or ‘Durga Devi’ was born to a Gujarati couple and raised by her aunt in Allahabad as her mother passed away and her father took sanyas. Devi got married to Bhagwati Charan Vohra at a young age of 11. Bhagwati Charan was inspired to join the freedom struggle with the ongoing satyagraha movements and later joined Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Yashpal at the Lahore college. This team would play a pivotal role in the freedom struggle of India.
Soon, Devi (bhabhi) and Bhagwati Charan were hosting discussions against the British rule at their family home in Lahore. Durga Devi was a teacher at the girl’s college (Lahore) at the time. Drawn by the cause of national freedom, she joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), an organization whose aim was setting India free from the shackles of British rule. Devi had become the host and planner for HSRA meetings.
After the assassination of the British police officer – John Saunders, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru fled from the scene and came to Devi for refuge. Devi posed as Bhagat Singh’s wife and helped the trio with her family emergency funds to flee from the British intelligence in Lahore. Devi braved the risks involved with her three-year-old son at the time and reached Lucknow with Bhagat Singh. Smt. Durgawati would continue her fight against the British as she would receive several posts which she would forward to the families of the freedom fighters in hiding. Durga Devi also led the revolutionary activities for HSRA whilst the men were either arrested or hiding from the British police. One such daring execution was an attempted assassination of Lord Hailey, an ex-Governor of Punjab. Although the Governor escaped, his aides were injured. Devi was soon to learned of her husband’s accidental demise while testing a homemade bomb which he was preparing to free Bhagat Singh from the jail. Devi led a campaign to free Bhagat Singh and later organized a funeral procession of Jatindra Nath Das from Lahore to Calcutta after his death in the 63-day jail hunger strike.
Post-independence, smt. Devi lived in Lucknow where she had started a school for poor kids. She passed away on October 15, 1999, at the age of 92. We at Subharti University salute our brave freedom fighters.
Smt-Durgawati-Devi-(Bhabhi)

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