FREEDOM FIGHTER
No 2 - Basanti Devi
Basanti Devi picked up from
where her husband Chittaranjan
Das, who was an activist was
arrested and later died. She did
the best social work for the nation
and was awarded the Padma
Bhushan in 1973.
During the British rule in India, she
was an Independence activist.
She was born on March 23rd,
1980 and left the world in 1974.
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She was the daughter of a Diwan
under colonial rule. She studied
in Kolkata at Loreto House and
was just 17 when she got married.
Chandra Bose respected Basant
Devi as his mother and he was
always in good terms with her and
took her advice seriously.
She participated in three important
events during the British rule
and they are civil disobedience
movement, Khilafat movement
and in the Nagpur session of the
Indian National Congress. To
support the Khadi Movement,
Devi went on the streets. Despite
being warned by Chandra Bose,
she didn’t stop and was arrested.
As she was an activist, with two
other women she worked on
developing “Nari Karma Mandir”
that is a training center for all the
activists. She was a dedicated
Independence Activist which is
seen in how she got involved
in encouraging youth to take
revenge for Lajpat Rai’s death.
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She was part of a weekly
publication named “Bangala
Kathar” and worked on promoting
arts that focused on opposing
colonialism. In every possible
way, she fought during the
freedom movement.
No 3 - Ashalata Sen
Ashalata Sen was born in
Noakhaliand in the year 1894 and
died in 1986. She was a poet,
social worker and an activist
against the British. Her father
worked at the district judge’s court
as a lawyer.
One of her best work was a poem
she wrote at the age of 10. The
poem was published in Antahpur.
The poem described the incident
of the Bengal Partition. She wrote
the following books, Utsa, Vidyut,
Valmiki’s Ramayan, Uchchhvas
and Chhotoder Sada.
She contributed to the Freedom
Movement by participating in the
salt march and made a weaving
machine in Dhaka to support
the Khadi Movement started by
Gandhi Ji.
Besides, she worked for the
welfare of women and with her
grandmother’s encouragement
she joined politics, she signed
the pledge of boycotting foreign
goods. She went out of her way
and encourage other women to
sign the pledge too.
During the civil disobedience
movement when Gandhi Ji was
arrested. Kalyan Kutir, the place