Hajrah Begum (1910-2003) was an Indian politician, a leader of the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

and the former General Secretary National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) from 1954 to 1962 . Hajra Begum was born into a wealthy family in 1910. She grew up in Rampur. Her father was a magistrate in Meerut.

Zohra Sehgal Zohra Mumtaz Sehgal (born Sahibzadi Zohra Mumtazullah Khan Begum; 27 April 1912 – 10 July 2014) was an Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer. Having begun her career as a member of a contemporary dance troupe, she transitioned into acting ...

was her sister. Hajra Begum was married to her cousin, but soon divorced and returned to her father's house along with her infant son. During this period she became inspired by the

Meerut Conspiracy Case The Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case that was initiated in British Raj in March 1929 and decided in 1933. Several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested for organizing an Indian railway strike. The Bri ...

, the judicial process against the Indian communist leadership. In 1933 Begum went to Great Britain with her son, to study

Montessori The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes indepen ...

teaching course there. During her studies in Britain, she was one of the first Indians to join the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

. She was part of the group of Indian Marxist students. She visited the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in 1935. In 1935 Begum returned to India along with K.M. Ashraf, Z.A. Ahmed and

Sajjad Zaheer Syed Sajjad Zaheer ( ur, ) (5 November 1899 – 13 September 1973) was an Indian Urdu writer, Marxist ideologue and radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a member of the Communist Par ...

. Upon returning to India, she married Z.A. Ahmed and both became full-time party cadres of the

. She became active in the

Congress Socialist Party The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of th ...

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

, where she organized railway coolies, press workers and peasants. She was part of a core group of young leaders of the CSP in Allahabad, along with Z.A. Ahmed, K.M. Ashraf and

Rammanohar Lohia Ram Manohar Lohia ; (23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) was an activist in the Indian independence movement and a socialist political leader. During the last phase of British rule in India, he worked with the Congress Radio which was broadcast s ...

; all of whom except Lohia were also members of the underground CPI. At the time she was one of only a handful female CPI members. She became the organising secretary of the All India Women's Conference in 1940, and edited its organ Hindi-language organ ''Roshni''. She was a frequent contributor to the weekly ''

Qaumi Jang ''Qaumi Jang'' ( ur, قومی جنگ, 'People's War') was an Urdu language weekly newspaper published by the Communist Party of India from Bombay during World War II. It was founded in 1942 as the Urdu edition of ''People's War''. ''Qaumi Jang'' ...

''. She was imprisoned at Lucknow Jail for five months in 1949, and worked in the underground after her release. She was a participant at the World Peace Conference in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1952. Hajra Begum was one of the founders of the National Federation of Indian Women and former General Secretary from 1954 to 1962. Hajra Begum died on January 20, 2003, after a prolonged period of illness. She is survived by her daughter, Urdu theater director, Salima Raza, and granddaughter, actress Ayesha Raza Mishra.

References

{{Reflist Communist Party of India politicians from Uttar Pradesh Female politicians of the Communist Party of India 1910 births 2003 deaths