Kamala Das Gupta (11 March 1907 – 19 July 2000) was an Indian freedom fighter.

Early life

Das Gupta was born in 1907, to a Vaidya family of Bikrampur in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, now in Bangladesh; the family later moved to Calcutta, where she got a Master of Arts degree in history from

Bethune College Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. ...

, Calcutta University.

Revolutionary activities

Nationalist ideas were current among the young people in Calcutta she met at university, and she was filling with a strong desire to take part in the freedom struggle. She tried to quit her studies and enter

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

’s Sabarmati Ashram, but her parents disapproved. Finishing her education, she became friends with some members of the extremist Jugantar party, and was quickly converted from her original Gandhism to the cult of armed resistance. In 1930, she left home and took a job as manager of a hostel for poor women. There she stored and couriered, bombs and bomb-making materials for the revolutionaries. She was arrested several times in connection with bombings but was released every time for want of evidence. She supplied Bina Das with the revolver that she used to try to shoot Governor Stanley Jackson in February 1922, and was arrested also on that occasion, but released. In 1933 the British finally succeeded in putting her behind bars. In 1936 she was released and placed under house arrest. In 1938 the Jugantar Party aligned itself with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, and Kamala also transferred her allegiance to the larger party. Thenceforth she became involved in relief work, especially with the Burmese refugees of 1942 and 1943 and in 1946–1947 with the victims of communal rioting. She was in charge of the relief camp at

Noakhali Noakhali ( bn, নোয়াখালী, , New canal), historically known as Bhulua ( bn, ভুলুয়া), is a district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in the Chittagong Division. It was established as district in 1821, and officia ...

that Gandhi visited in 1946. She worked for women's vocational training at the Congress ''Mahila Shilpa Kendra'' and the ''Dakshineshwar Nari Swabalambi Sadan''. She edited the women's journal ''Mandira'' for many years. She authored two memoirs in Bengali, ''Rakter Akshare'' (In Letters of Blood, 1954) and ''Swadhinata Sangrame Nari'' (Women in the Freedom Struggle, 1963).

Death

She died on 19 July 2000 in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Early life

Revolutionary activities

Death

References

Further reading