Lakshmi Sahgal () (born Lakshmi Swaminathan; 24 October 1914 – 23 July 2012) was a revolutionary of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, an officer of the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during World War II. Its aim was to secure In ...

, and the Minister of Women's Affairs in the

Azad Hind government The Provisional Government of Free India (''Ārzī Hukūmat-e-Āzād Hind'') or, more simply, ''Azad Hind'', was an Indian provisional government established in Japanese occupation of Singapore, Japanese occupied Singapore during World War II ...

. Lakshmi is commonly referred to in India as Captain Lakshmi, a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma during the Second World War.

Early life

Captain Lakshmi was born to a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

father and

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. ...

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histor ...

(

Menon Menon may refer to: People *Menon (subcaste), an honorary title accorded to some members of the Nair community of Kerala, southern India; used as a surname by many holders of the title Surnamed *Menon (surname), the surname of several people Give ...

) mother as Lakshmi Swaminathan in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 24 October 1914 to S. Swaminathan, a lawyer who practiced criminal law at

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

, and A.V. Ammukutty, better known as

Ammu Swaminathan Ammu Swaminathan or A. V. Ammakuti (22 April 1894 – 4 July 1978) was an Indian social worker and political activist during the Indian independence movement and a member of the Constituent Assembly of India. Early life Ammukutty Swaminadhan w ...

, a social worker and independence activist from an aristocratic

family known as "Vadakkath" family of Anakkara, Ponnani taluk,

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. She is the elder sister of

Mrinalini Sarabhai Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai (11 May 1918 – 21 January 2016) was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, ...

. Lakshmi studied in Queen Mary's College and later chose to study medicine and received an MBBS degree from

Madras Medical College Madras Medical College (MMC) is a public medical college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established on 2 February 1835, it is the second oldest medical college in India, established after Calcutta Medical College. History The Governme ...

in 1938. A year later, she received her diploma in

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

and

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

. She worked as a doctor in the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital located at

Triplicane Triplicane, known in the vernacular as Thiruvallikeni, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast and about from Fort St George. The average elevation of the neighbourhood is 14 metres ...

Chennai. In 1940, she left for

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

after the failure of her marriage to pilot P.K.N. Rao. During her stay at Singapore, she met some members of

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

The Azad Hind Fauj

In 1942, during the surrender of Singapore by the British to the Japanese, Lakshmi aided wounded

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

, many of whom were interested in forming an Indian independence army. Singapore at this time had several nationalist Indians working there including K. P. Kesava Menon, S. C. Guha and N. Raghavan, who formed a Council of Action. Their

, or ''Azad Hind Fauj'', however, received no firm commitments or approval from the occupying Japanese forces regarding their participation in the war. It was against this backdrop that Subhas Chandra Bose arrived in Singapore on 2 July 1943. Lakshmi had heard that Bose was keen to draft women into the organisation and requested a meeting with him from which she emerged with a mandate to set up a women's regiment, to be called the Rani of Jhansi regiment. Women responded enthusiastically to join the all-women brigade and Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan became Captain Lakshmi, a name and identity that would stay with her for life. The INA marched to Burma with the

Japanese army The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

in December 1944, but by March 1945, with the tide of war turning against them, the INA leadership decided to beat a retreat before they could enter

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the fo ...

. Captain Lakshmi was arrested by the British in May 1945, remaining in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

until March 1946, when she was sent to India – at a time when the INA trials in Delhi heightened popular discontent with and hastened the end of colonial rule.

Later years

In 1971, Lakshmi joined the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

and represented the party in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

. During the Bangladesh crisis, she organised relief camps and medical aid in Calcutta for refugees who streamed into India from Bangladesh. She was one of the founding members of

All India Democratic Women's Association All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) is a women's organisation committed to achieving democracy, equality and women's emancipation. It has an organizational presence in 23 states in India, with a current membership of more than 11 m ...

in 1981 and led many of its activities and campaigns. She led a medical team to Bhopal after the gas tragedy in December 1984, worked towards restoring peace in Kanpur following the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and was arrested for her participation in a campaign against the Miss World competition in Bangalore in 1996. She was still seeing patients regularly at her clinic in Kanpur in 2006, at the age of 92. In 2002, four leftist partiesthe

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 ...

, the

, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the

All India Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...

nominated Sahgal as a candidate in the presidential elections. She was the sole opponent of

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

, who emerged victorious.

Personal life

Lakshmi married

Prem Kumar Sahgal Lieutenant colonel Prem Kumar Sahgal (25 March 1917 – 17 October 1992) was an officer of the British Indian Army. After becoming a Japanese prisoner of war, he served as an officer in the Indian National Army, which was led by Subhas Chandra B ...

in March 1947 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. After their marriage, they settled in

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, where she continued with her medical practice and aided the refugees who were arriving in large numbers following the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. They had two daughters:

Subhashini Ali Subhasini Ali (born 29 December 1947) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). She is the President of the All India Democratic Women's Association and former Member of Parliament from Kanpur. Early life ...

and Anisa Puri. Subhashini is a prominent communist politician and labour activist. According to Ali, Lakshmi was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. The filmmaker

Shaad Ali Shaad Ali is an Indian filmmaker. Early life and education Ali was born to Muzaffar Ali and Subhashini Ali (née Sahgal), an Indian politician and member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is thus the grandson of Azad Hind Fauj co ...

is her grandson.

Death

On 19 July 2012, Sahgal had a cardiac arrest and died on 23 July 2012 at 11:20 A.M. at the age of 97 at Kanpur. Her body was donated to

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVMMC or GSVM Medical College) is a public medical college in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The college is named after Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, a freedom fighter and journalist from Kanpur. It wa ...

for medical research.

Awards

In 1998, Sahgal was awarded the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service" ...

by Indian president

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman Narayanan (27 October 1921 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the 9th vice president of India, Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997 and 10th President of India fr ...

. In 2010, she was bestowed with

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

University of Calicut The University of Calicut, also known as Calicut University, is a State ownership, state-run public university headquartered at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district of the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1968, it is the first university to ...

References

*Subhashini Al
Lakshmi Sahgal: A life in service
*Indra Guptha ''India's 50 Most Illustrious Women'' * Peter Fay ''The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence, 1942-1945''

External links

Lakshmi Sehgal: A life of struggle and sacrifice - by Sambhavika Sharma

Indian Express Interview: Despite differences, India is one: Captain Laxmi Sehgal

Freedom fighter Captain Lakshmi Sahgal dies
, NDTV
Captain Lakshmi
''The Economist'', 4 August 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahgal, Lakshmi 1914 births 2012 deaths Indian atheists Indian revolutionaries Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Azad Hind Indian National Army personnel People from Kanpur Indian independence movement Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu Indian communists Indian rebels Subhas Chandra Bose Madras Medical College alumni Candidates for President of India Indian gynaecologists Indian women gynaecologists 20th-century Indian women scientists 21st-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian medical doctors Indian women of World War II Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh 21st-century Indian medical doctors Medical doctors from Tamil Nadu Women scientists from Tamil Nadu Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century women physicians 21st-century women physicians Female revolutionaries