![Esther Cooper, Vidya Kanuga, white woman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Esther_Cooper%2C_Vidya_Kanuga%2C_white_woman.jpg)
Vidya Munshi (née Kanuga; 5 December 1919 – 8 July 2014) was a journalist and leader of
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 ...
. She has been, arguably, the first woman journalist of India.
Early life
Vidya Kanuga, later Munshi, belonged to a Gujarati family. She was born in Bombay (Mumbai) on December 5, 1919, to a lawyer father and social activist mother. She stood first among women in the school-leaving exams, and then joined the I.Sc. course in Bombay's Elphinstone College. She decided to set off for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
alone to study medicine in 1938.
In England: communism
Her father was a famous criminal lawyer, and she was introduced to politics by her uncle. She reached England in 1938. By the time she prepared for pre-medical exams, the Second World War had broken out. Therefore, instead of returning to India, she joined King's College, Newcastle, Durham. There she came in contact with Communist ideology and movement. She gave up her studies after three years and became a full-time activist in England. She became a secretary of the''Federation of Indian Students’ Societies in England and Ireland'' (FEDIND). She came in contact with 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 ...
(CPGB) and soon became a member. She was in active contact with the Indian Communists and nationalists there, which shaped her future course of life. She took part in several programs of the CPGB, mainly against fascism.
In 1943 while in England She and her colleagues held their first poster exhibition in Sheffield. The exhibition highlighted the trauma of the people of famine-affected Bengal. The money collected was sent to India for the victims of
Bengal famine.
Foundation of WFDY
She took part in the foundation conference of the
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, and has historically characterized itself as left-wing and anti-imperialist. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, o ...
(WFDY), held in London in October–November, 1945, representing the
All India Students’ Federation (AISF). It was attended by delegates from 67 countries. India was represented by Vidya Kanuga, Ketayun Boomla and AH Sader. M Raschid was observer. They attended on behalf of the FEDIND. Vidya Kanuga was the secretary of the commission on Participation of Youth in the Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace at the WFDY conference.
The first Council meet of WFDY (July 19-August 5, 1946) held in Paris, formed a colonial Bureau. Vidya Kanuga was charged with responsibility of the Bureau. It decided to run a campaign that food should be sent to India as a first priority.
Vidya also attended the founding conference of
Women's International Democratic Federation
Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) is an international organization with the stated goal of working for women's rights. It was established in 1945 and was most active during the Cold War. It initially focussed on anti-fascism, worl ...
(WIDF) in Paris in 1945 along with Ela Reid, general secretary of
Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti
The Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti ( bn, মহিলা আত্মরক্ষা সমিতি, 'Women's Self-Defense Association, abbreviated MARS) was a women's movement in Bengal, India.Agarwal, Bina. Gender and Land Rights in South Asia'. Ca ...
(MARS). It was held in Velodrome D’Hiver (Winter Stadium) between November 26 and December 1, 1945. Vidya and Ila Reid represented India at this massive inaugural conference.
She returned to India in 1948 as the representative of the WFDY. She worked in the Preparatory Committee of
Southeast Asian Youth Conference held in Calcutta in February 1948.
Women's movement and journalism
She attended the first congress of
National Federation of Indian Women
The National Federation of Indian Women is a women's organisation in India, the women's wing of the Communist Party of India. It was established in 1954 June 4 by several leaders from Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti including Aruna Asaf Ali.Overstree ...
(NFIW) in 1954 in Calcutta. She was in its Press Liaison Committee. She was thus among the founders of the NFIW.
On return from UK, she married geographer and journalist Sunil Munshi, who later became a famous intellectual, journalist and Communist. Sunil was earlier also an editor of the famous journal of AISF ‘The Student’ in Bombay. She also wrote often in ‘The Student’. It was in this journal that she was groomed as a journalist. Then
she shifted to Calcutta and worked as correspondent for
Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
.
She was asked to edit a Bengali paper ‘Chalar Pathe’ even when she did not know the language well. She had to learn it hard
and quick.
She worked as the Calcutta correspondent of the weekly journal of Bombay the
''Blitz'', from 1952 to 1962. She has been, arguably, called the first woman journalist of India.
She headed the board that published the CPI's mouthpiece, ''
Kalantar
''Kalantar'' is a daily Bengali-language newspaper issued from Kolkata, India. It is the organ of the West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated alo ...
'' for several years. and was an active member of the party. She headed State Women's Commission till 2000. She documented her life, the political upheavals and the shaping of women's movements of her time in great detail in a memoir,
''In Retrospect. War-time Memories and Thoughts on Women's Movement.
''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munshi, Vidya
Female politicians of the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India politicians from Maharashtra
1919 births
2014 deaths
Indian journalists
Indian women journalists