Purnima Banerjee (née Ganguly, 1911-1951) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist and a member of the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

from 1946 to 1950.

Early life and career

She was the younger sister of famous freedom fighter, educator and activist Aruna Asaf Ali. Their father Upendranath Ganguly was a restaurant owner who hailed from

Barisal district Barisal District, officially spelled Barishal District from April 2018, is a district in south-central Bangladesh, formerly called Bakerganj district, established in 1797. Its headquarters are in the city of Barisal, which is also the headqua ...

of Eastern

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) but settled in United Provinces. Her mother Ambalika Devi was the daughter of renowned Brahmo scholar Trailokyanath Sanyal who wrote many Brahmo hymns. Upendranath Ganguly's younger brother

Dhirendranath Ganguly Dhirendra Nath Ganguly (26 March 1893 – 18 November 1978), better known as Dhiren Ganguly or D.G, was a Dadasaheb Phalke Award-winning and Padma Bhushan recipient film entrepreneur/actor/director of Bengali Cinema. He had set up a number of ...

(DG) was one of the earliest film directors. Another brother, Nagendranath, was a university professor who married Nobel Prize winner

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's only surviving daughter Mira Devi. As secretary of 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 E ...

committee in Allahabad, she was responsible for engaging and organizing trade unions, ''kisan'' meetings and work towards greater rural engagement. She took part in the

Salt March The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

and the Quit India Movement and was subsequently imprisoned. Later, she became a member of the

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the- ...

and of the

Death

Suffering from ill-health, she died prematurely in

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

in 1951, a few years after the independence.

References

Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh Prisoners and detainees of British India Bengali politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Members of the Constituent Assembly of India 1911 births 1951 deaths Brahmos Politicians from Allahabad {{India-activist-stub