Issue no.: 1 | September 2008

Making History

Sarojini Naidu-The Nightingale of India

Sarojini Naidu or Sarojini Chattopadhyaya (February 13, 1879 - March 2, 1949), known as Bharatiya Kokila (The Nightingale of India), was a child prodigy, freedom fighter, and a poet. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

She was active in the Indian Independence Movement, joining Mahatma Gandhi in the Salt March to Dandi, and then leading the Dharasana Satyagraha after the arrests of Gandhi Ji, Abbas Tyabji, and Kasturba Gandhi. She joined the Indian independence movement, in the wake of the partition of Bengal in 1905. During 1903-17, Sarojini came into contact with Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Annie Besant, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

From 1915 to 1918, she lectured all over India on the welfare of youth, dignity of labor, women's emancipation and nationalism. After meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in 1916, she took up the cause of the indigo workers of chappel head. In 1925, she was elected as the President of the Congress, the first Indian woman to hold the post. In March 1919, the British government passed the Rowlatt Act which deemed the possession of seditious documents to be illegal. Mohandas Gandhi organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to protest and Naidu was the first to join the movement, which the government worked to suppress.

In July 1919, Naidu became the Home Rule League's ambassador to England. In July 1920, she returned to India and on August 1, Mahatma Gandhi declared the Non-Cooperation Movement. In January 1924, she was one of the two Indian National Congress delegates at the East African Indian Congress.

Naidu arrived in New York in October 1928 and was concerned with the unjust treatment of the African Americans and the Amerindians. Upon her return to India she became a member of the Congress Working Committee.

On January 26 1930, the National Congress proclaimed its independence from the British Empire. On May 5, Mohandas Gandhi was arrested. Naidu was arrested shortly thereafter and was in jail for several months. She, along with Gandhi, was released on January 31, 1931. Later that year, they were arrested again. Naidu was eventually released due to her poor health. In 1931, she participated in the Round Table Summit, along with Gandhiji and Pundit Malaviyaji. In 1942, she was arrested during the "Quit India" protest and stayed in jail for 21 months with Gandhiji. At the Asian Relations Conference of March 1947, Naidu presided over the Steering Committee.

On August 15, 1947, with the independence of India, Naidu became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, India's first woman governor and she died in office in 1949.