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A REVOLUTIONARY LIFE: MEMOIRS OF A POLITICAL ACTIVIST
Lakshmi Sahgal
Rs 250 Hb 1997
81-85107-87-4
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In 1940, Lakshmi Sahgal left for Singapore to work as a doctor, and came into contact with a group of expatiate Indians who would form the core of the future Indian National Army. In July 1943, Netaji Subhash Chander Bose called upon her to participate in the formation of the Rani Jhansi Regiment, the first and only all-woman regiment in modern Indian history. Trained in warfare and weaponry, this regiment participated actively in the INA’s struggle for freedom until 1946, when the INA was disbanded, only to the remembered as The Forgotton Army.
Here, at last, is Lakshmi Sahgal’s autobiography in its original form, as she wrote it decades ago. One of the few first-person accounts of the time, it is a document of immense political and historical value, and offers a unique perspective on women in armed struggle and the freedom movement.
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CAPTAIN LAKSHIMI SAHGAL
was born into an highly political family. She had her early political education at home, when the family boycotted English goods and spoke only Malayalm and Tamil. She was politically active in Madras University and later joined the INA. After independence she practised as a gynaecologist in Kanpur and helped the women in the community who had been repatriated from Malaya and Singapore when the INA was disbanded. She was also vice president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association and president of the U.P. state unit of the Janwadi Mahila Samiti. |
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