The Hindu : A freedom fighter in her own right

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 25, 2002

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National

A freedom fighter in her own right

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 24. Indirani Devi, wife of the former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram, who died recently at the age of 91, was a freedom fighter in her own right .She knew the humiliation of untouchability, having suffered at the hands of those practising this social evil which in some parts of India still persists. But she boldly faced these adverse situations and fought against them.

Though the daughter of an educated man who served as doctor in the British Army and was decorated with the Victoria Cross, Indirani Devi was denied admission in all the schools in Kanpur except the mission schools.

Later on , when she moved to a hostel in Lucknow after her admission to a teacher-training college, she witnessed untouchability in its worst form. She was not permitted to eat in the dining room of the hostel and was forced to have her food in the portico. other girls kept their distance from her.

She was a pillar of strength to Babu Jagjivan Ram as he took the plunge in the freedom struggle. It was Indirani who, when consulted, asked her husband to turn down the British offer of a ministerial berth with hefty pay packet and perks.

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