To celebrate the 75th year of India’s independence, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has engaged its team of researchers (belonging to its affiliates) to make profiles of unsung heroes who played crucial roles during the freedom struggle but lost in the pages of history.
The various affiliates of RSS who are engaged in this unique research project include Rashtra Sevika Samity, Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti, Lok Pragya etc. All the RSS affiliates are working on various tasks including sorting out names of freedom fighters whose names many of the youngsters are not aware of and their contribution in the freedom struggle.
Speaking to News18.com, Professor Rabi Ranjan Sen, General Secretary, Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Samity, said, “It’s a great honour for all of us to work on this project to highlight the contribution of unsung heroes to celebrate 75th years of India’s independence.”
Some of the unsung freedom fighters whose names were selected for this project are: Ullaskar Dutta (associated with Anushilan Samiti), Dukari Bala Devi (first female fighter to be arrested and convicted under the infamous Arms Act), Satish Chandra Samanta, Nanibala Devi, Bina Das, Satyendra Nath Basu, Kundraprabha Sengupta, Pulin Bihari Das, Manoranjan Sen, Basant Kumar Biswas, Parul Mukherjee, Moti Lal Rai, Kanai Lal Dutta, Tarak Nath Das etc.
While sharing more details about the project, General Secretary of Rashtra Sevika Samity, Mausumi Karmakar, said, “Beside others, there are 47 women freedom fighters in the list and hopefully we will be able to complete the work by January. As of now, it has been decided to compile our work in a book form. I am sure our work will help our younger generation to know more about these freedom fighters who were forgotten by many.”
It was learnt that apart from launching a book on them, there are plans to make short documentaries on their lives and history. There will be seminars across the country too to celebrate the 75th year of India’s independence on these short-listed people.
RSS State General Secretary, Jishnu Basu, said, “It’s teamwork and it is going to be one of the best informative researches. This is for the first time such a unique project was taken up where we concentrated more on women freedom fighters that were lost somewhere in the pages of history.”
“Let’s take the example of Nanibala Devi. She was married at the age of 11 and became a widow at the age of 15. Very few people are aware that she was an undercover agent and helped those who fought against the British. She was caught in Peshawar and subjected to extreme torture. In 1919 she was released and adopted spirituality. Her freedom struggle is not known to many and therefore we have taken this initiative to bring their contribution to the forefront,” he added.
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