Sarojini Naidu 

was born on February 13, 1879, in a house of intellectuals, poets, philosophers and

Imbibing virtues and cultures from her family, Sarojini was a combination of all – a good poetess,
intelligent, philosopher, singer and a true freedom fighter. She was also called bulbul because she
possessed a sweet voice. She completed her matriculation in Madras Presidency and received
scholarship to study abroad. At the age of 16, she went to England for further studies and at the age of 21
she got married to Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu. 

Sarojini joined the Indian independence movement in 1905 and came in contact with various other
freedom fighters. In 1916, she met Mahatma Gandhi and was motivated to start her career as a freedom
fighter. She woke up women of India from sleep and re-established self esteem within them. To do so,
she traveled from state to state and city to city, asking for women’s rights. 

In 1925, she presided over the annual session of Indian National Congress and later participated in the
Civil Disobedience Movement. She was arrested in 1942 during the Quit India Movement and was
imprisoned for several months. 

She was the first Indian woman to become the Governor of the largest state of the union, Uttar Pradesh.
Naidu vibrantly fought for the freedom of the country but she could not enjoy the freedom for long. She
died in her office on March 2, 1949.

Mahatma Gandhi popularly known as ‘Father of the Nation’was one of the charismatic Indian leaders
who fought for the freedom of the country. This great leader was born in Porbandar, Gujarat on Oct 2,
1869. He was the youngest of the three sons of Putlibai and Karamchand Gandhi. He completed his
primary studies in Rajkot and was married to Kasturba at the age of 13. 

In 1891, Gandhi went to London to study Law but after having admitted to British bar he returned to India
and began law practice in Bombay. After a span of two years he was called by an Indian company in
South Africa to work as a legal advisor. There he found that he was ill-treated and abused because of
inferior race and color discrimination. This was a common problem with all Indians. He then decided to
throw himself into the freedom struggle to secure rights for Indian people. For this cause, Gandhi stayed
in South Africa for almost 25 years. 

Influenced by the Bhagvad Gita and Hindu beliefs, the Jain religion and the Christian teachings of Leo
Tolstoy, Gandhi moved on the path of Satya and Ahimsa. ‘Satya’ meaning ‘truth’ and ‘ahimsa’ meaning
‘non-violence’ were the two weapons that Gandhi used to fight the enemy. He led the campaign in South
Africa with the principle of Satyagraha for Indian rights and was arrested many times for his political
activities. In 1914, many of Gandhi’s demands were accepted by the Government of the Union of South
Africa. After his struggle in South Africa he returned to India and started Non-Cooperation movement
there. 

Gandhi, after returning to India inspired people to boycott British goods and refuse earthy possessions.
This movement was known as Swaraj and was economically significant because Indian home industries
were virtually destructed by British industrialists. He advocated renewal of native Indian industries and
began to use a spinning wheel as a token of return to simple village life. Thereafter, he constantly began
promoting satyagraha, non-violence, non-cooperation and swaraj to achieve independence. Finally, in
August 1947, the British were forced to leave India. 
Mahatma Gandhi, symbol of Free India, was assassinated by Nathuram Godse in January 1948. His
mortal frame has already turned into ashes years ago but he still lives in the hearts of millions of people.
Mahatma Gandhi, an embodiment of eternal love and truth, will live for immortal ages.

Chandrashekhar, a fearless revolutionary and a great freedom fighter, was born on July 23, 1906
in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. He was the son of Pandit Sita Ram Tiwari and Jagrani Devi. He
started his education in Bhavra and at the age of 14 he went to Varanasi where he was taught to live the
austere life of a Brahamachari. 

During his stay in Varanasi he was highly inspired by the Non Cooperation movement of Mahatma
Gandhi. He actively participated in the movement for which he was sentenced to fifteen lashes of logging
at the age of 15. In the court he addressed himself as ‘Azad’, and gave his father’s name as ‘Swadhin’
and his mother’s name as ‘Dhart Ma’. With endurance, courage and fortitude he tolerated all the lashes.
With each stroke of the whip he shouted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. From then, he was honored and titled as
‘Azad’ by the local Indians. Thereafter, he got the name Chandrashekhar Azad. When he was released,
he took a pledge that he would never be arrested by the Britishers and will die as a free man. 

When the Non Cooperation Movement was suspended due to Chauri-Chaura incidence, Azad switched
over to armed revolution and formed ‘Hindustan Socialist Republican Association’ with other
revolutionaries to spread the message of complete independence. He actively participated in
revolutionary activities and was involved in Kakori Train Robbery and the attempt to blow up the Viceroy's
train in 1926. For British Government, he was a terrorist because he killed John Poyantz Saunders to
avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. 

On 27th February 1931, Azad was betrayed by one of the associates who informed the British Police. In
Alfred Park, Allahabad he was besieged by the British police. He fought bravely for quite some time but
seeing no other way he shot himself and fulfilled his desire to die a 'free man'. A great Indian leader,
Chandrashekhar Azad was the heart of all revolutionary leaders and his poetic composition, ‘Dushman ki
goliyon ka hum samna karenge, Azad hee rahein hain, azad hee rahenge' is still recited by Indian
soldiers fighting for free and Happy India.
Bhagat Singh, a symbol of heroism, was born in a Sikh family in Layalpur, Punjab on September
27, 1907. He was a national hero who gave a new wave to the revolutionary movement in India. His only
goal in life was the destruction of British Empire. 

Bhagat started his education in DAV School in Lahore but was not able to complete his studies because
he was highly disturbed and influenced by the Jalianwala Bagh massacre at the age of 12. His desire to
drive British out from India became stronger and he joined the Non-Cooperation Movement called by
Gandhi Ji in 1921. The incidence of Chauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur made Bhagat violent and he decided to
earn freedom with armed revolution rather than non-violence. He then joined the National College in
Lahore, a center of revolutionary activities. 

To spread message of revolution in Punjab, Bhagat formed a union of revolutionaries by the name
‘Naujavan Bharat Sabha’ and gave a call for mass mobilization. In 1928, he went to Delhi to attend a
meeting of revolutionaries’ and there he came in contact with Chandrashekhar Azad. With a common aim
to establish republic in India they both formed ‘Hindustan Samajvadi Prajatantra Sangha’. There were
protests against of Simon Commission visit to India and in this protest Lala Lajpat Rai was brutally lathi
charged and later on he died. This added to the anger and discontent of Bhagat and he was determined
to kill the British official and Deputy Inspector General Scott responsible for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai.
By mistake, he killed assistant superintendent Saunders and ran from Lahore to escape punishment. He
threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 18, 1929 and was sentenced to death on
March 23, 1931. 

Though dead, Bhagat Singh is still living in the history of humanity and remembered as a prominent face
of the freedom struggle.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a pioneer of Indian National Movement, was bron on May 9, 1866 in
Kothapur, Maharashtra. 

This great son of Krishna Rao and Valubai was the political guru of Gandhi Ji. He received his early
education at Rajaram High School in Kothapur and later on moved to Bombay in 1884 to receive higher
education. 

It is said that Gokhale was one of the first Indians who completed graduation. Higher education made him
understand the importance of liberty, democracy and parliamentary system. He wanted to widespread the
knowledge he gained and so moved on to teaching. With strong command over English he was able to
communicate with the Britishers but he also wanted local Indians to speak in a way that their voices are
heard. 

In 1885, Gokhale along with his Deccan Education Society colleagues founded the Fergusson College in
Pune. In the subsequent year he met a great scholar and a social reformer Mahadev Govind Rane. Being
highly influenced by the social works of Ranade, Gokhale called him guru and started moving on the path
of social reforms. He founded the Servants of India Society in 1905. The main objective of this society
was to train Indians to raise their voices and serve their country. 

Gokhale was actively involved in the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909 that gave Indians right to access
highest posts in the government. He also wrote articles for Tilak’s weekly paper. Through his articles he
tried to awaken the lost voices, latent patriotism and the feeling of liberty. 

Gokhale had greatly contributed to India’s independence and development in all spheres. He was a
patient of diabetes and asthma and unfortunately died on February 19, 1915.

Born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India.
The only son of Motilal Nehru and Swarup Rani was a patriot, a freedom fighter and the most highly
respected personality. He completed his early education in a boarding school in England. For higher
studies he went to Cambridge University and returned to India in 1912 as a barrister. Just after his
studies, in 1916 he got married to Kamala Kaul. 

Nehru was an intellectual with strong feelings of patriotism, liberty and unity. Being highly influenced by
Gandhi Ji, he wanted to join the freedom struggle. During the struggle he was imprisoned several times.
He had spent almost 14 years of his life in prison. For consequently 5 times he was elected as the
President of Indian National Congress and under his influence Congress adopted the goal of complete
independence. After centuries of struggle, India became independent in 1947 and soon after that Nehru
was appointed as the first Prime Minister of the country. 

Even after independence he had served the country that had left a profound influence on the social
structure, intellectual development and overall development of the country. He is said to be the architect,
the maker of modern India. On May 27, 1964 India lost its architecture.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of independent India, was born on December 3, 1884 in
Ziradevi village in Bihar’s Siwan district. 

He was the youngest son of Mahadev Sahay and Kamleshwari Devi. As per their custom, he was put
under a Maulavi to learn Persian at the age of 5. Later on, he also learnt Hindi and arithmetic. He got
married to Rajvanshi Devi at the age of 12. After marriage, he gave the entrance examination for Calcutta
University and got scholarship there. He was a brilliant student and earned Masters Degree in Law. 

In 1905, Dr Rajendra Prasad plunged a headlong into the Swadeshi Movement and later on joined the
Dawn Society run by Satish Chandra Mukherjee and Sister Nivedita. 

A new awareness was dawning into him under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Highly impressed by
Gandhi Ji’s dedication, courage and conviction, he joined him in the freedom struggle. He was actively
involved in the Non Cooperation Movement, Salt Stayagraha and Champaran Agrarian Agitation. 

In 1934, while Prasad was in jail, a devastating earthquake struck Bihar. Prasad was soon released after
that and he completely dedicated himself to raise funds for the victims of earthquake. He was successful
in doing so and further to it in 1935 during the Quetta earthquake he had set up relief committees. 

In 1934, he was elected as the President of Indian National Congress and in 1950 as President of
independent India. As a President, he served the country for twelve years and was retired in 1962. 

In the subsequent year he was honored with the Bharat Ratna Award, the nation’s highest civilian award.
He lived for almost a year after that and then left for his heavenly abode on February 28, 1963.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,born on November 11, 1888 in Mecca, was a distinguished scholar, a
great poet, a true freedom fighter and independent India’s first Education Minister. He was the son
of Maulana Khaiiruddin and Aliyah. His father left India during Sepoy Mutiny and settled in Mecca. In
1890, he along with his family returned to India and settled down in Calcutta. 

Maulana Azad pursued traditional Islamic education at home and learned many different languages. He
was imbued with the pan-Islamic spirit and visited many places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and
Turkey. In these places he met many exiled revolutionaries, patriotic leaders, freedom fighters and other
political members who influenced Azad with their revolutionary activities. He then imbibed patriotism and
was metamorphosed into a nationalist revolutionary. 

After returning back to India, he joined the revolutionary movement under Aurbindo Ghosh and Sri Shyam
Sunder Chakravarthy. He also opened secret revolutionary centers all over North India and in Bombay.
Azad convinced the Muslim revolutionaries to fight for India’s freedom rather than fighting for anti-Muslim
causes. In 1912, he started a weekly journal to propagate Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas
based on Hindu-Muslim unity. This weekly proved to be a threat to British Empire and so he was expelled
from Calcutta in 1916 and was released in 1920 after the First World War. 

After his release he actively participated in Khilafat Movement, Non Cooperation Movement and Salt
Stayagraha. He was imprisoned several times but this could not stop him from fighting for freedom
struggle. He was a strong opponent of Hindu Muslim separation and the day partition took place his
dream of a unified nation was shattered. 

In 1947, Maulana Azad was appointed as the Minister of Education in the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru.
He served the country till 1958 and on February 22, 1958 died of a stroke.

Dadabhai Naoroji was a man who laid the foundation of India’s freedom struggle. He was fondly known
as ‘the promise of India’in his youth and ‘the grand old man of India’ in the later years of his life. This
great man was personified as the symbol of purity, sincerity, generosity, bravery and patriotism. 

Dadabhai was born on September 4, 1825 in Bombay in a Parsi priest’s family. His childhood was
uplifted by his mother Maneckbai because his father Naorji Palanji Dordi expired when he was just four
years old. He studied in the Elphinstone College in Bombay and after completing his studies he was
appointed as the Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the same college. 

Naorji started with his political career in 1852. He strongly opposed the misrule of British Government and
wrote several petitions to Governors and Viceroys regarding the sufferings of Indian people. There was
no action taken to it and later he realized that this is because of the ignorance of Indian people. To
promote education and propagate the seeds of Free India, he founded the Gyan Prasarak Mandal. 

In 1855, Dadabhai left for England to join the first Indian business firm and later in 1859, he established
his own business firm there. During his time in England, he endeavored to educate local people through
various learned societies, articles and speeches. Most of his life he had spent writing on India’s plight,
trying to influence people to realize the importance of freedom. 

Naorji was the driving spirit of Indian National Congress and was elected three times as the President of
the Congress in 1866, 1893 and 1906. He demanded for Swaraj, self government for India, publicly
during his third term of presidentship and strongly opposed violence and revolutionary methods as means
of attaining freedom. 

This great noble life lived for almost a century and came to end on June 30, 1917. The people around the
world still believe that Dadabhai came to earth with a mission to achieve Self-Rule for India.

Subhas Chandra Bose is one of those great freedom fighters who martyred their lives for India’s
independence. He is popularly known as Netaji because he was considered to be a born leader.He was
born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa. And was the ninth child of a famous lawyer Janaki Nath
Bose and a religious lady Prabhavati Devi. He completed his graduation in Calcutta and went to England
in 1919 to appear for Indian Civil Service Examination and achieved fourth place on merit. 

Filled with the feelings of patriotism, Bose was resolved to drive British out of the country. When in
England, he was shaken by the incident of Jalianwala Bagh massacre and returned back to India in 1921.
Under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi he joined the Indian National Congress and actively participated
in Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. 

Subash along with Tilak and Auribindo were not convinced with Gandhi Ji’s method of achieving
independence. They were in favor of armed revolution and Netaji strongly believed that the only way to
earn freedom was by shedding blood. With this strong belief, he involved himself in various revolutionary
activities for which he was imprisoned many times. 

In 1938, Subash was elected as the President of All India Congress. At the time of World War II, Gandhi
and Nehru did not support him for armed revolution and so he escaped to Germany to approach Hitler for
help. Being impressed by Netaji, Hitler helped him to organize the Indian National Army with the soldiers
of the prisoners of war. On October 21, 1943, Subash declared the formation of Azad Hind Government
and hosted the Indian National Flag in Kohima, Assam on March 18, 1944. 

In August 1945, Japan surrendered the territory and somehow Netaji escaped from there. He left in a war
plane to an undisclosed destination and expired due to plane crash on August 17, 1945.

A great woman, patriot and a true fighter, Annie Besant, was born in London on October 1, 1847. She
was the daughter of an Irish businessman, William Press Wood and an Irish woman, Emily Mary Ruche.
Annie was given private education and later in 1867 got married to an Anglican clergyman, named Frank
Besant. At the age of 23, Annie had two children but the marriage proved to be a failure and they got
divorced in 1873. 

In 1870, Besant along with Charles Bradlaugh edited the weekly National Refomer. This weekly was
dedicated to spread the ideas of birth control, trade unions, women’s right and national education. In
1888, she organized a strike for female workers in a London based company who were working more
than they were paid and were highly affected by the factory fumes. The strike proved to be successful and
she became more dedicated to women’s sufferings and rights. 

In 1875, Annie joined the religious movement, Theosophy that was based on Hindu ideas of karma and
reincarnation. Completely involved in the Hindu beliefs, she widespread the ideas around the world. India
was one country with maximum Hindus and so she visited the country in 1983 to spread the ideas and
principles of Theosophy. Later on, she settled down in India with her girl child whom she brought along
with her during divorce. 

During her stay in India she was actively involved in the Indian Nationalist Movement and Home Rule
League. Like Gandhiji she was not fully satisfied with non violence, so being a good orator she tried to put
influence on Indians by her speeches and write ups. 

Fighting for a noble cause she expired in India on September 20, 1933.
Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad and was the loving grand-daughter of
Motilal Nehru. She completed her early education from Pune University and was further sent to
Shantiniketan formed by Rabindranath Tagore. She then went to Oxford University for further studies. 

After completing her education she returned to India in 1941 and got married to Feroz Gandhi, the son of
Gandhi family. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a freedom fighter and so she was exposed to politics
since childhood. Mahatma Gandhi was a frequent visitor to her house and she was highly inspired by the
feelings of patriotism he had. Further to her marriage, Nehru was imprisoned and he wrote beautiful
letters to Indira. These letters were to make Indira aware of the current political condition of the country. 

Being highly influenced by her father’s letter, she decided to join freedom struggle. In 1942, she
participated in Quit India Movement for which she was imprisoned. She laid emphasis on the freedom of
the country and convinced local Indians to fight for the cause. 

After gaining independence in 1947, she was appointed as the third Prime Minister and the first woman
Prime Minister of the country in 1966. Her commendable efforts during her tenure of 16 years are
unforgettable. Fighting the battle for her country, she was killed by her body guards on October 31, 1984.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, popularly known as a ‘Man of Steel’, was born on October 31, 1875 at
Nadiad, Gujarat. He passsed his high school studies in Nadiad and came out with a strong desire to
become a lawyer. Because of financial reasons he could not join any school of law so he studied at home
and passed the law exam with flying colors. 

Sardar started his legal practice in Godhra and at the age of 36, he went to England for further studies.
He returned to India in 1913 and started his practice in Ahemdabad. He soon became a successful lawyer
but his dream and career soon flourished. 

Inspired by the work and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, he decided to join the freedom struggle. His first
attempt was to fight for the cause of peasants in Kheda, Bardoli and other parts of Gujarat who were
asked to pay heavy taxes to the British Government. Patel, under the leadership of Gandhi Ji, launched
non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement against the payment of raised taxes. The Government tried to
suppress the revolt but unfortunately could not do so. Finally, the taxes were suspended and thereafter
everyone addressed Patel as Sardar. Further, he was also involved in Salt Satyagraha in Nagpur and
Quit India Movement in 1942. He also opposed alcoholism, untouchability, caste discrimination and
violence. In 1931, he was elected as the President of Indian National Congress. 

After independence he was appointed as the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. He
had served the country during the tenure but Gandhi Ji’s death gave him a major heart attack and he died
on December 15, 1950.
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