________________
Discovering New Horizons:
Women and the Non-violent Struggle for Independence in India
Usha Thakkar
The participation of the Indian women in the nonviolent struggle under Gandhi's leadership against the unjust British rule is a glorious chapter not only in the history of India but also in the history of the twentieth century. Women's entry into national politics through non-violent methods brought miraculous results. On the one hand women became aware of their own inner strength, and on the other the human and moral elements gained legitimacy in politics. While charting a new course in the history of the twentieth century Indian women's non-violent struggle has carved some messages for the twenty first century also. It has demonstrated that to be weak is not a crime and to be powerless is not a folly. What is required in the struggle against injustice is the inner strength rooted in non-violence. The pre-condition of the effective struggle against inequality is freedom from fear. Women can be a force to reckon with when committed to a cause with con
viction. They do not have to follow the accepted male dominated political norms to be effective. They can evolve their own perception of power and politics
and they can find their own methods.
૯૮
interests which occupied Gandhi's attention in India, very few can be compared with his earnest support to the women's movement. Thousands of women, some famous and many unnoticed heroines of India learnt the meaning of liberation from him and contributed with all their energy to the struggle for independence. Gandhi had a special reason for encouraging women to be self reliant; he believed that "When woman, whom we call abala becomes sabala, all those who are helpless will become powerful".
An attempt is made in the present paper to understand the contribution made by the women to the non-violent struggle for independence and the implications and messages of this struggle.
I
Indian history is resplendent with examples of women (mostly queens) who joined and led armed struggle against the enemy. Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi is one of the brightest stars among them. Coming
to the twentieth century, we find that women had their
specific response in 1905 at the time of the parti
tion of Bengal. Women expressed their feelings by
Gandhi was confident that "If non-violence is the
law of our being, the future is with women."His ex- taking part in Rabindranath Tagore's plan of rakhi
perience of participation of women in the non-violent struggle till the end of his life bears testimony to the fact that women never failed his expectations. Women's participation in the non-violent struggle gave a new dimension to Indian politics and changed their own perspective of life. Women discovered new horizons as they become aware of their potentials. There is a lot of truth in the observation by C.F. Andrews that among all the different
સત્ય-અહિંસા-અપરિગ્રહ
bandhan on the partition day, 16th October 1905, and by answering Romendrasundar Trivedi's call of not lighting the hearth for cooking on that day. The fact that fiery spirit was awakened is proved by an incident when 500 women went to congratulate
the mother of an editor of an extremist newspaper,
who was sentenced for sedition.
Though emancipation of women was not mentioned as a specific object of the Indian National પણ જીવનઃ ગાંઘી સાર્ધશતાબ્દી વિશેષાંક
ઑક્ટોબર- ૨૦૧૮
