Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu, 1879-1949, poet and statesman. Eldest daughter of Aghorenath Chattopadhya, a pioneer scientist and educationist in the Nizam’s dominion, she was born on 13 February 1879 at Hyderabad. She was sent to England for studies in 1895 but had to return because of ill-health. Nevertheless, she came in contact with the well known English writer, Edmund Gosse, who inspired her to write poems on Indian themes rather than imitative English poetry. Her English poems published in 1905, 1912 and 1917 established her as an English lyric writer of merit. On return to India, she married Dr. Govindarajulu Naidu in 1898 at Madras. Mrs. Naidu became interested in politics since 1906 when she first met Gokhale at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. She was actively associated in Home Rule Movement, and women’s emancipation, and in 1925 she became the first woman president of the Congress, at. Kanpur. She became a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru and played an important role in Civil Disobedience-Movement of 1930, particularly in the Salt Satyagraha. She also attended the Round Table Conference along with Mahatma Gandhi in 1931. During the Quit India Movement she was confined along with Mahatma Gandhi, Mahadev Desai and Kasturba in the Aga Khan Palace in Poona. After independence she became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, the first woman to be thus appointed. She died at Lucknow at the age of 70 on 2nd March 1949. She was a very inspiring speaker and had a delightful sense of humour. She was also a great believer in Hindu-Muslim unity. One of her daughter, Padmaja Naidu, served as the governor of West Bengal.
