India@75: The unknown story of women freedom fighters from Assam

We know all the leaders of the great struggles. But how many know those housewives and mothers who lost their families and even lives by participating in those epic struggles? Such a brave housewife was Bhogeswari Fukanani of Behrampoor in Assam. She was the mother of eight children.  

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Gandhi decided to bring more women into the freedom struggle. Women had more patience and endurance was Gandhi’s reason. This made women from across the country join freedom struggles on a large scale. In Assam, the Quit India struggle saw several brave women emerging to the front. Bhogeswari, Kanakalata Barua, Khahuli Nath, Tileswari Barua and Kumali Neog were among them. All three women became martyrs during the battle in which Gandhi gave the clarion call- Do or Die.

Bhogeswari was 60 when she participated in the Quit India struggle in September 1942. The British tried to suppress the struggle brutally. There were widespread protest rallies in Assam. At Behrampoor, the British Police tried to capture the congress office, which the people effectively resisted. Suddenly a large army contingent led by Capt Finish arrived at the spot and unleashed an assault on the Congress workers. 

Bhogeswari and her comrade Ratnamala advanced with national flags in their hands. Capt Finish soon grabbed the flag from Ratnamala’s hand and tried to destroy it. In a flash of rage at the national flag being destroyed, the sixty-year-old Bhogeswari leaped towards the officer with her flag. She hit the Captain on his head with the flag. Writhing in pain, Captain Finish whipped out his revolver and shot at Bhogeswari. She became a martyr.

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On the same day in September, a suicide squad named “Mryuthyu Bahini” led by the 17-year-old Kanakalata Barua tried to hoist the national tricolour atop the police station at Gohpur. The police shot dead her point-blank. Known in Assam as Veerbala, Kanakalata’s brave incident has been immortalised in stone at the Kanakalata Udyan at  Tezpur. Her life-size statue was unveiled in 2011 at Gauripur. Indian Coast Guard’s Fast Petrol Vessel ICGS is named Kanakalata Barua.  

The suicide squad that advanced to capture the police station at Dumdamiya village was led by Khahuli Nath. With her husband Ponaraam Nath, Khahuli marched unmindful of the large police posse standing guard. As the marchers with national flags in their hands approached, police opened fire. Khahuli died and became a martyr on the spot. The 12-year-old Tileswari Barua and the 18-year-old Kumali Neog were the other women who became martyrs in that firing.

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