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Sarojini Naidu: Poet and Freedom Fighter

Sarojini Naidu was a prominent Indian political activist, feminist, poet and the first woman governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was born in 1879 in Hyderabad and showed early academic talent, becoming proficient in multiple languages. Naidu played an active role in India's independence movement beginning in 1905. She held several leadership positions in the Indian National Congress and worked closely with Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah. Naidu made notable contributions to Indian poetry and was known as the "Nightingale of India" for her lyrical works celebrating nature, patriotism and social issues. She served as the first woman president of the Indian National Congress in 1925.

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425 views2 pages

Sarojini Naidu: Poet and Freedom Fighter

Sarojini Naidu was a prominent Indian political activist, feminist, poet and the first woman governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was born in 1879 in Hyderabad and showed early academic talent, becoming proficient in multiple languages. Naidu played an active role in India's independence movement beginning in 1905. She held several leadership positions in the Indian National Congress and worked closely with Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah. Naidu made notable contributions to Indian poetry and was known as the "Nightingale of India" for her lyrical works celebrating nature, patriotism and social issues. She served as the first woman president of the Indian National Congress in 1925.

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Saksham Jain
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Sarojini Naidu (born February 13, 1879, Hyderabad, India—died March 2, 1949,

Lucknow), political activist, feminist, poet, and the first Indian woman to be president of
the Indian National Congress and to be appointed an Indian state governor. She was
sometimes called “the Nightingale of India. Sarojini was the eldest daughter of
Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, a Bengali Brahman who was principal of the Nizam’s
College, Hyderabad. Since childhood, Sarojini was a very bright and intelligent child.
She was proficient in multiple languages including English, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu and
Persian. She topped her matriculation exams from Madras University. Her father wanted
Sarojini to become a mathematician or scientist, but young Sarojini was attracted to
poetry.She entered the University of Madras at the age of 12 and studied (1895–98)
at King’s College, London, and later at Girton College, Cambridge Sarojini Naidu had
many credits to her, including a notable contribution to the Indian Independence
Movement. She joined the movement at the rear of Bengal partition in 1905 and since
then, she stuck to her commitment to the cause. While working for the Indian National
Congress, she was introduced to many eminent personalities such as Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi with whom she shared a special bond
and a very good rapport.During 1915-1918, she traveled across the India lecturing on
social welfare, women empowerment, emancipation and nationalism. Inspired by
Jawaharlal Nehru, she embarked on providing help and support for the indigo workers
in Champaran who were being subjected to violence and oppression.

She is also noted for her contribution in the field of Indian poetry. Her poetry includes
children's poems, nature poems, patriotic poems and poems of love and death. Many of
her works were transformed into songs. She drew her inspiration from nature as well as
surrounding daily life and her poetry echoed with the ethos of her patriotism. In 1905,
her collection of poems was published under the title "Golden Threshold". Later, she
also published two other collections called "The Bird of Time", and "The Broken Wings",
both of which attracted huge readership in both India and England. Apart from poetry,
she also penned articles and essays like ‘Words of Freedom’ on her political beliefs and
social issues like women empowerment. Later, some other poetry books The Magic
Tree, The Wizard Mask, and A Treasury of Poems were published She also wrote poetry
in praise of Muslim figures like Imam Hussain, in a time where Muslim-Hindu tensions
ran high in pre-independence era

n 1925, Naidu was appointed the President of the National Congress thus making her
the first Indian women to hold the post in 1947, Sarojini Naidu was made the Governor
of the Uttar Pradesh in the wake of her contribution to the movement. She was the first
woman to become the governor of a state In 1930, when Mahatma Gandhi launched
the Salt Satyagraha, she was one of the key participants of the movement and even
joined him for the first round table conference. She played a key role in the
establishment of the Women’s Indian Association (WIA) in 1917 In 1929, she was
awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal by the British government for her work during the
plague epidemic in India

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