Matangini Hazra - Freedom's Champion

India won independence from British colonizers by the continuous efforts of not just the important freedom fighters who are justly remembered today, but also by the spirited defiance of people from all over the country. Each of them contributed in their own way by never being defeatist and complacent, always working towards throwing off the foreign yoke. 

Matangini Hazra

Statue at the Maidan, Kolkata

(Wikipedia, PK Niyogi)

Setbacks were no impediments

Matangini Hazra (1870-1942) was born in the village Hogla in Tamluk, Midnapore district, Bengal in the family of a poor farmer. Child marriage was prevalent at the time and Matangini was married as a young child to a rich widower Trilochan Hazra, who was 62 years old. She did not receive an education. After her husband died she returned childless to her parental home at the age of 18, to a life of poverty at the edge of society. The immediate years thereafter in her life were uneventful as she immersed herself in social service, unknowingly preparing herself for a bigger role in society. Later in life she was inspired by Gandhiji. She spun yarn and wore khadi, so much so she came to be affectionately called Gandhi Buri (Old Lady Gandhi in Bangla).

Civil Disobedience and other protests

A notable feature of the freedom movement at Midnapore was the large numbers of women who participated. Matangini’s public life has been recorded since 1930 when she took part at Alinan, West Bengal as a 62 year old in the Salt Satyagraha (March - April 1930) called by Mahatma Gandhi as a part of the Civil Disobedience movement which spread all over the country. In Bombay (today's Mumbai) Perin Naoroji Captain took a leading part.

Matangini joined the various protests despite her age. Women picketed liquor shops from which the government earned a hefty revenue. Matangini was arrested, like thousands of others at the time, for breaking the Salt Act. She was punished upon her arrest, but that did not deter her and immediately upon her release participated in the Chowkidari Tax Bandha (movement for abolition of Chowkidari Tax). 

The agitation against Chowkidari Tax

Resentment was building up among the people against the age-old practise of taxing villagers to pay for chowkidars (watchmen and caretakers). The chowkidars were ostensibly employed to support the police in far-flung areas. They were, however, detested by villagers since they additionally acted as spies and worked for the local landlords. 

Popular opinion was that this tax had to be abolished in Bengal. Resentment with the practice was high because the government regularly confiscated huge tracts of property disproportionate to the tax accrued. Once the protest began, the agitators were beaten and tortured. Matangini Hazra got fully involved in the agitation. The governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson, constituted an illegal court to try everybody in the movement. Despite tight security Matangini sneaked into the court premises and staged a black flag demonstration. She was arrested with several others. Her sentence this time was for six months and she was lodged in Behrampur jail.

More oppression did not stop service of the needy

This arrest only served to steel Matangini’s resolve to fight harder for India’s independence from the oppressive British rule. After she was released, she joined the Indian National Congress which was in the forefront of the struggle for freedom. Matangini continued to be deeply involved in all manner of protest against British colonial rule and continued her service of the people. She was badly injured when lathi-charged by the police at the Mahakuma Congress Conference, a district-level meeting at Serampore. Soon after that a periodic small-pox epidemic hit Bengal, and Matangini worked tirelessly amongst the afflicted. This spirit of service inspite of severe personal difficulties endeared her to people.

The Quit India Movement and its aftermath

The political and social scene in India was filled with turmoil and agitations as the Quit India Movement began in August 1942. When all the leaders of the Congress Party were arrested after Gandhiji’s inspirational call of ‘Do or Die’ in the course of this agitation, several protests were launched locally all over India. Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code that prohibits the assembly of 5 or more people and the holding of public meetings was then imposed by the government. 

The plan in Midnapore, however, was to capture the police station, the court and other public buildings. In defiance of the prohibitory order, at 72 years of age, Matangini led a procession of 6,000 Congress supporters, mostly women, with a flag in her hand. The flag was saffron, white and green, with a charkha in the centre. As chants of Vande Mataram rent the air the police opened fire. Matangini was first hit on one hand and then the other. The third bullet hit her on her forehead even as she continued forward, appealing to the police to stop. 

Matangini Hazra died for her cause, with no thought for her own safety or well-being. She did not hanker for honours, nor did she care for any personal benefits. 

A people’s hero

An interesting fall-out of Matangini Hazra’s death was the impact it had on the people. The residents of Midnapore declared independence from British rule soon after, in 1942. The people remained very agitated, they took over all government offices. No British official was allowed to enter for years. It took an appeal from Gandhiji to the people - to join in fighting for a just cause, to not allow the situation to deteriorate that would lead to bloodshed if armed forces were sent by the government, that all would together fight for the independence of the whole of India - before they bowed out. This was the impact of Matangini Hazra.

Today, nearly 80 years after she lay down her life Matangini Hazra continues to be remembered by a grateful nation. A statue of hers stands in Midnapore at the spot she was shot. Hers was the first statue of a woman to be put up in Kolkata, at the Maidan, in 1977. Schools and streets in West Bengal are named after Matangini. In 2002 when India released postage stamps to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, Matangini Hazra was one of the freedom fighters honoured in the series.

Although as a young girl Matangini Hazra had the odds stacked against her in every way from the start of her life, as a woman she took charge and rewrote her life’s trajectory to emerge a role model for her can-do spirit and the refusal to accept defeat.

Ref:

Banglapedia, National Encylopedia of Bangladesh 

Bipin Chandra and others, India’s Struggle for Independence