->Tassedethe at 19:52, 17 August 2021

2021-08-17T19:52:03Z

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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{for|the Indian environmentalist|Basanti Devi (environmentalist)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Basanti Devi
|image =
|image_size =
|caption =
|birth_name =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1880|3|23|df=y}}
|birth_place =
|death_date = 7 May 1974 (aged 94)
|death_place =
|nationality = Indian
|known_for = Independence activist
|party = [[Indian National Congress]]
|movement = [[Indian independence movement]]
|spouse = [[Chittaranjan Das]]
|awards = [[Padma Vibhushan]] (1973)
}}

'''Basanti Devi''' (23 March 1880 – 7 May 1974) was an Indian independence activist during the [[British rule in India]]. She was the wife of activist [[Chittaranjan Das]]. After Das' arrest in 1921 and death in 1925, she took an active part in various political and social movements and continued with social work post-independence. She was awarded the [[Padma Vibhushan]] in 1973.

== Life and activities ==
Basanti Devi was born on 23 March 1880 to [[Baradanath Haldar]], the ''[[Diwan (title)|diwan]]'' of a large [[zamindar]]y in Assam during the British colonial rule. Basanti studied at the [[Loreto House]], Kolkata, where she met and married Chittaranjan Das at the age of seventeen.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVYqAAAAYAAJ&q=Ranjan+Das+ | title=Early Feminists of Colonial India: Sarala Devi Chaudhurani and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=Ray, Bharati | year=2002 | page=142 | isbn=9780195656978}}</ref> The two had three children born between 1898 and 1901.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFI7tr9XK6EC&q=basanti+devi+provincial+conference&pg=RA1-PA43 | title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=Smith, Bonnie G. | year=2008 | pages=42–43 | isbn=9780195148909}}</ref>

Following her husband, Basanti Devi took part in various movements like the [[Civil disobedience movement]] and the [[Khilafat Movement]] and also participated in the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress in 1920. The following year, she joined Das' sisters [[Urmila Devi]] and [[Sunita Devi]] to establish the "Nari Karma Mandir", a training center for women activists.<ref name="Perspective">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npwz9iE5KMUC&pg=PA140 | title=Perspectives on Indian Women | publisher=APH Publishing | author=R. S. Tripathi, R. P. Tiwari | year=1999 | pages=136, 140 | isbn=9788176480253}}</ref> In 1920–21, she was instrumental in collecting gold ornaments and 2000 gold coins from [[Jalpaiguri]] towards the [[Bal Gangadhar Tilak|''Tilak Swaraj'' Fund]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=joFkxloNlLsC&q=basanti+devi+provincial+conference&pg=PA118 | title=Congress Politics in Bengal 1919–1939 | publisher=Anthem Press | author=Chatterjee, Srilata | year=2003 | page=34 | isbn=9780857287571}}</ref> During the [[Non-cooperation movement]] in 1921, the [[Indian National Congress]] called for strikes and ban on foreign goods. In Kolkata, small groups of five volunteers were employed to sell ''[[khadi]]'', the hand spun clothes, on the streets of Kolkata. Das, who was the leading figure of the local movement decided to make his wife Basanti Devi lead one such group. Devi went on streets despite warnings from [[Subhash Chandra Bose]] that it would provoke the British to arrest her. Although she was released by midnight, her arrest provided impetus to widespread agitation. Two prisons in Kolkata were filled with revolutionary volunteers and detention camps were hastily constructed to detain more suspects. On 10 December 1921 police arrested Das and Bose.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYctAAAAQBAJ&q=basanti+devi+Subhas+Chandra+Bose&pg=PT69|title=His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle against Empire|author=Bose, Sugata|publisher=Penguin UK|year=2013|isbn=9788184759327}}</ref>

After Das' arrest, Basanti Devi took charge of his weekly publication ''Bangalar Katha'' (The story of Bengal).<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33xjAAAAMAAJ&q=basanti+devi+bangalar+katha | title=Bangla Academy Journal, Volume 21, Issue 2 – Volume 22, Issue 2 | publisher=Bangla Academy | year=1995 | page=23}}</ref> She was the president of Bengal Provincial Congress in 1921–22. Through her speech at the April 1922 Chittagong conference,{{Clarify|reason=There is no clarity is how conference this one|date=August 2019}} she encouraged grassroot agitation. Travelling around India, she supported cultural development of arts in order to oppose colonialism.<ref name="Oxford" />

As Das was the political mentor of Subhash Chandra Bose, Bose had great regard for Basanti Devi. After Das's death in 1925, Bose is reported to have discussed his personal and political doubts with Devi.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWGcmlexd9QC&pg=PA30 | title=Encyclopaedia Eminent Thinkers (vol. : 16 The Political Thought Of Subhas Chandra Bose) | publisher=Concept Publishing Company | author=Pasricha, Ashu | year=2008 | pages=30, 33 | isbn=9788180694967}}</ref> Bose considered Basanti Devi to be his "adopted mother" and she is considered to be amongst the four prominent women in Bose's life, the other three being his mother [[Prabhabati Bose (Dutt)|Prabhabati]], his sister-in-law Bibhabati (wife of [[Sarat Chandra Bose]]) and his wife [[Emilie Schenkl]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xd2xS5ELeQC&q=basanti+devi+Subhas+Chandra+Bose&pg=PA35 | title=An Outsider in Politics | publisher=Penguin Books India | author=Basu, Krishna | year=2008 | page=55 | isbn=9780670999552}}</ref>

Like her husband, Basanti Devi too was sympathetic towards the [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionary activists]] in the Indian independence movement. In 1928, Indian freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai died days after being injured by the police in a baton charge against his peaceful protest march. Following this, Basanti Devi exhorted the Indian youth to avenge Lajpat Rai's death.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2921/stories/20121102292105300.htm|title=Down Bhagat Singh lane|magazine =Frontline|access-date=2019-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/bhagat-singh-s-association-with-kolkata-s-arya-samaj-temple-continues/660121.html|title=Bhagat Singh's association with Kolkata's Arya Samaj temple continues|date=Sep 28, 2018|work=The Tribune|access-date=2019-08-10}}</ref>

Post India's independence in 1947, Basanti Devi continued with social work.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAkuAAAAYAAJ&q=basanti+devi | title=Directory of Indian Women Today, 1976 | publisher=India International Publications | author=Ajita Kaura, Arpana Cour | year=1976 | page=361}}</ref> [[Basanti Devi College]], the first women's college in Kolkata to have been funded by Government was established in 1959 and named after her.<ref name="Oxford" /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.basantidevicollege.edu.in/About/History.shtml | title=Basanti Devi College – History | publisher=Basanti Devi College | access-date=12 January 2016}}</ref> In 1973, she was honoured with the [[Padma Vibhushan]], India's second highest civilian award.<ref name="PB54-14">{{cite web|title=Padma Awards: Year wise list of recipients (1954–2014)|url=http://www.mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/YearWiseListOfRecipientsBharatRatnaPadmaAwards-1954-2014.pdf|publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|date=21 May 2014|access-date=18 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115022326/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/YearWiseListOfRecipientsBharatRatnaPadmaAwards-1954-2014.pdf|archive-date=15 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAZDAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA9-IA10|title=Women on the March|date=1973|publisher=Smt. Mukul Banerjee for the Women's Front of All India Congress Committee.|language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Das family}}
{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}
{{Nari Shakti Puraskar}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Basanti}}

[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Bengali people]]
[[Category:Das family of Telirbagh]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in civil service]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Women in West Bengal politics]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]

Basanti Devi - Revision history

->Tassedethe at 19:52, 17 August 2021