: Unsung Teenage Heroine Who Helped Netaji Escape, Fought For 10,000 Tribal Workers #IndiaNEWS #History A little over a century ago, in the Himalayan town of Kurseong, an hour’s drive from Darjeeling,

Unsung Teenage Heroine Who Helped Netaji Escape, Fought For 10,000 Tribal Workers #IndiaNEWS #History
A little over a century ago, in the Himalayan town of Kurseong, an hour’s drive from Darjeeling, West Bengal, lived a woman who was an integral part of Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement. She led a procession of over 10,000 coal mine workers and helped Subash Chandra Bose escape his internment in Kurseong.
Escaping an arrest following a warrant issued against her, she lived at Anand Bhawan (now Swaraj Bhawan) — the residence of Jawaharlal Nehru in Allahabad where she met multiple local Congress leaders. Despite mass popularity, she chose to lead a simple Gandhian life until she breathed her last on 18 August 1980.
A hero in her own right

HELEN LEPCHA @ Savitri Devi.
From Sikkim. Fought for independence in Darjeeling, UP and Bihar. Influenced by Gandhian mvt, later by SC Bose. Involved in helping the escape of Bose. pic. twitter. com/WF7soeDU3a
— mac (@dr_madras) June 13, 2018

Helen Lepcha belonged to the indigenous Lepcha community, an ethnic group scattered across Sikkim, the Darjeeling Hills, the south-western parts of Bhutan and the Ilam District of Nepal.
Born on 14 January 1902, in Sangmu Village (South Sikkim) to Mr and Mrs Achung Lepcha, Helen was the third of seven children. Her family moved to Kurseong shortly after she was born. Surrounded by lush green tea estates with well-pruned bushes, the towns of Kurseong and Darjeeling started witnessing the arrival of education and infrastructural development from the early 19th century. This created ample job opportunities as compared to the then princely state of Sikkim, leading Helen’s father to move to Kurseong.
A fresh school dropout, Helen, joined the Charkha and Khaddar movements that were being propagated in the hills in 1917. A speech delivered by a Bengali gentleman from Calcutta is said to have struck a chord with her. With a conviction to dedicate her life for the cause of her motherland, she left for Calcutta in 1918. Under the tutelage of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s grand-daughter, Helen learned the art of spinning at her charkha training centre. Owing to her skills, she represented Calcutta at the Khadi and Charkha Exhibition in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
In 1920, Bihar was torn down by floods affecting hundreds and thousands of people. Helen, selflessly helped the flood-ravaged people and toured the famine struck areas with tenacity. While volunteering, she met Mahatma Gandhi who had come to visit the aggrieved families. Moved by her dedication, a thoroughly impressed Gandhiji invited her to Sabarmati Ashram. At the Mahatma’s invitation, she visited the Ashram where he rechristened her Savitri Devi, as the name ‘Helen’ gave an impression of a foreigner.