: Umabai: When a Defiant Widow Led 150 Women to Fight for Indias Freedom #IndiaNEWS #History As public outrage engulfed the country in the aftermath of the Rowlatt Act, 1919, a young woman, all of 27

Umabai: When a Defiant Widow Led 150 Women to Fight for Indias Freedom #IndiaNEWS #History
As public outrage engulfed the country in the aftermath of the Rowlatt Act, 1919, a young woman, all of 27 years old, felt something stir within her.
Gandhi had made an appeal to Indians to oppose this unjust act, which allowed trials without juries, and thousands of protestors marched onto the streets of Bombay. Umabai, on her way to take her matriculation exams, had to walk to her examination hall in the wake of public transport being disrupted due to protests.
Just a week later, the country came to a standstill when protestors were gunned down at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar for peacefully protesting the law. This time, Umabai was amid the thousands that came out on the streets to protest against the tragedy.
The following year, she, along with her father Anandrao and husband Sanjiv, would find herself amid surging crowds once again, when Bombay’s streets spilled over to attend Lokmanya Tilak’s funeral.
As people wept and rued the loss of India’s strong leaders, Umabai felt something shift in her. Here she found a new determination to join the freedom movement.
Doing the near impossible
For Umabai Kundapur, fighting for India’s freedom was much more than just dethroning colonial power. Independence to her meant very little without social reforms such as education, affordable healthcare and women empowerment.
Raised amid an affluent background, and married into a well-to-do family at the age of nine, she was pushed by her father to complete her education.
“She had made an invaluable contribution to the freedom movement and was instrumental in laying the foundation for one of the largest voluntary organisations in the country. She selflessly served the people day and night, but always preferred to maintain a low profile. She refused the honours and offers that came her way, even after the country attained independence,??? Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu wrote in a tribute post for Umabai.
Like most Indians, her first step against the British was to give foreign goods, and her wardrobe was now full of khadi sarees. Soon, she realised the dearth of women in marches and rallies and started mobilising women through door-to-door campaigns.
Just when she was fully understanding the urgency and seriousness of protests, life threw another curveball.
In 1923, her husband passed away due to tuberculosis. She was only 31 at the time.
Devastated by the loss, Umabai moved to Hubli in Karnataka with Anandrao’s help. There, she was encouraged to look after the family-owned Karnataka Press and the ‘Tilak Kanya Shala’, a girlp?&H???????[HHYXH???[?[?H????HH?Y?YK?H[?YX?]Z?[??H?????????H?Y????Y]K?

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