Birth Anniversary of Sarojini Naidu

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Last Updated13/02/2022

Today marks the 143rd birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu, one of India's most influential icons and a key figure in the country's freedom struggle.
Sarojni Naidu was a freedom fighter, poet, and activist who was dubbed the 'Nightingale of India' or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi because of her poetry.

Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad on February 13, 1879, into a Bengali family.
After completing her primary education in India, she went to London and Cambridge at an early age for higher education.
She was drawn to the Indian National Congress' fight for India's independence from British domination after working as a suffragist in England.

In 1905, she joined the Indian National Movement and began her political career. Naidu became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of swaraj.
As part of her campaign against British rule, Naidu joined the non-cooperation movement in 1919.
She was also crucial for convincing Mahatama Gandhi to allow women to participate in the 1930 Salt March.
Sarojini played was a significant player in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Naidu, like most other freedom fighters, was also arrested several times by the Britishers and imprisoned.
When Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in 1942, it was a historic moment, Sarojini too took a part in it and later served a 21-month sentence in jail.

Sarojini Naidu was the first woman to be elected as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, which was then known as the United Provinces.
She was a gifted visionary and scholar, and as a result, she was chosen as the first woman president of the Indian National Congress.
Because of the vibrancy, imagination, and melodic tone of her poems, she was nicknamed the 'Nightingale of India' or 'Bharat Kokila' by Mahatma Gandhi.
Naidu's poetry contains both children's poems and more serious works on topics such as patriotism, romance, and tragedy.
She was a genius, who wrote the 1300-line poem, 'Lady of the Lake' at a very young age.
She died of cardiac arrest at the Government House in Lucknow on March 2, 1949.