Paying Homage To Matangini Hazra (Gandhi Buri).
As we remember the 200-year old struggle for our freedom and remember the greats likeMahatama Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Mangal Pandey we bow our heads to those who looked into the eye of the tyrannical British rulers and dared to raise slogans of an independent India butremain anonymous to the masses today. Matangini Hazra (19 October 1870–29 September 1942) participated in the independence movement. In 1932, she took part in the Civil Disobedience movement and was arrested for breaking the Salt Act. She then protested for abolition of the tax. Arrested again, she was incarcerated for six months at Baharampur. On 29 September 1942 as part of the Quit India Movement she, who was 72 years then, led a procession of six thousand supporters to take over the police station of Tamluk in Midnapore district. This was to be a step to overthrow the British government in the district and establish an independent Indian state. When the procession reached the outskirts of the town, they were ordered to disperse.She stepped forward and appealed to the police not to open fire at the crowd. As she stepped forward, Hazra was shot. She kept chanting Vande Matram and marched ahead with the then Indian flag held high. We earned Independence in 1947. The first statue of a woman put up in Kolkata, in independent India, was that of Matangini Hazra in 1977 in Tamluk where she was killed. In 2002, as part of commemorating sixty years of the Quit India Movement and the formation of the Tamluk National Government, the Department of Posts of India issued a five Rupee postage stamp with Matangini Hazra's likeness. She was affectionately known as Gandhi Buri.
