Remembering the 'Nightingale of India' on her 135th birth anniversary

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Bangalore, Feb 13: Today marks the 135th birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu, popularly known as the 'Nightingale of India'.

A fiery activist, a renowned poet and a gentle home-maker - Naidu played all the roles with perfection.

Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the president of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become governor of Uttar Pradesh. She was an active participant in Indian Freedom Struggle and went on to preside over the annual session of Indian National Congress at Kanpur in 1925.

She was born as Sarojini Chattopadhyaya in a Bengali Family in Hyderabad on February 13, 1879. Her father was a doctor, who found and administered the renowned Hyderabad College (Nizam's College) in Hyderabad. Her mother used to write poetry in Bengali. Naidu's first collection of poems, named "The Golden Threshold" was published in 1905.

Naidu was a prominent figure, perhaps the most important woman, in India's freedom struggle. She played a leading role during the Civil Disobedience Movement and even served jail term along with Gandhi and other major leaders in 1942, during the "Quit India" movement.

After Independence, Naidu was one of the makers of Indian Constitution.

Oneindia News