Underrated Freedom Struggle Fighters - Part 3
Do you know these underrated, lesser-known freedom fighters from our war against the British?
Today we’re celebrating Independence Day because of their contributions!
1) Mudu Manek & Jodha Manek (मुडु मानेक और जोधा मानेक)
From present-day Gujarat’s Okha, these brothers led the 1857 uprising in the Saurashtra coast. Using their knowledge of the Arabian Sea routes, they disrupted British shipping and coastal supply lines, striking from boats and coastal forts.
In 1858, they were betrayed, captured, and executed - but their naval guerrilla tactics kept the Kathiawar coast in revolt months after the main uprising was crushed.
2) Raghoji Bhangare (रघोजी भंगरे)
A Ramoshi tribal leader from present-day Maharashtra, he led armed raids in the 1840s-50s against colonial moneylenders and police stations in the Sahyadri hills.
His revolt was both anti-colonial and anti-feudal, giving a voice to exploited peasants. Captured in 1858, he was hanged at Ahmednagar - becoming a martyr remembered in rural Maharashtra’s oral history far more than in textbooks.
3) Hemu Kalani (हेमु कालानी)
A 19-year-old from Sindh, he joined the Quit India movement in 1942. Learning of a train carrying British troops and weapons, he attempted to sabotage the railway tracks near Sukkur to derail it.
He was caught, tortured, and hanged on 21 January 1943 - one of the youngest martyrs of the struggle. His act became a rallying point for Sindhi youth against colonial rule.
4) Matangini Hazra (मतंगिनी हाज़रा)
She was a 72-year-old widow from Bengal. In 1942, during Quit India, she led a procession with the tricolour in her hands. British police opened fire. The first bullet hit her arm, the second her forehead, the third her stomach. She still didn’t let go of the flag - kept chanting Vande Mataram until she collapsed. That was the last thing she ever said.
5) Pritilata Waddedar (प्रीतिलता वादेदार)
She was from present-day Chittagong. Part of the underground revolutionary network, she disguised herself as a Punjabi man and led an attack on a European-only club. When she was cornered, she didn’t give the British the satisfaction of capture - she swallowed cyanide on the spot, becoming a martyr at just 21.