19th of November is the birth anniversary of the great freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai. Born as Manikarnika Tambe on 19 November, 1828 in Kashi, she was fondly called Manu. Since her childhood, she started learning about using weapons. She became proficient in horse riding and fencing under the guidance of Nana Saheb and Tantya Tope. In 1842, Manu was married to the King of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao. After the marriage, she got the name ‘Lakshmibai’. In 1851, she gave birth to a boy who was named Damodar Rao. The child, passed away when he was just four months old. Two years later, Raja Gangadhar Rao and Rani Laxmi Bai adopted a child named Anand Rao, the son of Raja Gangadhar Rao's cousin. He was renamed Damodar Rao on the day before the Raja of Jhansi died. Lord Dalhousie, the then British Governor-General of India, did not recognise Rani Laxmi Bai’s adopted son as the heir of Jhansi and enforced the 'Doctrine of Lapse' to annex the kingdom. She revolted against this and cried out "Main Meri Jhansi Nahi Dungi". She took the reins of Jhansi into her own hands and protected the city. Rani Laxmi Bai was one of the leading figures of the 1857 War of Independence. She decided to join the revolutionary forces and began training an army in the state of Gwalior. The British troops attacked Gwalior in June 1858. Rani Laxmi Bai led a counter-charge, clad in the attire of a man and mounted on horseback. She was struck by bullets and fell. In accordance with her last wish, she was placed on a pile of dry grass and cremated, unseen by the enemy and untouched by the shackles of slavery. Her tomb is in the Phool Bagh area in Gwalior. Khoob Ladi Mardani Woh Toh Jhansi Wali Rani Thi" – the epic line from the poem "Jhansi Ki Rani" written by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan sums up how she fought valiantly against the British Empire and left an indelible mark on Indian history.
19th of November is also the birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, the first female Prime Minister of India and the daughter of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi. She was born on November 19, 1917 in Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh. Indira Gandhi's childhood revolved round the freedom struggle as her whole family was actively involved in it. She would frequently see her grandfather Motilal Nehru sent to jail. Similarly, her father was jailed for more than 15 years for his role in the freedom movement. Since her childhood, she actively involved herself in the freedom struggle. In 1930, she founded ‘Vanar Sena’ of children to help the Congress Party during the Non-Cooperation Movement. She was imprisoned in September 1942. Mrs Gandhi worked in riot-affected areas of Delhi in 1947 under Gandhiji’s guidance. Later, as the Prime Minister, she played an important role in the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Under her Prime Ministership, India carried out a peaceful nuclear test in Pokhran on May 18, 1974. She introduced numerous pro-poor programmes. India’s self-sufficiency in food owes to the Green Revolution that Indira Gandhi mentored. She was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1972.
