Sucheta Kriplani: From Naming History To Making History

Situations can make or break us. Sucheta Kriplani, a shy and self-conscious child with no leadership qualities (as mentioned in An Unfinished Autobiography), was shaped by the pre-independence era in such a way that she stood against the British and fought for the nation’s freedom.

(Sucheta Kriplani, Source: Oneindia Hindi)

Born on 25th June 1908 in Ambala, Haryana, was the woman who rendered the song ‘Vande Mataram’ on the eve of Independence. She closed the session by singing ‘Sare Jahan Se Achcha’ and the National Anthem. Sucheta Kriplani worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and her legacy has been visible since the Quit India Movement. When she was 28 years old, she fell in love with Acharya Kriplani, a Congress party member who was loyal to Gandhi. Though their marriage was opposed by both their families and also by Mahatma Gandhi, they still got married in 1936.

In the 1920s when the sentiments and desires for freedom were rising within the nation, she also wanted to participate in the freedom struggle but unfortunately, her father’s demise in 1929 did not let her as she had to support her family. Apart from her a person who enjoyed their own company, it seemed that she was someone who wouldn’t sit quietly when someone disgraced India and its lineage.

An incident that highlights such a personality of hers was when her Bible class teacher said some offensive things about Hinduism and looked down on it. Infuriated, she went to her father complaining and asking what to do. Her father acquainted her with some teachings of the Bhagavad Gita with which she confronted the teacher and the teacher never questioned and referred to Hinduism again.

Before her marriage, she was a lecturer of Constitutional History at Banaras Hindu University. She was encouraged by her husband to join the freedom struggle and she did. Because of her excellence, she was among a few women to become a part of the Constituent Assembly, who contributed to the drafting of the Indian Constitution.

During the pre-independence era, she was credited for establishing a separate women’s wing, under the Congress party, of which she became the head. She was also kept behind bars because she was leading an underground centre to guide non-violent political activities. Because of her commendable dedication toward the nation, she was appointed as Organizing Secretary of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust in 1946. The same year, she visited Noakhali with Mahatma Gandhi and rendered yeomen's service to the victims of the riot.

In 1952, her husband created a separate party named Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party. She too joined this party but eventually left it due to differences in ideologies and went back to the Indian National Congress. She won the same seat twice and served as an MP from New Delhi Constituency, first on a KMPP ticket and then another time on a Congress ticket. Later in 1963, she became the first woman Chief Minister of India in the largest state of the country, Uttar Pradesh.

She contributed greatly to the country, but her work was not limited to India. She even wrote on international policies. She retired from politics in 1970. After two years she survived two consecutive heart attacks but the third one took her life in the year 1974. To honour her contributions and sacrifices for the nation, the government of India renamed one of New Delhi’s hospitals as Sucheta Kriplani Hospital.

It was a story of a woman whose reality transformed her and she in turn transformed the reality of the nation.