Bhikaji Cama, A Woman of Resistance

While teaching about V.D. Savarkar, Professor Chaturvedi spoke about The Young Indian Society or Abhinav Bharat Society and the determination of its members to liberate India from British rule. He made mention of a woman named Bhikaji Cama, stating that she was the first female member of the society and the person chosen to debut India's national flag. Female involvement in Savarkar's movement was a stark contrast to Gandhi's liberation movement, one that excluded women, insinuating that they were only good for bearing children and doing work from home. I began to wonder who Bhikaji Cama was and what made her a such a prominent member within Savarkar's resistance movement.

Bhikaji Cama was a political and women's rights activist who, like Savarkar and Gandhi, came from a wealthy family. However, in another source, Cama is referred to as,"an Indian refugee," (Virmani 176). As Professor Chaturvedi stated in lecture on March 13, 2016, authors use particular words to describe people or events in order to associate a certain meaning to them. By referring to Cama as a refugee, Virmani is diminishing the power and influence she wielded from the public position she acquired through her involvement with the Abhinav Bharat Society.

For Savarkar and his supporters, gender was not an important factor when it came to revolutionary participation; they only cared about achieving the goal of Indian liberation through the means of a violent revolution. Chatterjee writes about Cama's revolutionary views stating, "She was part of the group that started the publication of a journal called Bande Mataram in 1909 from Geneva, advocating the winning of independence through armed struggle," (41). As an outspoken woman advocating a violent uprising, Bhikaji Cama made the perfect Mother India for people to rally behind. She was viewed by her fellow society members as strong enough to motivate people to act, yet her gender, one typically associated with nurturing qualities, made her a figure that people could feel comfortable supporting.

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Sources:

StartFragmentChatterjee, Manini. “1930: Turning Point in the Participation of Women in the Freedom Struggle.” Social Scientist, vol. 29, no. 7/8, 2001, pp. 39–47., www.jstor.org/stable/3518124.EndFragment

StartFragmentThe Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Bhikaiji Cama." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. EndFragment

StartFragmentVirmani, Arundhati. “National Symbols under Colonial Domination: The Nationalization of the Indian Flag, March-August 1923.” Past & Present, no. 164, 1999, pp. 169–197., www.jstor.org/stable/651278.EndFragment