Suhasini Chattopadhyay

Suhasini Chattopadhyay (also known as Suhasini Nambiar; 1902–26 November 1973) was an Indian communist leader and freedom fighter. She was the first woman member of the Communist Party of India.[1]

Suhasini Chattopadhyay
Born1902 (1902)
Died26 November 1973(1973-11-26) (aged 70–71)
NationalityIndian
Political partyCommunist Party of India
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1920, divorced)​

Biography

Suhasini was one of eight children of Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Debi. She was the sister of Sarojini Naidu.

In 1920, she married A. C. N. Nambiar in Madras, but they separated due to Nambiar's affair with his secretary, Eva Geissler.[2] After they separated, they both resided in London for some time. Suhasini studied in Oxford, then moved to Berlin. She was invited by Jayasurya, son of Sarojini Naidu, who was studying medicine there. Both of them became employed there, Jayasurya editing periodicals and Suhasini teaching English.

Influenced by her brother Virendranath Chattopadhyay, better known as Chatto, she became a communist. Her brother then aided in her admission to the Eastern University in Moscow, with the help of M. N. Roy. She returned to India with British communist Lester Hutchinson in 1928. Hutchinson was arrested in the Meerut conspiracy case.

Suhasini joined the Communist Party of India in 1929, and was under police surveillance until 1951. A fine singer and dancer, she became involved in the cultural activities of the party. She sent letters to Nambiar, asking him to return to India, but was rejected by him due to his new relationship. His mistress Eva was the sister of M. N. Roy's lover, Louise Geissler. She waited for Nambiar's return for six years. Later, she married R. M. Jambhekar, a trade union activist and founder of ISCUS.[3] They met in Moscow.[4] When American journalist Edgar Snow came to India in 1931, it was Suhasini who took him around. He wrote in a later article, "The Revolt of India's Women",[5] that Suhasini was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Joining CPI

Suhasini Chattopadhyay joined the Communist Party of India in 1929. She later helped establish the Little Ballet group and was active in IPTA. She married RL Jambhekar in 1938. Jambhekar was a TU and Communist activist in Bombay. Party entrusted Suhasini and some others with establishing Friends of Soviet Union (FSU). This was after the Nazi German aggression on the USSR. Jambhekar was released from jail in 1942 from Nasik Jail, and began to help in FSU work. Shashi Bakaya also joined them. He had left Ferguson College, Poona, at the call of Gandhiji and had joined Sabarmati Ashram. Then he went to Allahabad to SG Sardesai. Nehru helped them both to get acquainted with Marxism. Suhasini was very close to Bakaya and Dang families in Lahore and Amritsar. She kept close touch with Vimla Bakaya, Ravi Bakaya, Satyapal Dang etc. She used to visit Lahore and stayed with her sister Mrinalini, who was the Principal of Ganga Ram School. Both the sisters used to teach ‘The Internationale’ in their circle. The first all India conference of FSU was held in Bombay in 1944. Sarojini Naidu was elected chairperson and Jambhekar general secretary. Suhasini was very active organizing the conference. South Asian Relations Conference was held in March 1947 in New Delhi. At the initiative of Pt Nehru, both Suhasini and Jambhekar were invited to the conference. Sarojini Naidu presided over the conference. Mahatma Gandhi also addressed it. Helping Amir Hyder Khan As mentioned, 32 Communist and TU leaders from all over India were arrested in 1929 in Meerut Conspiracy Case. Amir Hyder Khan’s name was also there but he escaped the dragnet. He had just returned from abroad, and was staying in Suhasini’s place with Rizvi. He had met Dange, Ghate, Adhikari and others. Suhasini told him that it was dangerous for him to stay in Bombay, suggesting he should go to Goa. Amir Hyder had Italian passport, with which he used to shift to Goa and then he left for Naples on way to Germany. Suhasini helped him greatly. When Amir Hyder returned in 1931, he had to leave for Madras on party’s instruc- tions, as it was not safe in Bombay. Suhasini helped him again and arranged money. She also arranged his stay in Madras. When he was arrested there, Party sent Suhasini, her sister and Ranadive to organize his defence. After release from Meerut, Ghate and Mirajkar met Suhasini and Hyder regard- ing further work. In the meantime party decided to work within the Congress too. Suhasini also joined the Congress. She helped Hyder with money to attend Ramgarh session of Congress in 1940.

References
  1. "Communist captain". Frontline. August 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  2. "Nehru aide Nambiar not a spy, but a patriot". Deccan Chronicle. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  3. Vappala Balachandran,Life in Shadow,Roli Books
  4. Anu Kumar (5 February 2014). Sarojini Naidu: THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTER: WHAT SAROJINI NAIDU DID, WHAT SAROJINI NAIDU SAID. Hachette India. p. 14. ISBN 978-93-5009-820-2.
  5. Huebner, Lee W. (2009), "International Herald Tribune", Encyclopedia of Journalism, SAGE Publications, Inc., doi:10.4135/9781412972048.n199, ISBN 9780761929574


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.