Page 46 - NIS English 01-15 July 2022
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Nation   Amrit Mahotsav


                                                           Sushila Chain Trehan

              Amarendra Nath Chatterjee's
            name is included in the list of the            served the country till
             warriors of the Indian freedom                        her last breath

            struggle who wanted to free India
            from the slavery of the British on               Born: 1 July 1923, Died: 28 September 2011
                  the basis of revolution
                                                             ushila  Chain  Trehan,  along  with  other  women
                                                         Sindependence  activists fought hard for  the
           also  killed  the  Indian  officials  whom    freedom  of the  country.  She  not  only  faced police
           they  considered  the  backbone of the        torture while valiantly fighting for the freedom of the
           British  or  the traitors  of the  country.   country but also undertook a campaign to educate
           Amarendra     Nath   Chatterjee    was        girls in Punjab which was considered taboo in those
           born on July  1,  1880,  in  Uttarpada,       days. Born on July 1, 1923, in Pathankot, Punjab,
           Hooghly, West  Bengal  in  the  house of      Sushila was the youngest of four siblings. His father,
           Upendra Nath  Chatterjee. Initially,  he      Mathuradas Trehan was a contractor by profession
           sided  with  Jatindranath  Mukherjee  in      and was one of the founders of the Congress party
           revolutionary activities. Later in 1907, he   in Pathankot.
           met Aurobindo Ghosh  and  he  became             At the same time, he was a prominent member
           fully dedicated to liberating the country     of the Arya Samaj. When Sushila was growing up
           from British slavery. It is believed that it   she  developed  an  affinity  for  the  cause  of  Indian
           was Aurobindo who encouraged him to           independence. But her father died under mysterious
           raise  funds  to help  the  revolutionaries.   circumstances. During this period she found a book
           It is said that he went underground for       and  after  reading  it  she  became  very  passionate
           5 years in 1915 and traveled from one         about  India's  independence.  Sushila  was  also
           place to another in disguise.                 inspired by the brave tales of Bhagat Singh. She met
             The  British  had also  announced a         a freedom fighter named Shakunlata Azad at the age
           reward of Rs 10,000 on his head at that       of 18 after which she left her home to fight for the
           time.  Not  only  that,  Nanibala  Devi,  the   independence of the nation. She went underground
           first woman political prisoner of Bengal,     and started making the strategy for independence. In
           was also a distant relative of Amarendra      her struggle, she also has to undergo through police
           Nath  Chatterjee  and she  was inspired       lathi charge. Sushila had made up her mind to fight
           by him  and  became actively  involved        for India's independence and any kind of adversity
           in  revolutionary activities.  She  rented    could not break her resolve.
           a house in  Chandan  Nagar and  gave             In  order  to  awaken  the  spirit  of  education  in
           shelter  to  Amarendra  Nath  Chatterjee      women  and  make  them  self-reliant,  she  used  to
           as  well  as  the  other revolutionaries      travel  long  distances  by  bicycle  to  distant  villages.
           of the  Yugantar  group,  Jadu  Gopal         She encouraged the women there to cook, sew, and
           Mukherjee,  Shiv  Bhushan  Dutt,  etc.        clean. At that time cycling by girls was considered
           In  1923,  Amarendra  Nath  Chatterjee        taboo but she was not one to give up.  Even after the
           remained in jail for a few days, and after    independence  of  India,  she  continued  to  promote
           that, he escalated his activism in other      education for children and opened three girls' and a
           ways. He  remained  active  even  after       co-education school. She very well understood that
           the independence of India and died on         the country must be free from the mentality of social
           4  September 1957  at  the  age  of 77  in    evils after liberation from colonial powers. That is
           West  Bengal.  A  statue  of  Amarendra       why  she  continued  to  work  for  the  betterment  of
           Nath Chatterjee has been erected on the       society from the time of India's independence till her
           main road of his hometown Uttarpada.          death on September 28, 2011.

        44  New India Samachar    July 1-15, 2022
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