Satish Chandra Mittal and Balmukund Pandey at the event in Cotton College on Monday. Picture by UB Photos

Guwahati, Nov. 24: At 13, as a freedom fighter and social activist, she made the British panic. The deeds of Manipur-born Naga freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu, who spent her youth behind bars, continue to be a source of inspiration. Her story will now be heard across the country.

A committee here has decided to popularise her by organising various events as a part of her birth centenary celebrations.

The National Committee for Birth Centenary Celebration of Rani Ma Gaidinliu today said it would organise a series of events throughout the year in places like New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Pune to let the nation know how hard Gaidinliu fought to overthrow the British.

Along with Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti, Assam, and Cotton College, the committee today organised the first such event at the college where historians and scholars deliberated on Gaidinliu’s role in the freedom struggle.

“We will organise a series of talks on Rani Gaidinliu and the Northeast in places like Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Pune to further popularise her. There will be simultaneous exhibitions on various aspects of the region and its indigenous communities, like food habits, costume and culture,” said Nagendra Nath Sarma, national vice-president of the committee.

Gaidinliu was born on January 26, 1915, in Zeliangrong community in the then princely state of Manipur. For political and cultural liberation, she fought against the imperial power. Thirteen-year-old Gaidinliu became a force to reckon with in Manipur, Nagaland and parts of Assam. However, she was caught and sentenced to life imprisonment. She was in Guwahati jail for one year, Shillong jail for six years, Aizawl jail for three years and Tura jail for four years and released only at the time of Independence.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru saw Gaidinliu in Shillong jail and wrote to one of his friends in the House of Commons in England to urge upon the government to release her, but to no avail.

The committee thinks that Gaidinliu is yet to receive proper recognition and needs to be introduced to the new generation. It said names of many martyrs of the region are yet to be listed in the annals of the country’s freedom struggle.

Sarma said as most Indian writers’ source model continues to be British or Western writers, who hardly cared to recognise Gaidinliu’s contribution, there is not much information about her in history books.

Robin Deb Choudhury, former director of National Museum, New Delhi, Satish Chandra Mittal, national president of Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana and Balmukund Pandey, national vice-president of the committee, were among those who highlighted Gaidinliu’s contribution at today’s event.