Mahakavi Subramanian Bharathiyar praised Anjalai Ammal by saying “she has come into public life at a time when women are afraid to step out of the house.” The same lady was later hailed as ‘Queen Jhansi of South India’ by Mahatma Gandhi and respected by leaders like Rajaji and Kamaraj.
Born in a weavers’ family in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district on June 1, 1890, Anjalai studied in Ammal village school till class 5. In 1908, she got married to Murugappa from the same district. The couple had a passion to join the independence movement and were also attracted by the leadership of Gandhiji. They participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1921, and later in 1927, played an important role in the history of liberation. From 1857, patriots who took an active part in the First War of Independence were brutally killed and hanged from trees by Colonel Neill, who thereby claimed to have sent a clear warning if anybody harbours an idea to raise against foreign rulers. He was killed in the siege of Lakshmanapuri Palace within months, and in 1860, his statue was erected in Spencer Complex in the present-day Anna Salai in Chennai. In 1927, the Madras Mahajana Sabha and the Indian National Congress (INC) jointly organised a great struggle for the removal of the statue. Not only Anjalai Ammal and her husband, but their 9-year-old daughter Ammaponnu also participated in it. The parents were sentenced to one-year imprisonment for vandalising the statue and the daughter was confined to reform school for four and a half years. Anjalai Ammal was one of the two (Madurai Padmasini Ammal being the other) women freedom fighters who were imprisoned by the British Raj.
Gandhiji heard about Murugappa and Anjalai Ammal during his tour of Tamil Nadu and visited them in jail in Cuddalore. He praised their daughter Ammaponnu, and after her release, named her Leelavathi and took her to Wardha Ashram and brought her up. In Cuddalore, Anjalai Ammal was sentenced to six months imprisonment on January 10, 1931, for participating in Salt Satyagraha and was imprisoned in the Vellore Women’s Jail. She was 6 months pregnant at that time.
A month later, she was on parole and gave birth to a baby boy. After that, she went to jail with the infant, who was just 15 days old and served the remaining two months of her sentence. The child was born on parole from prison and was named ‘Jail Veeran.’ Later he was called ‘Jayaveeran.’
Anjali presided over the All India Women’s Congress meeting in Chennai in 1931. In 1932, she organised a liquor shop picket to rally the public in support of Gandhi’s Prohibition policy and was sentenced to nine months of rigorous imprisonment in the Bellary Jail. In 1933, she participated in the Boycott Foreign Goods stir and was sentenced to three months in prison. In 1940, she participated in the Individual Satyagraha struggle and was sentenced to six months of rigorous imprisonment in Kannur Jail. Anjalai Ammal participated in the Quit India Movement (1941-42) and travelled to many cities including Chennai and went to jail for giving speeches. Thus, she spent a total of four years and five months in prison. Each time, her fighting spirit only went up and never wavered.
Following example will confirm the above statement. When Gandhiji came to Cuddalore in 1934, he tried to meet Anjalai Ammal but the government did not permit it. However, Ammal came in a horse-drawn carriage wearing a burqa and met Gandhiji. It was then that he called her the “Jhansi Rani of South India,” pointing to her bravery. After India’s independence in 1947, she refused to receive the government’s pension announced for the freedom fighters who spent jail terms.
She was elected from the Cuddalore constituency as a member of the Chennai Provincial Legislative Assembly three times in 1937, 1946 and 1952. Simple, blemishless and self-sacrificing, Anjalai Ammal’s life ended on 20 February, 1961. On this day, let us honour her memory and pledge to rededicate ourselves to the national cause.
The author is a retired bank officer, soft skills developer and divine activist. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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