Kamala Nehru, who passed away on 28 February 1936, at the age of 36, was
an Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal
Nehru, the first prime
minister of India Their daughter Indira
Gandhi was the first female
prime minister of India.
Kamala Nehru was
involved with Harilal Gandhi in the national movement, and quickly emerged
to the forefront. In the Non Cooperation movement of 1921, she organized groups
of women in Allahabad and picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor.
When her husband was arrested to prevent him delivering a "seditious"
public speech, she decided to go in his place and read it out to a large crowd
of onlookers (filled with her supporters). The British soon realized the threat
that Kamala Nehru posed to them and how popular she had become with women's
groups all over India. She was arrested on two additional occasions for her
involvement in Independence struggle activities, along with Sarojini Naidu,
Kamala Nehru's mother, and many other women of the Indian freedom struggle. During
this period she started a dispensary in her house Swaraj Bhavan, converting
few rooms into a Congress Dispensary to treat wounded activists, their
families, and other residents of Allahabad(now Prayagraj). After her death, Mahatma
Gandhi with the help of other prominent leaders converted this dispensary into
a proper hospital known as Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital in her
memory.
Kamala Nehru spent
some time at Gandhi's ashram with Kasturba Gandhi where she built a close
friendship with Prabhavati Devi – the wife of freedom fighter Jayaprakash
Narayan. They were also freedom fighters for Indian freedom from the British.
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