Basanti Devi
| Basanti Devi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 March 1880 |
| Died | 1974 (aged 93–94) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Independence activist |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Movement | Indian independence movement |
| Spouse(s) | Chittaranjan Das |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (1973) |
Basanti Devi (23 March 1880 – 1974) was an Indian independence activist during the British rule in India. She was wife of activist Chittaranjan Das. After Das' arrest in 1921 and death in 1925, she took active part in various movements and continued with social work post-independence. She received Padma Vibhushan in 1973.
Basanti Devi was born on 23 March 1880 to Baradanath Haldar, a diwan (financial minister) in Assam state under the colonial rule of British. She studied at the Loreto House, Kolkata and married Chittaranjan Das at the age of seventeen. The two had three children born between 1898 and 1901.
Following her husband, Basanti Devi took part in various movements like the Civil disobedience movement, Khilafat Movement and also the Nagpur session of Indian National Congress in 1920. In 1921, along with Das' sisters Urmila Devi and Sunita Devi, she established the "Nari Karma Mandir", a training center for women activists. In 1920–21, she was instrumental in collecting gold ornaments and 2000 gold coins from Jalpaiguri towards the Tilak Swaraj Fund. During the Non-cooperation movement in 1921, the Indian National Congress called for strikes and ban on foreign goods. In Kolkata, small groups of 5 volunteers were employed to sell khadi, the hand spun clothes, on streets. Das, who was the leading figure of this movement in Kolkata decided to make his wife Basanti Devi lead one such group. Devi went on streets despite Subhash Chandra Bose opposing it and this provoked British to arrest her. Although she was released by midnight, arrest of Basanti Devi proved to be a major impetus and caused wide spread agitation. Two prisons of Kolkata were filled with such volunteers and detention camps were established to occupy more. On 10 December 1921 British arrested Das and Bose. This was Bose's first of the eleven arrests by British.
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