Adieu, Hema Bharali

Samudra Gupta Kashyap

With the passing away of freedom fighter and Gandhian activist Hema Bharali at 102 years in Guwahati on Wednesday, a very interesting life has come to an end. Born on February 19, 1919 in a remote village near Dhakuakhana in Lakhimpur, Hema Bharali was a direct student of Mahatma Gandhi at the Wardha Ashram. In fact she was in the last batch of students under Gandhiji, and their course had remained incomplete as the Mahatma had to rush to different places which were hit by senseless communal violence that coincided with the creation of Pakistan a separate country for Muslims. Hema Bharali, who soon became one of the close followers of Achary Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual successor of Bapuji, among other things, took part in a nation-wide padayatra – a march on foot – one that had kindled the spirit of nationalism, voluntarism and patriotism among millions of people, more particularly among rural illiterate and semi-literate women. Hema Bharali was in that wonderful team of courageous women volunteers with Vinoba Bhave who had also instilled the spirit of national integration in the minds of people, created an awakening among women, and to spread knowledge about forests as a vital factor of environment. A woman of courage who refused to recognise the word ‘No’ till her last day, she would hardly accept anything without asking what, why and how. Having dedicated her entire active life for the cause of social uplift, she was all over — in rural development, in spread of basic education, in enforcing prohibition, in weaning away village folks from opium, in involving youth in voluntary work, in removal of social discrimination, in empowerment of women and children, in securing social justice and above all, in promoting peace and non-violence. She was there all over – in Lakhimpur-Dhemaji when the great earthquake of 1950 had caused immense devastation and suffering, in Guwahati in 1956 to set up the pioneering Asam Shishu Kalyan Sadan at Sundarbori, in Nagaon in 1960 when the language disturbance had led to riots, in Tezpur in 1962 when the government had disappeared as the Chinese troops had advanced as close as Rupa, across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka in 1967-68 as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Mahila Lok-Yatra, in Chamaria in South Kamrup in 1981 when suspected illegal migrants had set afire several indigenous villages, in Kokrajhar in 1996 when ethnic violence had rendered lakhs of people homeless… Recognised by the Government of India with the prestigious Padmashri Award in 2005 for her dedicated service to the nation, Hema Bharali will now only remain only as a legend among her numerous admirers.

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