Ashalata Sen, a leading figure in the freedom movement and writer, passed away on this day. She was 92.
Sen was born in Noakhali. She wrote from a very young age. After the Partition of Bengal of 1905, when she was about 10, she was introduced to the Swadeshi movement by her grandmother. Sen went on to commit her life to Gandhian ideas and social work. She was widowed at a young age.
In 1924, she established the Gandaria Mahila Samiti in Dhaka with Sarama Gupta and Sarajubala Gupta. She founded several other organisations. She took part in the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement and was arrested for participating in the last two. She actively promoted khadi. In 1947 she was elected to the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. Pakistan was critical of her views and she came over to Delhi in 1965. She wrote an autobiography. Some of her other books are Bidyut and Chhora.