{"id":127808,"date":"2026-10-06T17:30:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=127808"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:30:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:00:02","slug":"lakshmi-sahgal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/lakshmi-sahgal\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakshmi Sahgal, Life, INA Role and Rani of Jhansi Regiment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Lakshmi Sahgal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was an <\/span><b>Indian doctor, freedom fighter and social activist<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who played a prominent role in the <\/span><b>Indian National Army (INA)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> under <\/span><b>Subhas Chandra Bose<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She is best remembered for commanding the <\/span><b>Rani of Jhansi Regiment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the INA\u2019s all-women regiment, and for serving as<\/span><b> Minister for Women\u2019s Affairs in the Provisional Government of Azad Hind. <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Independence, she continued her medical and social work, particularly in refugee relief, healthcare and women\u2019s rights. Her life reflects the participation of women in India\u2019s freedom struggle and the continuation of public service beyond Independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Who Was Lakshmi Sahgal?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Lakshmi Sahgal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was born <\/span><b>Lakshmi Swaminathan <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on <\/span><b>24 October 1914<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <\/span><b>Madras Presidency. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She came from a family associated with law, social work and public life.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her father, <\/span><b>S. Swaminatha<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n, was a lawyer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her mother, <\/span><b>Ammu Swaminathan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, was a social worker and freedom activist.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She studied at<\/span><b> Queen Mary\u2019s College<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Madras before pursuing medicine at Madras Medical College.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She completed her <\/span><b>MBBS in 1938<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and obtained a diploma in <\/span><b>Gynaecology and Obstetrics in 1940.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She later worked at the <\/span><b>Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Madras.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her medical training became an important part of both her work during the freedom struggle and her public service after Independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal in Singapore<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>In 1940, Lakshmi Sahgal moved to Singapore<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and began practising medicine. She primarily served the Indian community, including poor workers who had limited access to healthcare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Japanese occupation of Singapore in 1942<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the activities of the Indian nationalist movement in Southeast Asia brought her into closer contact with the struggle for Indian independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She provided <\/span><b>medical assistance to Indian prisoners of war<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other people affected by the war.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She became <\/span><b>associated with the Indian Independence League<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which sought to mobilise Indians in Southeast Asia for India&#8217;s independence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her work with Indian prisoners of war brought her closer to the activities surrounding the <\/span><b>Indian National Army.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><b> arrival of <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/subhash-chandra-bose\/\" target=\"_blank\">Subhas Chandra Bose<\/a> in Singapore in July 1943<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> became a turning point in her life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Rani of Jhansi Regiment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was <\/span><b>formed in 1943<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the initiative of <\/span><b>Subhas Chandra Bose <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as the <\/span><b>women\u2019s regiment of the Indian National Army<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Bose wanted women to participate directly in the struggle for India\u2019s independence and named the regiment after Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, who had become a symbol of resistance during the Revolt of 1857.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Lakshmi Sahgal played the central role in organising and leading the regiment.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She recruited women from the Indian community in Southeast Asia and helped organise their military training. <\/span><b>As its commanding o<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fficer, she became popularly known as Captain Lakshmi.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The regiment included women volunteers mainly from Singapore and Malaya.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Members received training in military discipline, physical exercises, weapons handling and first aid.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The regiment was associated with the INA\u2019s Burma campaign and advance towards India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its members also undertook medical and support responsibilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The regiment was significant because it gave women an organised military role in the freedom struggle and became one of the most prominent examples of women\u2019s participation in the INA.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal and the Provisional Government of Azad Hind<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On <\/span><b>21 October 1943<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Subhas Chandra Bose proclaimed the<\/span><b> Provisional Government of Azad Hind<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <\/span><b>Singapore<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It was established as part of the wider Azad Hind movement seeking to end British rule in India.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Lakshmi Sahgal was given responsibility for women\u2019s affairs in the government.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her position extended her involvement in the freedom struggle beyond the leadership of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment. It also reflected the importance attached to women\u2019s participation in the political organisation of the Azad Hind movement.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal\u2019s Arrest and Return to India<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The INA\u2019s military campaign weakened as Japan suffered defeats in the Second World War. The INA forces were eventually forced to retreat from Southeast Asia, bringing their military campaign towards India to an end.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lakshmi Sahgal was captured by British forces in Burma in 1945<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and detained in Rangoon.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her arrest took place during the British government\u2019s action against INA personnel. The subsequent INA trials at the Red Fort generated widespread public sympathy for the INA and became an important episode in the final phase of the Indian freedom struggle.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She <\/span><b>returned to India in March 1946.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After her return, Lakshmi Sahgal continued to remain involved in public service. She helped raise funds for destitute INA families and visited refugee camps in Madras and Kerala.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal After Independence<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>After Independence, Lakshmi Sahgal continued her work as a doctor while remaining active in humanitarian and social causes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. She settled in Kanpur in 1947 and continued providing medical care, particularly to poor and working-class communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her post-Independence work included several major humanitarian and social initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During Partition, she provided<\/span><b> medical assistance to refugees and displaced people.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the 1971 refugee crisis, she worked with the People\u2019s Relief Committee of Bengal to support refugees from East Pakistan.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She joined the <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/communist-party-of-india\/\" target=\"_blank\">Communist Party of India<\/a> (Marxist) in 1971<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and remained active in public life.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She was among the founding members of the <\/span><b>All India Democratic Women\u2019s Association in 1981.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the anti-Sikh violence of 1984, she worked to assist affected people and promote communal harmony.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the <\/span><b>Bhopal gas tragedy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 1984, she led a medical team to provide assistance to victims.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1996, she was arrested during an AIDWA campaign opposing the Miss World contest in Bangalore.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She continued treating patients in Kanpur well into her later years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her long medical career showed that her commitment to serving people continued well beyond the freedom struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal and the 2002 Presidential Election<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><b>2002, she contested the Presidential election of India as the joint Left candidate against A. P. J. Abdul Kalam<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who was elected President. Her candidature brought her back into national political attention and reflected her continued engagement with public and political affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal Awards and Recognition<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lakshmi Sahgal received recognition for her contribution to public life and social service.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1998.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The University of Calicut conferred an honorary doctorate on her in 2010.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Lakshmi Sahgal\u2019s Autobiography<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lakshmi Sahgal recorded her experiences of the freedom struggle and her later political and social work in her autobiography.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her English autobiography, <\/span><b>A Revolutionary Life: Memoirs of a Political Activist<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, was published in 1997. Its Hindi version is titled <\/span><b>Mera Jeevan Sangharsh.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>Death and Legacy of Lakshmi Sahgal<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lakshmi Sahgal <\/span><b>died in Kanpur on 23 July 2012, at the age of 97.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her life connected two phases of public service: the struggle for independence and the building of an independent India. She first became prominent through the INA and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment and later continued serving society through medicine, humanitarian work and political activism.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She remains particularly remembered for demonstrating the important role that women could play in the armed and political dimensions of India\u2019s freedom struggle.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lakshmi Sahgal was an INA freedom fighter, doctor and social activist who led the Rani of Jhansi Regiment under Subhas Chandra Bose and championed women\u2019s participation in India\u2019s freedom struggle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":127770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[10710,10709],"class_list":["post-127808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-general-studies","tag-lakshmi","tag-lakshmi-sahgal","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127808"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127835,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127808\/revisions\/127835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}