Born in 1914 to S. Swaminadhan, lawyer, and A.V. Ammukutty, social worker and freedom fighter, Lakshmi was involved in the freedom struggle from an early age. She campaigned for temple entry for dalits, and against child marriage and dowry. She completed her MBBS in 1938, and went to Singapore in 1940, where she came in contact with Subhash Chandra Bose. After a five-hour meeting with him, she was tasked with setting up the Rani Jhansi regiment, the women’s wing of the INA. Dr. Lakshmi Swaminadhan became Captain Lakshmi, a name and identity that would stay with her for life. She married married Col. Prem Kumar Sehgal, a leading figure of the INA, in March 1947. The couple moved from Lahore to Kanpur, where she plunged into her medical practice and she worked for refugees who came from Pakistan. Responding to Jyoti Basu’s call to doctors, she worked in refugee camps for Bangladeshi refugees. Soon after, she joined the CPI(M), and was one of the founder members of AIDWA in 1981. During the anti-Sikh violence following Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, she confronted mobs and ensured that no Sikh person or business was harmed in her locality in Kanpur. In 2002, she was the Presidential candidate of the Left against A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. She remains one of the authentic heroines of the Freedom Movement.
AIDWA delegation met Aishe Ghosh and other injured students and expressed full support to their struggle against the fee hike and also strongly condemned the cowardly attack by the ABVP-BJP-RSS goons…
AIDWA leaders Subhashini Ali, Sehba Farooqi and Mariam Dhawale participated in the one month long dharna at Shaheen Bagh and expressed solidarity with the women protesting against NRC-CAA imposed by…
AIDWA calls upon all its units to actively mobilise and jointly participate in the protests against NRC and CAA which will take place on December 19, all over the country. Struggle Against the CAA…
As part of the All India conference campaign to popularize the theme of the conference - “Safeguard our Constitution, Uphold Women’s Rights – All Together, Fight Together, Forward Together”. The CEC…
As the largest mass organisation of women in our country, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has been in the forefront of struggles and campaigns for the establishment of equality…
