Ramadevi Choudhury is an Odia freedom fighter. Ramadevi was born on December 3, 1899, in Satyabhamapur village near Cuttack to Basanta Kumari Devi and Gopal Ballabh Das. The parents used to call him ‘Bela’ in reverence. His father Gopal Ballabh Das was the then collector. He was able to get close to his subjects in troubled areas like Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Hazaribagh in Bihar. Ramadevi is the niece of Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das. Without going to any school, Ramadevi mastered Odia, Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali languages.
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Family
In April 1914, she married Gopabandhu Chaudhuri, freedom fighter, the then deputy collector and lawyer from Cuttack. Gopabandhu was the son of Gokulananda Chowdhury, a well-known lawyer and well-known zamindar of Cuttack. Gopabandhu left the post of a respected deputy collector at that time and joined the Swadeshi movement. Later, his younger Nabakrishna Chaudhary, brother-in-law Malati Chaudhary, son Manmohan Chaudhary, daughter Annapurna took up the service of the country as the fast of life.
Role in National Movement
On March 24, 1921, Mahatma Gandhi attended two public gatherings at Kathjodi and Vinod Bihari premises in Cuttack and explained the need for harijans, protection of Dalits and swadeshi movement. Ramadevi, who was present at the meeting, was impressed by Gandhiji’s speech and started wearing cheap sarees along with donating her precious 200 grams of gold ornaments and many valuables to Gandhi’s Swaraj Fund. Bangalakshmi resolved to wear the press’s sarees, khadi clothes and indigenous clothes for the rest of her life.
Ramadevi took the main responsibility of the Civil disobedience movement of 1930, Salt Satyagraha, 8 August 1934, Gandhi’s Shreekeshtra Harijan Samavesh and unveiling of the statue of Utkalamani in front of the temple. During his two days on August 19 and 20, 1925, Mahatma Gandhi received many important suggestions from Utkalgaurav Madhusudan at his residence in Cuttack. During his stay in Cuttack, Gandhiji was impressed by the cottage industries, taraksi industries, leather industrial centers operated by Madhusudan. Gandhiji started the work of establishing a leprosy home in Cuttack, harijan welfare work. Ramadevi stayed with him like a shadow and listened to the Odia translation of Gandhiji’s Hindi speech to everyone. Inspired by his elder father Madhusudan and Gandhiji, he built the ‘Bari Ashram’ in the style of Wardha Ashram. Ramadevi’s act disturbed the British government.
On November 8, 1930, he was imprisoned and lodged in Cuttack jail for eight months. In 1942, the British government sentenced Ramadevi and Gopabandhu to two years in jail for their direct involvement in the Quit India Movement. After the independence of the country, many public leaders became desperate for positions. However, the patriotic couple refrained from doing so and accepted public service as a religion. Ramadevi was behind the success of Vinobaji’s Bhoodan Yajna in 1955. All the family members have set an example by involving themselves in this noble cause.
On April 29, 1958, the death of husband Gopabandhu left Ramadevi speechless. During the 1962 China-India war, he himself took the seva dal and gave courage to the Indian soldiers who were in distress. During Indira Gandhi’s prime ministership, Jayaprakash Narayan dealt strongly with the Emergency. Ramadevi held a huge gathering in Bhubaneswar in full support of Jayaprakashji to protect the standard of Indian democracy. The administration backtracked on seeing Ramadevi at the forefront of the gathering despite section 144 being imposed. Many leaders went to jail, but no one dared to arrest mother Ramadevi.
Death
Ramadevi died on July 22, 1985. On her death, the Hon’ble Governor of Odisha, Biswambharnath Pandey, broke down in tears and said, “She was not the mother of the Odia nation, she was also my mother.” Despite not holding any high office, he got national status. His son Manmohan Singh lit the effigy with state honours. A coast guard ship has been named Maa Ramadevi in his memory. A women’s college has been set up in the state capital Bhubaneswar. Utkal University has conferred him an honorary doctorate degree. The prestigious ‘Jamunalal Bajaj’ award has been given for dedicated service.
