Mira Datta Gupta

Mira Dattagupta (1907-1983) was a well-known freedom fighter, social worker, educationist, politician and activist on women's issues in Kolkata, India. She was the daughter of Sarat Datta Gupta, an Auditor-General of India and Sarajubala Datta Gupta (nee Sen).

Academic and Social Work

The last decades of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century saw the dawn of awakening of Indian women across India. Born in this period, Mira, like some of her contemporaries contributed towards the education and advancement of women in her province. She did her masters in mathematics and secured a first class with second rank from Calcutta University. At that time she was associated with Indian revolutionary groups, such as Anushilan, Jugantar and Bengal Volunteers. As the principal of of the women's section of Kolkata's Surendranath College, she was very popular for her strong sense of discipline and academic standards.

She was the founder of many prominent women's organisations and educational institutions in West Bengal, India. She was among the founder members of the All India Women's Conference and All Bengal Women's Union. She had a devoted following in the Ballygunge Constituency, all along the southeastern environs of the city, and was known for her social commitment. During the devastating Bengal Famine of 1943, she, along with co-Congress workers played a leading role in organising relief and rehabilitation for famine victims.

Political Career

In a political role, she was a member of the Indian Congress Party between 1939 and 1959. She was an elected member of the state legislative assembly in West Bengal as well, but declined the offer of the post of deputy minister in the Cabinet of 1952 of the then Chief Minister, Bidhan Chandra Roy.

She had also served as an honorary justice of peace in the juvenile court in Kolkata and was a member of the Board of Film Censors in West Bengal. In the 1950s she was a member of an Indian goodwill mission to China and later visited Berlin, Copenhagen and Moscow to attend developmental, educational and women's conferences.

She was born on 5th October in Dhaka at her maternal grandparents' house. Her parents were greatly inspired by patriotic feelings and she too absorbed these ideas as she was growing up. She finished her post-graduation in mathematics from Calcutta University in 1930 with a first class in Mathematics and was placed in the second rank. As a member of Bengal Volunteers she was the editor of the women's section of its magazine - Benu. While, initially she was put in charge of the organisation's South Calcutta Women's group, she later moved into a low profile role, choosing to work for India's independence secretly. Her father was a senior government official and the police did not suspect her of being a revolutionary worker for a long time. She secretly kept documents and even arms and ammunition for the revolutionary party workers at her family home at Calcutta's Hazra Road. She was appointed vice-principal of the women's section of Vidyasagar College in 1931. She used to donate her entire salary in those days towards India's freedom movement to her party Bengal Volunteers.Around this time she also provided a channel for information between the revolutionaries who had to stay under cover and others in the party. She participated in one of the important meetings of Bengal Volunteers held at Baranagar near Kolkata to discuss the group's activities in Midnapore and other parts of the state. From 1933, the police became suspicious of her activities and she was placed under constant surveillance. In 1938, many party members suc h as Bhavani Bhattacharya and Ujjala Mazumdar were arrested in connection with the shooting of Governor Anderson in Darjeeling district. Mira Dattagupta was cross-examined by the police for many hours in connection with this case. AT this stage her father sent her away from Calcutta for two years to ensure her personal safety. She was elected to the West Bengal state assembly twice. During the freedom movement in 1942, she was very actively involved in fund raising activities. In 1946, she was jailed for her nationalistic activities and after she came out of prison she became one of the first members of Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose's Forward Bloc. Later her many activities included relief activities for those affected by famine, floods, the homeless and economically weaker women. She was a member of the Calcutta University senate and the West Bengal Secondary Education board later. In 1958, she joined the Indian goodwill mission to China.