Sarojini Naidu was a poet who became a leading political figure in the freedom struggle. She broke several barriers for women along the way.
This lesson covers her key milestones, her fight for women’s suffrage, and her place among other women leaders of the movement.
Dharasana Satyagraha: the 21 May 1930 raid on the Dharasana Salt Works, part of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Government of India Act, 1919: the law that reformed India’s legislatures but left women’s voting rights to each province’s own choice.
Joint Select Committee: the British parliamentary panel that heard evidence on the 1919 Act, including testimony favouring female franchise.
Contents
- What were Sarojini Naidu’s three defining milestones?
- How did Naidu become the first woman Governor, and who else led alongside her?
- How close was Naidu to Gandhi, and why did Dharasana matter?
- What happened when Naidu took women’s suffrage straight to the British?
- Why does calling Naidu just “a poet” undersell her?
1What were Sarojini Naidu’s three defining milestones?
Annie Besant, a British-born theosophist, was Congress president in 1917. She was the first woman to hold that post overall.
Sarojini Naidu became the first Indian woman to hold the post in 1925. She presided over the 40th Congress session, held at Kanpur.
Naidu earned the title “Nightingale of India” for her poetry, written largely in English. She is also known by the titles Bharatiya Kokila and Bulbul-e-Hind, both meaning the same thing.
Gandhi was arrested on 4 May 1930, as the Civil Disobedience Movement intensified. Days later, on 21 May 1930, Naidu led around 2,500 satyagrahis in the Dharasana Salt Satyagraha.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad co-led the raid alongside her.
- Besant was first woman Congress president overall; Naidu was the first Indian woman, eight years later.
- Naidu’s “Nightingale of India” title came from her poetry, well before her political career took off.
- She led the Dharasana raid days after Gandhi’s arrest, together with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
True or False: Annie Besant, not Sarojini Naidu, was the first woman to serve as Congress president overall.
2How did Naidu become the first woman Governor, and who else led alongside her?
After independence, Naidu became the first woman Governor of an Indian state. She served as Governor of the United Provinces.
She held that post until her death, on 2 March 1949, in Lucknow.
Naidu was not alone among women leaders of the era. Kasturba Gandhi and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit also led across different phases of the struggle.
Naidu’s daughter, Padmaja Naidu, later became Governor of West Bengal too, serving from 1956 to 1967. They were one of independent India’s few mother-daughter pairs to both serve as state governors.
- Naidu served as Governor of the United Provinces from 1947 until her death in 1949.
- Kasturba Gandhi and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit led alongside her in other phases of the movement.
- Her daughter Padmaja Naidu followed her into a governorship, of West Bengal, a decade later.
3How close was Naidu to Gandhi, and why did Dharasana matter?
Naidu worked closely with Gandhi across major campaigns, including Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience.
At Dharasana, she led roughly 2,500 satyagrahis to the salt works. Police beat them with steel-tipped lathis, but the march produced no violent retaliation.
Naidu had instructed the marchers beforehand not to resist, even when beaten. Eyewitnesses reported that not one marcher raised an arm to ward off a blow.
Women’s participation expanded significantly during Civil Disobedience. This marked a real shift from the movement’s earlier, more male-dominated phases.
- Dharasana tested the movement’s discipline: thousands beaten, none retaliating.
- Women’s role grew sharply during Civil Disobedience, compared to earlier campaigns.
4What happened when Naidu took women’s suffrage straight to the British?
In December 1917, Naidu led fourteen women leaders to meet Edwin Montagu and Lord Chelmsford. The delegation asked that women’s suffrage be written into new franchise reforms for India.
Naidu argued that women’s franchise would strengthen, not threaten, Indian nationalism.
The Government of India Act, 1919, ignored the direct demand. It named no women voters directly, and instead let each provincial council decide for itself.
Naidu returned to London in 1919 to press the case again. She gave evidence before a parliamentary Joint Select Committee, arguing in favour of female franchise.
- The 1917 delegation asked for suffrage directly in law; the 1919 Act left it to the provinces instead.
- Naidu personally testified before the Joint Select Committee in London, in 1919.
True or False: The Government of India Act, 1919, directly granted women the vote across all of India.
5Why does calling Naidu just “a poet” undersell her?
Naidu had a dual identity: a celebrated poet, and a serious political leader. That combination made her distinctive within the Congress leadership.
Colonial authorities jailed her on several occasions: in 1930, in 1932, and again in 1942. During Quit India, she was held at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, together with Gandhi.
Repeated imprisonment shows how central she remained to Congress strategy, across three separate decades of protest.
Her path from protest leader to Governor shows how the freedom struggle opened political space for women, well before the law caught up.
Watch for exams that bundle different women’s achievements into one name. Besant was first woman Congress president overall; Naidu was the first Indian woman. Naidu led the suffrage delegation; Ramabai and Tarabai Shinde did other, separate work.
If Naidu wasn’t the first woman Congress president at all, why is she remembered as a “first”?
Because the exact “first” matters precisely. She was the first Indian woman Congress president, not the first woman overall — that was Besant. Exams test this exact distinction, as CDS II 2025 did with a similar woman-achievers mix-up.
CDS II 2025, GK, Q66
Asked which of three statements about women achievers in modern India was correct. Only the claim about Naidu held up: she led a delegation to London demanding female franchise. The other two statements mixed up facts belonging to Pandita Ramabai and Tarabai Shinde.
UPSC Mains 2016, GS1, Q4
Asked candidates to discuss the role of women in the freedom struggle, especially during the Gandhian phase. Sarojini Naidu is a leading example of that role.
True or False: According to CDS II 2025, all three tested statements about women achievers turned out correct, including the one about Sarojini Naidu.
- Exams often bundle real achievements from different women leaders into one statement — know which fact belongs to which name.
MCQ on Sarojini Naidu and Women in the Freedom Struggle
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