Untestible resilience, limitless sympathy and relentless empathy – those who are even familiar with the permanent heir from Ashoka Gupa from a distance, they have indelibly described them that they have these properties. It is known that she inspired thousands of life through her unshakable commitment to social service.
And yet your life and work remain mainly wrapped in the dark.
Ashoka Guptas early life
Ashoka Gupta was born in Bengal in 1912, at a time when women were often limited to the house and only have a limited access to education or public life. At such a time when the literacy of women as a bad omen, a gateway to the convicted realm of widow’s shaft, Guppa managed to take the enrollment and to complete the Bethune College with honors in mathematics.
Source: Telegraph India
Her long journey into social work began with her accession to the All India Women’s Conference in 1936, where she was constantly involved in the efforts to mobilize resources, people and funds for various social problems. When the devastating Bengal Hunger emergency had occurred in 1943, she was actively involved in the coordination of help, the management of sales centers and ensured that food and other essential deliveries reached the needy. This marked its final foray in social work
The Noakhali tragedy
However, her most remarkable work was perhaps in Noakhali during the Noakhali massacre in 1946, which as a catastrophic testimony for the growing shared gap and decreasing religious harmony, which tore apart India. It included shocking incidents of murders, forced conversions, looting, arson and sexual violence.
Source: The Daily Star
Guppa, at that time the newly appointed convenor of a auxiliary committee, was immediately put in files. It initially distributed auxiliary materials to fleeing villagers.
However, when Mahatma Gandhi arrived in Noakhali, he advised the workers such as Ashoka to build up the interior villages warehouse in order to restore trust with frightened Hindus. After his council, Ashoka built her base in an interior village and took her young daughter with him. The widespread violence and crimes against women and their bodies during the unrest influenced them in particular and they devoted their efforts to tackle these problems. She worked particularly on the emergency of kidnapped and harassed women.
In her Noakhali Durjoger Dine, she noticed: “We came across cases of physical attacks on women when the rioters tried to violently take out money and jewelry. Even young girls who had not yet reached their age were not spared.”
She spent talking to women individually to gain their trust and document their experiences. “Sometimes we had to talk to them alone for a long time before they dared to open their experiences.”
Her extensive work at the basic level, which was rooted in Gandhian philosophy, was important to gain the trust of the victims. She dipped into the community to understand her point of view at a time when the authority of the emergency of the victims was considered indifferent.
However, their efforts to bring women to targeted relief met with a lukewarm reaction. Her disappointment in social and administrative apathy for the emergency of women is particularly known to the editor of the statesman in a letter that she wrote from October 25, 46.
“Fifteen days have passed since the difficulties started in Noakhali and the press reports have shown from the start that crimes against women were committed to a large extent.
But the Anglo Indian press was inexplicably quiet and very few British men and women I met even showed a lukewarm interest in the matter.
I believe that in crimes against women the question should not arise whether this is a civil war or an increase in a community, but that women should report as a community and say that this condition should not be tolerated. “
Guppa was one of the first women to focus on violence against women during the unrest as a universal topic and played a crucial role in the exploitation of women during the unrest in a deeply patriarchal society.
She had a lasting influence on NOAKHALI and became an unforgettable figure for thousands of souls. Her extensive work and her interaction with direct victims of violence in front of the ground established her characteristic possibilities to work as a social worker based on empathy and inclusion-a one that tries to find out through her voices and perspectives.
However, Noakhali was only a springboard for her permanent contribution to social work. It was deeply affected by the trauma, devastation and loss of the partition. All of her efforts for peace had come.
However, she didn’t stop.
Artkata Gree did Nalla.
After independence, Ashoka’s focus shifted to the rehabilitation of refugees, the literacy of children and the buoyancy of women and tribes. She convincingly believed in the Gandhian philosophy of the nation building at the base.
She played a crucial role in coordinating the efforts of various voluntary organizations in West Bengal to rehabilitation of refugees. Later she founded the Mahila Seva Samita and aimed at her focus on rehabilitation and rescue work and finally acted as chairman of the Social Socal Reading Board of the state of Westbengalen.
Their work in education and literacy was also enormous and long and founded schools such as AIWC Buniadi Vidyapith and other community development programs that contribute to the formation and strengthening of thousands of girls.
The bar wires of the partition did not prevent them from practicing universal empathy. After 20 years of independence, she still stood by her husband to combat the injustices of the refugees from East Pakistan, who emigrated in the 1960s and were “rehabilitated” in the wilderness called Dandakaranya. She saw the universal characteristics of mankind that did
Ashoka’s lasting legacy
In 2007 she was awarded an ode to her indomitable spirit and relentless engagement for social work with the Jamnalal Bajaj Award. Ashoka Gupta’s work in the social field is an example of the universal spirit of mankind, which makes borders, class and caste. Her work as a women’s rights activist initiated important discussions about women as a victim of sexual violence in times of hate criminal offense that have permanent effects on the coming generations
Finally, Gopal Gandhi’s statement ASHOKA-high effects on all people around them: “There was no break between the activities for Ashoka-Di. It was an incessant commitment to the service of the people.”
References:
- https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/ashoka-gupta-and-riot-torn-noakhali.pdf
- https://www.india-seminar.com/2002/510/510%20ashoka%20Gupta-noakhali.htm
- https://www.exoticindiaart.com/dook/details/fighting-sspirit-selected–of-ashoka-gupta-uaj829/
- https://niyogibooksindia.com/books/a-fighting-schirit/
- https://www.countercurrents.org/kamal160712.htm
- https://books.google.co.in/books?id=ZZ3EKF7NDLAC&q=bela+mitra&pg=pa68&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=bela%20Mitra&f=false
- https://www.ijssr.com/wp-content/uploads/journal/publiered_paper/volume-2/issue-1/ijssr30256.pdf
- https://www.andrewwhiteheead.net/partition-voices-ashoka-gupta.html
- https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bgal/for-seven-decades-a-guide-helping-hand/cid/1271395
- https://www.jamnalbajajfoundation.org/media/pdf/jba_2007_bio_ashoka_gupta.pdf
Sohalika Shrivastava is a student in the 3rd year at Iit Madras Out and shortly before it is to carve a niche. In her free time she likes to read about animal facts and likes to learn
