Subhadra Joshi

Subhadra Joshi (née Datta) (23 March 1919 – 30 October 2003) was a noted Indian freedom activist, politician and parliamentarian from Indian National Congress. She took part in the 1942 Quit India movement, and later remained the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC). She belonged to a well known family in Sialkot (now in Pakistan). Her father V.N Datta was a police officer with the Jaipur State and a cousin, Krishnan Gopal Datta was an active Congressman in Punjab.

She did her schooling from the Maharaja Girls' School, Jaipur, the Lady Maclegan High School, Lahore and the Kanya Mahavidyalaya at Jalandhar. She obtained a Master's degree in Political Science from the Forman Christian College, Lahore. It was during her college days that she became involved with political activities.

Role in the freedom struggle

Attracted by the ideals of Gandhiji, she visited his Ashram at Wardha when she was studying in Lahore. As a Student she took part in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and worked with Aruna Asaf Ali. During this time, she relocated to Delhi where she went underground and edited a journal ‘Hamara Sangram’. She was arrested and after serving time at the Lahore Women's Central Jail, she started working among industrial workers.

During the communal riots that ensued in the wake of Partition she set up a peace volunteer organization,‘Shanti Dal’ which became a powerful anti communal force during those troubled times. She also organized rehabilitation of evacuees from Pakistan.

Role in Independent India

Subhadra Joshi was an ardent secularist who dedicated her life to the cause of communal harmony in India. She spent several months in Sagar when the first major post independence riots of India broke out there in 1961. The following year she set up the 'Sampradayikta Virodhi Committee' as common anti-communal political platform and in 1968, launched the journal Secular Democracy in support of the cause. In 1971, the Qaumi Ekta Trust was established to further the cause of secularism and communal amity in the country.

As a Parliamentarian

She was a parliamentarian for four terms from 1952-1977 from Balrampur and Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency. She made important contributions to the passage of Special Marriage Act, the Nationalization of Banks, Abolition of Privy Purses and the Aligarh University Amendment Act. Her crowning achievement however was her successful move to amend the code for Criminal Procedure that made any organized propaganda leading to communal tensions or enmity a cognizable offence. She is alleged to have had an affair with Indira Gandhi's husband, Feroze Gandhi.

She was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Sadhbhavana Award given by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Subhadra Joshi died on 30 October 2003, at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi, after a prolonged illness at the age of 86. A commemorative stamp was issued in her honour by Department of Posts on her birth anniversary, March 23, 2011.