#DurgaBhabhi – Synonym For Nari Shakti.
She led the funeral procession of Jatindra Nath Das from Lahore to Calcutta after his death in a 63-day jail hunger strike. All along the way, huge crowds joined the funeral procession. (Gandhi Never Appreciated The Hunger Strike)
While

her husband Bhagwati Charan Vohra was in Calcutta to attend Congress Session, on December 17, 1928, British police officer John Saunders responsible for Lala Lajpat Rai’s death was killed, the government imposed restrictions in Lahore.
Durga bhabhi was alone at home with her

three-year-old son when someone knocked on her door at night. On answering, she found Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru at her doorstep.
To remain incognito, Bhagath Singh had cut his hair, shaved his beard for the first time, Durgavati was unable to recognize him until Rajguru

revealed the truth, this made Rajguru think that she can help them move out of Lahore.
Undaunted by the risk to her own safety, she agreed to help and handed over the sum of money her husband had left with her for emergencies. The daring woman also agreed to pose as

Bhagat Singh’s wife in order to help him escape the British intelligence in Lahore.
What makes Durga Devi’s decision exceptionally courageous is the fact that the social conventions of the time strictly constrained contact between men and women who were not married. Despite

knowing the risks, she chose to help the revolutionaries, knowing how important their leadership was for the nationalist struggle.
Taking her three-year-old son along, the indomitable woman helped Bhagat Singh and Rajguru (pretending to be the family’s servant) neatly evade the

massive police cordon and board a first class train carriage for Lucknow.
Interestingly, Chandrashekhar Azad also escaped Lahore by travelling in the company of Sukhdev’s mother and sister, disguised as a sadhu escorting the women on a pilgrimage!
On reaching Lucknow, Bhagat

Singh immediately sent a telegram to Bhagwati Charan, informing him that he was coming to Calcutta with ‘Durgawati’ while Rajguru was going to Benares. When the two of them finally arrived at Calcutta, they were received by a very surprised Bhagwati Charan who was delighted to

learn of his wife’s role in helping Bhagat Singh and Rajguru escape.
In the days that followed, Bhagwati Charan, Durga Devi and an incognito Bhagat Singh attended the Calcutta session of INC, Bhagat Singh’s iconic photograph in a felt hat was also taken in Calcutta.
Durgavati

was born on October -07- 1907 & was married to Bhagawathi Charan Vohra when she was 11 & he, 15.
Shivcharan Das Vohra was conferred with the title of “Rai Saheb” by the British, but his son was not enamoured of the colonisers. Bhagwati Charan Vohra often met Bhagat Singh and

other progressive revolutionaries. Bhagat Singh founded the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in March, 1926.
Bhagawathi Charan Vohra was an expert BOMB MAKER, relationship between Bhagwati Charan Vohra and Durgavati was one of a unique companionship and commitment. The revolutionaries

called her bhabhi. But she was not a mere supporter of the revolutionaries, she was an active participant. Bhagwati Charan even taught her how to use a gun.
In fact, according to Jogesh Chandra Chatterji (freedom fighter and member of Anushilan Samiti), the plan to throw bombs

in Delhi’s Central Assembly was also made in Calcutta. This plan came to fruition on April 8, 1929, when Bhagat Singh and fellow revolutionary Batukeshwar Dutt threw bombs and leaflets inside the Assembly before offering themselves up for arrest.
These charges were clubbed

together by the British Raj in the Lahore conspiracy case that led to the arrest of the young leaders of HSRA. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were awarded the death sentence and police began to close in on other revolutionaries as well.
Bhagvati Charan had been planning to

free Bhagat Singh by bombing the jail he was kept in. But a premature explosion while testing the bomb on the banks of the river Ravi led to his death.
A heartbroken Durga Devi dealt with the grief of her husband’s death by plunging into revolutionary work. In July 1929, she led

a procession in Lahore, holding a placard with Bhagat Singh’s photograph and demanding his release.
October 8, 1929. Durgawati shot at a British policeman and his wife standing on the Lamington Road in South Bombay, in an incident that would later be described as

“the first instance in which a woman figured prominently in a terrorist outrage”. For this, she was arrested and awarded three years imprisonment.
(What Cong & Commi historians hide is, they had Savarkar’s blessings & British after this incident extended his house arrest for

another 3 years)
After her release from prison, new struggles awaited Durga bhabhi. Fellow revolutionaries had either been killed or arrested. She was left alone. In 1935, she moved to Ghaziabad and started teaching in a school. In 1939, she visited Madras to receive training

from Maria Montessori. A year later, she opened her own school in Lucknow — the first Montessori School in north India — with five students from underprivileged families.
In the years after Independence, Durga Devi lived a quiet life of anonymity in Lucknow before breathing her

last on October 15, 1999 at the age of 92, her passing away was not treated as the passing of a revolutionary, but of an anonymous woman.
Her 52 years of life after independence is not known, neither she received a Padma nor we know whether she received Pension.

#VANDEMATARAM