Bhikaiji Rusto Cama or Madam Cama (24 September 1861 – 13 August 1936) was a prominent figure in the Bharatiya independence movement. Through Shyamji Krishna Varma, she met Dadabhai Naoroji, then president of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress, and for whom she came to work as private secretary. Together with Naoroji and Singh Rewabhai Rana, Cama supported the founding of Varmas Indian Home Rule Society in February 1905. In London, she was told that her return to India would be prevented unless she would sign a statement promising not to participate in nationalist activities. She refused. That same year Cama relocated to Paris, where—together with Singh Rewabhai Rana and Munchershah Burjorji Godrej—she co-founded the Paris Indian Society. Together with other notable members of the movement for Indian sovereignty living in exile, Cama wrote, published (in the Netherlands and Switzerland) and distributed revolutionary literature for the movement, including Bande Mataram (founded in response to the Crown ban on the poem Vande Mataram) and later Madans Talwar (in response to the execution of Madan Lal Dhingra). On 22 August 1907, Cama attended the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, where she described the devastating effects of a famine that had struck the Indian subcontinent. In her appeal for human rights, equality and for autonomy from Great Britain, she unfurled what she called the Flag of Indian Independence. Though the government tried to keep it confidential, Madam Cama and her colleagues got the information that Savarkar would be taken to India in the ‘Morea’ Ship. On knowing that the Ship had arrived at the Marseilles port, she drove along with V.V.S. Iyer from Paris and reached Marseilles. She reached 10-15 minutes after Savarkar was caught. She told Jaures that arrest of Savarkar by British police on France soil was an insult to France and personally sent the news to the newspaper ‘Le Temps’ in Paris. The news of the illegal arrest published in the newspaper spread like fire across the world and caused huge embarrassment for the British government. Realizing that the government will be partial in executing the case on Savarkar, she sent a telegram to Barrister Joseph Baptisita to meet Savarkar as lawyer. Madam Cama’s wish to secure the release of Savarkar was so intense that she visited the British Embassy in Paris and handed over an application to the Ambassador. She mentioned that “The onus of sending the pistols to India was mine and not of Savarkar. I gave Chaturbhuj Amin the pistols to carry to India”. This act reflects her courage, dynamism and clear patriotism. She did not stop at that but also sent all information related to Savarkar to newspapers for publishing.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 18:45:54 +0000
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