OBITUARY: Comrade Lakshmi Sahgal (1914–2012)

Revolutionary, a true daughter of India

Born on 24 October 1914, Comrade Lakshmi Sahgal died on the 23 July 2012, living through the most tumultuous years of modern India. These years witnessed the national movement against colonialism, the end of British rule, and the launch of a massive exercise to build a nation based on secular, socialist and democratic values. She saw hope turn to disappoint- ment as promises remained unfulfilled for the millions of toiling masses who envisioned not only political freedom but also economic and social emancipation. This was not the India that the freedom struggle wanted where ‘the fruits of independence were benefiting only a few and the white rulers had been replaced by darker ones’.