The Tyabji Women in India's Independence Movement
by Yasmeen Lukmani, University of Mumbai
The family of Justice Badruddin Tyabji, the first Indian judge on the Original side of the High Court,and the third President of the Indian National Congress has made its mark in many walks of life. In law, the late Professor A.A.A. Fyzee, Abbas Tyabji, Chief Judge of the erstwhile Baroda State, Justice Faiz Tyabji of the Bombay High Court, Justice Hatim Tyabji, Justice Husain Tyabji and Mr.Danial Latifi are the most prominent. In environment and wild life, Dr Salim Ali, Mr Humayun Abdul Ali and Mr Zafar Futehally are justly acclaimed. In medicine, we have had Dr Budruddin Lukmani, FRCS, MRCP. For distinguished careers in the ICS, we have Dr Alma Latifi, CIE, OBE, Financial Commissioner, Revenue, of the Punjab, Mr B.F.H.B. Tyabji, Ambassador to W. Germany and Japan, Vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Mr Azeem Tyabji, who has later been involved in enormous work for the upliftment of the Muslims of Baroda. There have been vice-chancellors of Universities, Ambassadors, and even an Air Chief Marshall and later, Governor, Mr Idris Latif. Mr Salman Tyabji was Chief Engineer of the P.W.D., Bombay Presidency and then Chief Engineer of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, while Mr Saif Tyabji was a mathematician, lawyer, and finally Member of Parliament, and highly regarded by Nehru. The great historian, Professor Irfan Habib, belongs to the family, for his father, Professor Mohammed Habib, married Sohaila Tyabji. Two other writers and scholars who happened to be women, were Begum Atiya Fyzee, who was a good friend of the poet Iqbal, and Mrs Sultana A.A.A. Fyzee, whose creative writings in Urdu are prescribed for study at Universities. I have been providing a litany of those who are no more with us, or are in their eighties, with a couple of notable exceptions. I have not mentioned those who are younger.
The family also played an important role in social reconstruction and in the freedom movement. Here, both men and women were involved. I will only mention a few prominent men before moving on to the women, which is my subject. Badruddin Tyabji, Camruddin Tyabji and Amiruddin Tyabji, the three brothers, who at the time of the great Liberal movement from the 1880's to the early 20’th century were involved in institution building, the judicial system, the educational system, the municipal corporation, the Legislative Council, and so on. Badruddin Tyabji's son-in-law, Abbas Tyabji, is a great name in the freedom movement, and was a dear friend of Gandhiji's. Gandhiji, when jailed in May 1930, nominated Abbas Tyabji to act as President of the Indian National Congress in his place. Abbas Tyabji is remembered for leading the satyagrahis to the salt depot at Dharsana, and made the country resound with the slogan, 'Khara rupaya chandi ka, raj Tyab-Gandhi ka'. Others who participated actively and were jailed during the movement, sometimes repeatedly, were Jabir Ali, (who was offered the place of Agriculture Minister in the first government of the State of Bombay, by his great friend, Chief Minister B.G. Kher), Farid Tyabji (with considerable involvement in village reconstruction and removal of untouchability in the Ahmednagar Dist.), and Saad Ali (involved in social reconstruction and other causes), Nazar Futehally, who masterminded and ran an underground radio station.
All this is by way of providing a background. The women of the family were no less active, and many of them achieved considerable prominence in areas relating to women and children, in village and social reconstruction, and in demonstrations against colonial rule, leading to arrest and imprisonment. Cultured and well-educated, some of them having been sent to England for their education, they stood out not only among Muslim women but among Indian women as such. But even more important was a notion deeply imbued in them of service to society and the nation at large. There were no narrow moorings binding them only to family and community, they thought of themselves as Indians first and foremost, and sought out ways of alleviating the common lot. I shall interpret 'participation in the freedom movement' not only in terms of political mobilisation, but the building up of social resources and institutions as well.
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1. Women known independently for their own political life
Mrs Amina Tyabji, eldest daughter of Badruddin Tyabji, and wife of Abbas Tyabji, was an independent political figure in her own right, and was a member of the subject committee when he was Acting President of the Congress Party, and would go from Baroda to Ahmedabad to attend meetings. She of course took a great deal of interest in the political activities in Baroda, where she lived till her death in 1940.
The second of Badruddin Tyabji’s daughters, Mrs Sakina Lukmani, a most dynamic and indefatigable social worker, became the President of the local Congress shakha in the 1930's and remained in that position for many years. Active in the freedom struggle, she took a great deal of initiative in picketing. Such was the force of her personality and the respect in which she was held, that she had only to sit under a pipal tree 50 yards from a neighbouring liquor shop for customers to stay away. No other form of coercement was required. A shopkeeper in her vicinity, an Englishman, aggrieved by his falling sales, complained to the authorities about 'violent harassment'. On the strength of this, she was arrested and sentenced to four months' hard labour and a fine of Rs 100. The arrest made the headlines: 'Muslim Lady of 65 given hard labour: Late Justice Badruddin Tyabji's daughter jailed'. A women's procession was held by an organisation called the Desh Sevikas in honour of Mrs Lukmani, with her daughter, Shamima Lukmani carrying the flag as a symbol of their 'unbroken service to the cause of peace and humanity'. Letters protesting this conviction appeared in the newspapers, including one in the Bombay Chronicle of 10.7.1930 in which the writer, G.K.N., inveighs against the savageness of the sentence awarded by the first-class magistrate of Kurla in relation to the offence of the lady, and says that 'The public must demand a certificate of his suitability for the post before he is permitted further to function on the Bench.' As a result of the outcry, within 24 hours her status was upgraded from that of C class hard labour to simple imprisonment A class, by the Governor, Mr Hodgson, and later the period of imprisonment was reduced to two and a half months. A group of lawyers took it upon themselves to fight her case. (No one from the Congress would ever defend themselves, they would just accept whatever treatment they received.)
As an important public figure, Mrs Lukmani often spoke at public functions and presided over women's association gatherings. A newspaper report shows her presiding over a meeting of Muslim women where a resolution was passed expressing ‘deep concern at the fast of Mahatma Gandhi and his health, and asking for his immediate and unconditional release'. Her sister, Mrs Safia Jabir Ali, also spoke on this occasion. Madame Sophia Wadia's speech was translated into Urdu by Mrs A.A.A. Fyzee (a niece-in-law).
Mrs Sakina Lukmani's status among women satyagrahis was such that at a women's procession held in Bombay to mourn the death of Gandhiji, shortly after he died, it was Mrs Lukmani who led the procession of women a mile and a quarter long, holding the flag. Behind her were Mrs Perin Captain and Mrs Lilavati Munshi, and then the rest of the procession.
Raihana Tyabji, daughter of Abbas Tyabji, was a well-known Gandhian, and played a prominent role in the freedom movement. Referred to by the Mahatma as 'my beloved daughter', she devoted her life to the freedom struggle and to life in his ashram. She worked phenomenally hard for the cause, in spite of poor health - Gandhiji's letters to her constantly exhort her to take care of herself and not be lost to everything else but service to humanity.He says of her, 'Raihana, poor cripple, spends her days and nights thinking of India only.' (Collected Works, vol. 43,, p.340, 'The Spirit of Raas'). Raihana Tyabji was jailed several times for her work in picketing liquor and drug outlets, in the boycott of foreign cloth, and her participation in the satyagraha against the salt tax.
In a letter to her, dated February 26, 1931 from Daryaganj, Delhi, Gandhiji writes: 'I wrote only two days ago for Navajivan on picketing and there pointed out that your fasting was ideal and appropriate picketing. The reasoning is simple. There must be a bond of affection between the parties. In your case there was that bond. They knew you as a member of the family which the people of Patan knew had served them in common with the people of the whole State. That bond had never snapped. You had therefore a perfect right to entreat them and, if your entreaty was lost upon them, to fast even as you would be entitled to fast against father and mother if, in your opinion, they were going wrong and they did not listen to your entreaty. That the Patan dealers in sealing their stock were actuated not so much by their regard for you as by the fear of an enraged populace may be quite true and is highly probable. But that need not be considered in weighing the merits of a particular action.’ (Collected Works, vol. 45, p 230)
Along with her mother, Amina Tyabji, and 28 others, she was a signatory to a letter addressed to the Viceroy, written circa April 27, 1930 (published in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 43, p.336): 'We are in full sympathy with the civil disobedience campaign in respect of the salt tax. Our sisters in the villages have already begun the manufacture of contraband salt. 'But we feel that we must, as women, find an additional and special field for our activity. We feel the force of Gandhiji's argument that women are better fitted for dealing with the question of the prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs, and boycott of foreign cloth'.
It is important to note this and realise that these were the approved modes of women's participation in the independence movement. Most of the Tyabji women active in the movement, entered wholeheartedly into these areas, and in spinning on the charkha and arranging for the sales of the khadi.
Gandhiji was very close to the whole Abbas Tyabji family. The names of Begum Ameena Tyabji, Raihana Tyabji and Hamida Tyabji are put down high on the list of those whom he considered as family, and who he felt should be freely allowed permission to visit him in jail. In a letter to Major R.V. Martin from Yeravada Central Prison, of July 8, 1930, he says:'I enclose herewith a trial list to show what I mean when I say that I can see Mrs Gandhi and others of my family only if on the same terms I can see those who are like blood relations to me, as those in the list are.' (Collected Works, vol. 44, pp 10-13).
Fatima Tyabji, wife of Badruddin Tyabji's grandson, Farid Tyabji, was considerably involved in village reconstruction activities and the removal of untouchability, (see items 3 and 4). She instilled in the villagers the importance of spinning on the charkha, taught them how to do it and took on the task of selling the khadi produced. Based in Shrirampur, in 1941 she was selected as an individual satyagrahi on the recommendation of Raosaheb Patwardhan. This was an honour. Gandhiji had initially suggested this symbolic form of protest, where the satyagrahis, checked out to be worthy representatives of the cause, would make public speeches against participation in the war as a slave nation. Participation in the war, they felt should be conditional on the promise of being granted independence after the War. They were to offer satyagraha on this issue. Consequently, she was arrested and jailed for a period of three months.
Later, when the Quit India movement started on 9 August, 1942, with Gandhiji and the entire Congress leadership being arrested along with a host of smaller fry, in Bombay, the whole country was aflame. In what is now referred to as Shrirampur, there was a massive boycott of the War effort, the Bellapur Company workers struck work and foreign cloth was burned. Fatima Tyabji was arrested when addressing a crowd of 4,000 people, at the point when she raised the cry of "Yeh ladai hamari nahin hai, ise kisi tarah madad mat karo”. Her husband was also arrested at the same time. She was in Yerawada jail for a period of 6 months. During this period, the women detenues with her got fired with enthusiasm to read the writings of Maulana Azad whose speeches they had recently heard. They all wanted to learn Urdu for this purpose, and Fatima began to conduct Urdu classes in jail.
Hamida Tyabji, granddaughter of Abbas Tyabji, was considerably involved in the freedom movement through picketing, spinning on the charkha, popularising this as an economic activity and selling khadi, travelling long distances in connection with her involvement in a variety of different kinds of organisational work in the movement. There are many references to her in Gandhiji's Collected Works, as well as letters to her from him, where he is concerned about her health, suffering as she was from overwork.
Many other young women of the Tyabji family were also actively involved in the movement through picketing, and various types of protest. Some of these were: Shamima Lukmani (then Futehally); Rahat Tyabji (then Ahmed); Shahinda Fyzee (then Mirza).
2. Contribution to Education
Mrs Ameena Tyabji, eldest daughter of Badruddin Tyabji, and wife of Abbas Tyabji, participated whole-heartedly in the freedom struggle along with her husband. She is best remembered for her contribution to education, particularly that of girls among the Muslim community in Baroda. She set up a school for them which has now been named after her and is still running, and in the original house which she had provided for it, a college for girls now stands.
The second of Badruddin Tyabji's daughters, Mrs Sakina Lukmani, a most dynamic and indefatigable social worker, having moved to Chembur in the early days of its development. She was also elected by the Managing Committee of the Bhagini Seva Mandal as the Chairman of an Advisory Committee to set up a nursery school, Bal Vikas Kendra, and worked in that capacity for many years. It was a school for children from 3 - 6 years of age. At the age of 7, the child was put in the 2’nd vernacular standard in the Primary School. A Report of the meeting of the Managing Committee of the Bhagini Seva Mandal dated 19.1.52 states: "It was decided to appoint a committee of ladies and Gents in promoting the development of this school and the members have full confidence in Mrs S. Lukmani in achieving that object in the near future." The Bal Vikas Kendra is still in existence and now has its own building.
Another of Badruddin Tyabji's daughters, Mrs Nasima Alma Latifi, ably assisted her husband in his work for social and educational reforms in the undivided Punjab. Many girls' schools and educational institutions owed their existence to her encouragement and support.
Mrs Sharifa Hamid Ali, daughter of Abbas Tyabji, made a great contribution to national development through a very full career of social work, particularly in terms of the upliftment of women. Being married to an ICS officer, she could not, after marriage, participate in the actual freedom struggle, but was very active in helping poor women and girls. She 'adopted' a large number of children all over the country and saw them through their education. In the last district in which her husband was posted as Collector, Satara, in Maharashtra, she started a training course for women to become nurses and midwives.
Mrs Safia Ali, youngest daughter of Badruddin Tyabji, when her husband was working in Tavoy, Burma, Safia taught at a school, called the Zeenath Islam High School, established there for Muslim girls by her sister-in-law, Akhtar Tyabji, which helped to bring young Muslim girls into the fold of education. Later, when back in Bombay, and settled on a farm in Chembur, she also ran classes in literacy for neighbouring workers' children.
Mrs Akhtar Tyabji, daughter-in-law of Abbas and Ameena Tyabji, ran this school as its Headmistress and Chairman of the Managing Committee for many years, and it was recognised as one of the important schools of the region, drawing the attention not only of the Education Department, but also the higher echelons of the bureaucracy, including the Governor and his lady. The subjects taught covered the curriculum required under the Education Department rules and satisfied the basic norms for the Matric. Examination. Later, Chairmanship of the Managing Committee was handed over to the Governor's wife, and Headmistressship to an alumnus of the school just before the Japanese invasion in 1941
Relief from the running of the school had become absolutely essential in view of the fact that she had by then been appointed on a number of committees by the Government, including dealing with matters such as girls' education.
Raihana Tyabji was assigned the charge of running the Hindusthani Pracharak Madrassa School and in helping to select text books by the Rashtra Bhasha Prachar Samiti.
Fatima Tyabji was as involved as her husband in the village reconstruction activities he set up in Belapur (now Shrirampur). After some years they got an award for the best village in the Ahmednagar District, a cash award of Rs 500. This was used by her husband to start a school which was meant for all, including Harijans. Previously, schooling took place out of a mandir, with the Harijans sitting outside in the baking sun or torrential rain. He said, “What sort of a set-up is this where even a dog is allowed inside but not a human being.” Such was the respect accorded to him that he was heeded. When rationing started he was put in charge, and insisted on each of the shopkeepers giving up the profit they were making on it, approximately Rs 200 a month, as contribution for building the school. Though there were loud protests, they came around. Fatima Tyabji played a major role in building and running this school. It still stands at Wadala, near Belapur Station (in Srirampur), but, characteristically, their names feature nowhere, as they had always been completely opposed to any kind of display.
3.Known for social reconstruction activities, other than education, Mrs Badruddin Tyabji, Rahat-un-Nafs, was actively associated with work among women, and was one of the most active members of the Ladies branch of the National Indian Association. Twenty five years after her death, Lady Cowasji Jehangir, paying tribute to the social service being currently done, recalled that her 'generation had produced among others, marvelous women like Mrs Badruddin and Miss Shirinbai Maneckji Cursetji. (Times of India, 23 March, 1926). One of her last commitments was the Presidentship of the Working Committee of the Women's section of the Bombay Exhibition in 1904. The Parsee wrote of her as 'enlightened in views and ideas, far in advance of her people', and said,”She yet sympathised with their half-reasoning, faint struggles, prejudices and fears and doubts, and quietly bided her time to take the initiative in any change when she felt the moment was ripe for it”.
Mrs Sakina Lukmani was largely instrumental in setting up a maternity hospital in Chembur, Bombay in the 1940's, when the area was almost completely undeveloped. The hospital still exists, now in a large building.
Mrs Sharifa Hamid Ali's main interest from 1925 to1960 was the All India Women's Conference of which she was one of the founding members, along with Sarojini Naidu, Rani Rajwade and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, concerned with women's issues and the development of the crafts. She was a member of the standing committee for many years and presided over the Allahabad annual session in 1928. She stopped over on her return from Allahabad in 1928 to speak to Aligarh University students on the ideals of the Women's Conference. No Muslim woman had ever addressed the Aligarh students (all male) before, but Sharifa, an indomitable woman, was completely at her ease, giving an excellent speech. She also participated in discussions on women's issues in Egypt and Indonesia and later, two international meetings in the U.S. on the rights of women for two successive years circa 1949. She was also considerably involved with the family planning movement. It was she who moved the motion to support family planning at the Madras session of the All India Women's Conference, and it was with great difficulty that she managed to get it passed, it being opposed, among others by large groups of Hindu women.
They lived after her husband's retirement at Southwood in Mussoorie, adopting a village nearby and greatly improving the living conditions of the villagers. In 1948, they decided to gift their entire property to the government of India, the house, cottage, tennis court and all the surrounding woods, along with the furniture, cutlery, crockery, paintings, linen, etc., with the condition that the house should be used as the residence of Pandit Nehru whenever he came to Mussoorie, which he often did. As a matter of fact, it was the President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, who insisted that a clause giving them the right to live in the house during their lifetime be added. In the event, Southwood has been used only by Uttar Predesh officials and their families.
Mrs Nasima Alma Latifi started a movement for getting a nurse dai for every rural hospital in the district of Karnal, Punjab. She also worked for the St. John's Ambulance Association, the Junior Red Cross, the Rescue Home, the Girl Guides, and for a variety of different types of social work through the All India Women's conference. Both Mrs Sharifa Hamid Ali and Mrs Alma Latifi were wives of ICS officers, and therefore unable to take up political action.
Mrs Safia Jabir Ali, youngest daughter of Badruddin Tyabji, spoke at many public functions on various social issues, and did a considerable amount of fund-raising, particularly for the Bengal famine relief fund.
Mrs Akhtar Salah Tyabji. In undivided India, with Burma as an integral part of it, Mrs Akhtar Tyabji did a great deal of social reconstruction work in Rangoon, where her husband was working. She was appointed on a number of committees by the Government apart from the committee on girls' education, on committees relating to the welfare of Indian women labourers, women farm labourers, women working on a daily wage basis with building contractors, and so on. She was then also President of the Monday Afternoon Club (1939 to the fall of Rangoon), founded by herself sometime in the early '30's, with herself as Secretary. This was the foremost women's organisation in Burma with a cosmopolitan membership, which interested itself in a wide range of social and educational matters. Both the school she was associated with and the Club have proved their staying power and long-term relevance. Her last contact with these organisations was in 1948-49, when her husband was appointed Adviser on India Affairs to the Governor. She had also been appointed Hon. Trade Consul for France in Rangoon which position she held till she left Rangoon in 1942 and received an award from the French Government for her work. She was indeed a woman of many parts, as well as being an extremely fun-loving and warm-hearted person who endeared herself to those who knew her.
Her husband had become the representative of the Indian National Congress in Rangoon around 1914. He was deeply committed to various labour organisations, particularly concerned with the problems of Oriya and Bihari labour, and Indian farm labour. His work was of crucial importance in eventually freeing indented labour from virtual bondage. He was elected to a seat in the Burma Legislative Council, before 1937, and after 1937, i.e. after its separation from India. His work on the Rice Trade of Burma is still referred to as a benchmark for such studies. .When the fall of Rangoon to the invading Japanese in 1941/42 seemed a distinct possibility, the Govt. of Burma appointed him Commissioner for Civil Supplies with the specific responsibility of collecting, storing and transporting all available stocks of rice all over the country to meet the needs of the civilian population, and more importantly of the British Indian army and Commonwealth troops, retreating through Rangoon to Mandalay and to the Indian border. As the Army had to be supplied literally on the move, he decided on a hair-raising move. He got permission for the use of almost 200-300 lorries, fitting up many of them with rice mills which gave him the freedom and flexibility to directly supply the army straight from these mobile mills.
A gymkhana club had also been started in Rangoon by Salah Tyabji, and then Jabir Ali added a young people's club. These two ventures were also actively supported by Safia Ali and Akhtar Tyabji. Later, after settling in Chembur, Jabir Ali set up what is now called the Chembur Gymkhana, and his wife Safia helped him through all its teething stages. It was located in an area which was deserted in those days and the unfailing presence of Safia there every evening enabled girls to get permission from their families to come to play badminton. This went a long way in opening up girls to life outside the family. The Chembur Gymkhana, in later years produced a national badminton champion, Radhika Bose.
Fatima Tyabji along with her husband, abandoned a comfortable life in Bombay to take up farming and village reconstruction activities in the Ahmednagar Dist. They took up their abode at a small village called Wadala, in the present Shrirampur, where living conditions were abominable. There was so much dust on the floor of their one-room house, even after sweeping and swabbing, that she couldn't put her one and a half-year old son on the floor at all. The village itself was dreadfully dirty, there were dirty water nullahs and debris everywhere, but no one was willing to co-operate in a cleanup operation. Finally, her husband, Farid Tyabji, rolled up his pyjamas, was knee-deep in the nullah, cleaning it up. He carried on with this work alone and unaided by any of the villagers, but shortly after joined by his wife. Gradually, the villagers were shamed into coming in to help, one by one.
She was also active in giving first aid to the villagers and nursing them when necessary. All cases of snake bites, scorpion bites and minor ailments would come to her.
4.Known for integrationist activities: (integration of the sexes, and of different communities) Mrs Badruddin Tyabji was actively associated with work among women, and was largely instrumental in bringing together women from different communities in Bombay through zenana clubs, which became an institution of the city.
Mrs Nasima Alma Latifi, her daughter, carried on her mother's work and founded many Ladies Clubs in the Punjab, making possible daily sports and recreation for women. She was one of the founders of the Cosmopolitan Club which was a mixed club for men and women in the Punjab, at a time when most women, both Muslim and Hindu, were in purdah. This made it possible for people of different communities to meet socially, and for women to emerge out of their isolation.
Raihana Tyabji: Gifted with a marvelous voice, her rendering of the bhajans enthralled everyone in Gandhiji's entourage. If she was present, she would be the one to sing at prayer time or recite from the Quran. Gandhiji's delight in her bhajan singing is recorded in several of his letters to her. In a letter to her dated October 1, 1932, Gandhiji says,
"Beloved Daughter Raihana, This is the first Urdu letter I am writing after the fast. Your bhajans are very good. What does it matter if the bhajan which was sung when I commenced the fast was not yours? After all, it was a fine bhajan which you yourself had sent. Of course, I would have felt much happier if it had been yours. But never mind. When God grants me another opportunity for undertaking a fast, I should like to have a bhajan composed by you. Compose one right now." (Collected Works, vol. 51,p.166)
She managed to combine in her own unique fashion, being a devout Muslim and a Krishna bhakt. She wrote lyrically of her spiritual experiences in her book, The Heart of a Gopi, and many around her believed her to be a reincarnation of the legendary Mirabai. She could at the same time have a deep spiritual relationship with the Prophet Muhammad as well. In her own person and life, she seemed to have demonstrated the union of the best of the mysticism and spiritual tradition of Hinduism and Islam.
She was also deeply involved with the rashtrabhasha movement, the development of Hindusthani, and actively propagated both the Arabic and Devanagari scripts. She was one of Gandhiji's mentors in his learning of Urdu.
After Independence, Raihana Tyabji continued for the rest of her life to live in the Gandhi Ashram in Daryaganj, Delhi, along with Kakasaheb Kalelkar and Sarojini Nanavaty, and was much sought after by seekers of the spiritual life.
Hamida Tyabji, granddaughter of Abbas Tyabji, was one of the earliest Indians to go in for a Hindu-Muslim marriage. Demonstrating great personal courage, she carried the social integration of communities to its extreme point in the India of her day. She married a Gujarati Hindu, Prabodh Mehta, and had to seek Gandhiji's personal intervention in the matter. The ceremony was performed in Germany, as no laws were available then in India to marry members of two different religions.
Fatima Tyabji actively supported her husband in his campaign against untouchability. Harijans were allowed to use their well, and even though it was cleaned every two weeks, they received threats from the villagers that if this and other such activities continued, Farid Tyabji's corpse would be found floating in the river. His farm labour also protested against Harijans being given so much liberty, and it became difficult to procure labour.
All sorts of village disputes would come to Farid for arbitration. On one such occasion the local dignitaries had all gathered at his house. He told them that the tea would be made by a Harijan woman who was in his employ. The consternation initially roused by this announcement gradually subsided, and finally they did drink the tea. This was a major battle won.
Fatima and Farid Tyabji are remembered for their work in attempting to remove untouchability, in promoting literacy and village reconstruction activities in the Shrirampur and Bhandardara districts of Maharashtra. At the moment of writing she is a lively 94 year old, full of enthusiasm for all the activities she participated in.
3. Took an active part in their husbands' political life
Mrs Amina Tyabji also took an active part in her husband's political life. She would accompany him on his trips to Sabarmati Ashram to visit Gandhiji and Ba. When Abbas Tyabji was nominated Acting President of the Congress, to take over his own place by Gandhiji who was in jail (Annual Register, May 1930), she had to take on even more political and organisational responsibilities. Among other things, Abbas Tyabji had to give the lead to the city of Baroda in destroying and burning items of foreign clothes and household goods. Ameena contributed by throwing piles of her best Irish linen, bedspreads, clothes etc. for burning.
Badruddin Tyabji's youngest daughter, Mrs Safia Jabir Ali, wife of a notable freedom fighter, Jabir Ali, actively supported her husband in his work, particularly in picketing and selling khadi. There is an amusing story of Jabir Ali once going to the house of a relative, laden with a bundle of khadi which he was carrying on his back to sell. He was mistaken for a hawker and almost shown off the premises. Mrs Ali took over for many years the running of their farm in Chembur, thus freeing her husband for work in the movement.
These women were also full of fun. Akhtar Tyabji, for example, had started a Cycling Club in Rangoon, and its membership consisted of friends of hers, like Justice and Mrs D.D.Nanavati and Mr & Mrs B.K.Nehru, among others. They could be seen on a Sunday morning, making for the Royal Lake on their bicycles for a picnic breakfast.
The Tyabji women were prominent in social reconstruction and nationalist freedom activities at a time when few women left the confines of their homes. Moreover, their work was mainly directed at the mainstream of nationalist activity, not to any narrower, sectarian areas, enormously worthwhile though the education of Muslims, for example, is. They chose areas of work nearabouts where they lived and threw themselves wholeheartedly into the upliftment of unknown villagers, Harijans, Muslims, or any other group or community that happened to be easily accessible to them and seemed in need of help. As the family as such has been extremely chary of publicity, their names are most often not associated with the institutions they were mainly instrumental in setting up, nor has public recognition been generally accorded. This paper attempts to right this situation, to pay a tribute, long overdue, to those courageous and valiant souls. It also attempts to correct the picture in the public mind about Muslims in general, and Muslim women in particular, which is that they are narrow and sectarian, uneducated and unconcerned about their role in the mainstream of national life. I wish to show that with regard to this extended family, almost a clan, at least, no such criticism can be levied. On the contrary, they seem to have been far ahead of their times, not just as Muslims, but in comparison with other Indian groups.
Pub. Reference: In Nawaz B. Mody (ed.) Women in India's Freedom Struggle. Mumbai: Allied Publishers Ltd, July 2000, pp 219 - 233..\r\nISBN 81-7764-070-4.