Who is known as the 'Mother of the Indian Revolution'?

Bhikaiji Rustom Cama (1861-1936), popularly known as Madame Cama, was a Parsi freedom fighter from Bombay. She spent most of her adult life in exile in Europe, where she worked tirelessly for India's freedom and is remembered as the "Mother of the Indian Revolution".

She was born into a wealthy Parsi family in Bombay and was married to Rustom Cama, a lawyer. In 1896, during an outbreak of plague in Bombay, she worked to help the sick and fell ill herself. In 1902, she went to Europe for treatment and stayed in London, where she came into contact with Dadabhai Naoroji and Shyamji Krishna Varma. She was told she could return to India only if she promised not to take part in nationalist activities, which she refused.

Her most famous act was at the International Socialist Conference (the Second International) held at Stuttgart, Germany, on 22 August 1907. There she unfurled one of the first flags of independent India, designed by her circle of fellow revolutionaries. The flag had three horizontal stripes of green, saffron and red, with eight lotuses representing the provinces of British India, the words "Vande Mataram" in the middle, and the sun and the crescent moon. She appealed to the delegates to support India's freedom from British rule. This flag is now kept at the Kesari Maratha Library in Pune.

Madame Cama later lived in Paris, where she helped found the Paris Indian Society with S.R. Rana and Munchershah Godrej. She published revolutionary journals such as "Bande Mataram" and "Madan's Talwar" (named after Madan Lal Dhingra) and helped smuggle literature and arms to India. She also supported women's rights.

She returned to India in 1935, very ill, and died in Bombay in August 1936. The Government of India issued a postage stamp in her honour in 1962. Many streets and buildings are named after her, such as Bhikaiji Cama Place in New Delhi.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Annie Besant founded the Home Rule League (1916).
• ✗Sarojini Naidu was called the "Nightingale of India".
• ✗Aruna Asaf Ali was called the "Grand Old Lady" (or heroine) of the Quit India Movement.