Suhasini Chattopadhyay

Suhasini Chattopadhyay (also known as Suhasini Nambiar; 1902–1974) was an Indian communist leader and freedom fighter. She was the first woman member of the Communist Party of India.[1]

Suhasini Chattopadhyay
Born1902 (1902)
Died1974 (aged 71–72)
NationalityIndian
Political partyCommunist Party of India
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1920, divorced)

Biography

Suhasini was one of eight children of Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Debi. She was the sister of Sarojini Naidu.

In 1920, she married A. C. N. Nambiar in Madras, but they separated due to Nambiar's affair with his secretary, Eva Geissler.[2] After they separated, they both resided in London for some time. Suhasini studied in Oxford, then moved to Berlin. She was invited by Jayasurya, son of Sarojini Naidu, who was studying medicine there. Both of them became employed there, Jayasurya editing periodicals and Suhasini teaching English.

Influenced by her brother Virendranath Chattopadhyay, better known as Chatto, she became a communist. Her brother then aided in her admission to the Eastern University in Moscow, with the help of M. N. Roy. She returned to India with British communist Lester Hutchinson in 1928. Hutchinson was arrested in the Meerut conspiracy case.

Suhasini joined the Communist Party of India in 1929, and was under police surveillance until 1951. A fine singer and dancer, she became involved in the cultural activities of the party. She sent letters to Nambiar, asking him to return to India, but was rejected by him due to his new relationship. His mistress Eva was the sister of M. N. Roy's lover, Louise Geissler. She waited for Nambiar's return for six years. Later, she married R. M. Jambhekar, a trade union activist and founder of ISCUS.[3] They met in Moscow.[4] When American journalist Edgar Snow came to India in 1931, it was Suhasini who took him around. He wrote in a later article, "The Revolt of India's Women",[5] that Suhasini was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

References
  1. "Communist captain". Frontline. August 2012. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  2. "Nehru aide Nambiar not a spy, but a patriot". Deccan Chronicle. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  3. Vappala Balachandran,Life in Shadow,Roli Books
  4. Anu Kumar (5 February 2014). Sarojini Naidu: THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTER: WHAT SAROJINI NAIDU DID, WHAT SAROJINI NAIDU SAID. Hachette India. p. 14. ISBN 978-93-5009-820-2.
  5. Huebner, Lee W. (2009), "International Herald Tribune", Encyclopedia of Journalism, SAGE Publications, Inc., doi:10.4135/9781412972048.n199, ISBN 9780761929574


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