Nishatunnisa Begum (1885-1937), also widely known as Begum Hasrat Mohani, was a trailblazing figure who broke the traditional barriers of purdah to become a central actor in India’s struggle for independence. Born in Mohan, Uttar Pradesh, she received a comprehensive home education in Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. In 1901, she married her cousin, Sayyid Fazl al-Hasan (Hasrat Mohani), the celebrated poet-activist who coined the slogan Inquilab Zindabad. While her husband is frequently honoured for demanding Poorna Swaraj (complete independence), Nishatunnisa’s own three-decade career as a journalist, entrepreneur, and political organiser was equally vital to the movement’s success.
Breaking Purdah and Taking Command
The trajectory of Nishatunnisa’s life shifted dramatically in 1908 when her husband was arrested for publishing anti-colonial content in his monthly journal, Urdu-i Mu’alla. In an era when public life was largely inaccessible to Muslim women, she made the radical decision to leave purdah to save their intellectual and political enterprises. She single-handedly took over the management of the periodical, a book agency, and a swadeshi store. Throughout Hasrat’s multiple incarcerations, she remained the operational heart of their activism, corresponding with leaders like Abul Kalam Azad and maintaining a public platform for the nationalist cause.
Her political engagement extended into the “extremist” faction of the Congress, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. She was a tireless campaigner in the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements, establishing the Aligarh Khilafat Store in 1920 to fund Mahatma Gandhi’s magazine, Young India. Notably, she was part of the historic women’s delegation to the Montagu–Chelmsford Commission, where she directly challenged British officials to demand the franchise for Indian women and the release of political detainees.
A Voice in the Congress and Later Activism
Nishatunnisa was not merely a background organiser; she was a powerful orator. Following the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre, she attended the Amritsar session of the Congress and is recognised as the first Muslim woman to address the body. At the 1921 Ahmedabad session, she stood in firm support of the resolution for complete independence. Her political conviction was such that she did not hesitate to confront the leadership; at the 1925 Kanpur session, she famously challenged Jawaharlal Nehru over a lathi charge against a procession of workers and peasants.
In her later years, her politics evolved alongside her husband’s interest in communism, leading her to focus on trade unions and the rights of the peasantry. Beyond politics, she was a pioneer of Urdu women’s travel writing. Her vivid letters from her pilgrimages to Iraq and the Hijaz in the 1930s provide rare insights into the interwar travels of South Asian women.
Nishatunnisa Begum passed away on April 18, 1937, in Kanpur. While mainstream history often frames her in a supporting role, her legacy as a woman who managed nationalist presses, addressed national assemblies, and ran swadeshi enterprises remains a testament to the decisive role Muslim women played in shaping modern India.