The book begins with Ram Prasad Bismil’s poem sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil me hai which captures the fire of sacrifice and intense loyalty for nation held by men and women in the Hindi heartland.
The main thrust of this book is to explore the contribution of lesser known women who made sacrifices for the sake of freedom. The narrative embarks with the ordeal of Rajkumari Gupta, a freedom fighter of Kanpur. Her involvement in the movement left her homeless, as she had a pivotal role to play in the Kakori plot that resulted in her arrest and consequent rejection by her in-laws. The author starts her discussion culled from oral and archival sources about the role of women participants in the Kakori incident, and furnishes information regarding their experiences and identities. It is interesting to read how women had supplied revolvers and weapons to freedom fighters. Suruchi Thapar sets her argument around the role of women of all classes who played a significant role in the Hindi belt of India but the common women remained invisible in historical accounts. This work extends the ambit of traditional historiography by incorporating women’s contribution from humble backgrounds, who however continued to look up to women from the Nehru family as their role models. These women played a commendable role in mobilizing the common people. The women made widespread contribution to demonstration, picketing and boycott of foreign goods at the grassroots level and continued to be loyal towards their domestic responsibilities as well.