Leela Roy

Background

Leela Roy, née Leela Nag, was born on October 2, 1900, at Goalpara in Assam, then part of British India. She grew up in a Bengali Kayastha family and received her early education at Eden High School in Dhaka, an important urban center of education and public life in eastern Bengal.

Her academic success took her to Bethune College in Calcutta, one of the earliest institutions of higher education for women in South Asia. She later became the first woman graduate of the University of Dhaka, an achievement that marked a significant breach in the gender barriers surrounding higher education in Bengal.

Education

Roy attended Eden High School in Dhaka before studying English at Bethune College in Calcutta, where she received a gold medal. Bethune College, founded in 1879, was one of the pioneering institutions created for women's modern education in India and became an important center of Bengali women's intellectual development.

She continued at the University of Dhaka and received a master's degree in 1923, becoming the institution's first female graduate. The University of Dhaka began functioning in 1921, and its Department of English was part of the university's early effort to establish modern higher education in eastern Bengal. Roy's admission and graduation were recognized by the university as milestones in the history of women's education.

Career

Roy began her public work through education and women's organization. She founded the Deepali Sangha in Dhaka, an organization that promoted women's education, social awareness, physical training, and self-defence. Through the associated Deepali schools and other educational initiatives, she helped expand opportunities for girls and women in Bengal.

In 1931 she founded and edited Jayasree, a women's monthly journal written, managed, and edited by women. The journal provided a platform for discussion of women's education, social reform, nationalism, and political participation. She also worked with the Nikhil Banga Nari Votadhikar Samity, an organization concerned with women's voting rights.

Roy participated in the Indian independence movement and was imprisoned for her involvement in civil disobedience and revolutionary nationalist activity. In 1938 Subhas Chandra Bose nominated her to the National Planning Committee of the Congress. After Bose formed the Forward Bloc, she joined its central executive body and later edited the Forward Bloc Weekly.

During the communal violence of 1946, Roy organized relief work in Calcutta and Noakhali. She established the National Service Institute for rescue and relief work and assisted women and refugees affected by the violence and displacement surrounding Partition. She was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal in 1946 but resigned in protest against the partition of India.

After Partition, Roy continued work among refugees and destitute women in Calcutta and helped establish women's organizations, including the Jatiya Mahila Sanghati. She became chairwoman of the party formed by the merger of the Subhasist Forward Bloc and the Praja Socialist Party in 1960, and she retired from active politics in 1962.

Achievements

• She became the first female graduate of the University of Dhaka after earning a master's degree in 1923.

• She founded the Deepali Sangha and helped establish schools and training institutions that promoted women's education, physical training, and self-defence in Bengal.

• She founded Jayasree in 1931, a women's monthly journal edited, managed, and substantially written by women.

• She organized rescue and relief work for women and refugees affected by the Calcutta and Noakhali violence in 1946.

• She was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India from Bengal in 1946, becoming one of the women who participated in India's constitution-making process.

Works

• magazine

  • Jayasree

    (Roy founded and edited this women's monthly journal, whic...)

    1931

• newspaper

  • Forward Bloc Weekly

    (Roy served as editor of the Forward Bloc's weekly publica...)

    1940

Religion

Roy was a Hindu from a Bengali Kayastha family. Her public work developed within the religious and cultural environment of Bengal, where debates about education, social reform, nationalism, and women's public participation were closely connected.

Her activism emphasized education, physical training, self-defence, and organized social service for women. These concerns gave her Hindu and Bengali social background a reformist and nationalist expression rather than limiting her work to private religious life.

Politics

Roy's political career was associated with the Indian National Congress, Subhas Chandra Bose's Forward Bloc, and later the political organization formed through the merger of the Subhasist Forward Bloc and the Praja Socialist Party. Her politics combined Indian independence, militant anti-colonial nationalism, women's political participation, and social service.

The Indian National Congress was the principal mass organization of the Indian independence movement, while the Forward Bloc emerged in 1939 under Bose as a more uncompromising nationalist current within Indian politics. Roy served on the Forward Bloc's central executive body and edited its weekly publication. She later became chairwoman of the merged party in 1960 and retired from active politics in 1962.

Roy was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal on December 9, 1946, but resigned in protest against the partition of India. Her political work after independence included refugee relief, women's organization, and participation in movements connected with the political and social crises of the early republic.

Views

Roy's documented public work expressed the view that women should receive formal education, vocational training, political education, and physical instruction. Her establishment of women's schools, self-defence organizations, and relief institutions indicates a philosophy of women's independence based on learning, collective organization, civic responsibility, and the capacity to protect themselves and others.

Membership

Roy participated in organizations devoted to women's education, political rights, revolutionary nationalism, and social service. Her work with the Nikhil Banga Nari Votadhikar Samity connected her educational activism with the campaign for women's suffrage, while the Deepali Sangha and Jatiya Mahila Sanghati organized women for education, self-defence, relief, and public participation.

• Served as assistant secretary in an organization advocating women's voting rights in Bengal.

  Nikhil Banga Nari Votadhikar Samity , India

• Founded and organized the association for women's education, social awareness, physical training, and self-defence.

  Deepali Sangha , India

  1923

• Participated in the revolutionary nationalist organization in Bengal.

  Shree Sangha , India

• Founded the women's organization in West Bengal after Partition.

  Jatiya Mahila Sanghati , India

  1947

Personality

Parliamentary tributes described Roy as courageous, devoted to the nationalist cause, resourceful, and willing to face danger in organizing political and relief work.

Quotes from others about the person

• In a 1970 parliamentary obituary, Roy was remembered for her courage and devotion to the nationalist cause, her support for revolutionaries, her work for women's franchise in Bengal, and her relief efforts during the Noakhali riots.

Interests

• Women's education, vocational training, physical training, self-defence, social service, and political rights.

• Politicians

  Subhas Chandra Bose

Connections

Roy was married to Anil Roy, a fellow participant in the revolutionary nationalist movement. She was also a close associate and political collaborator of Subhas Chandra Bose, serving in organizations connected with his nationalist work and the Forward Bloc.

husband:

Anil Roy

He was Roy's husband and a fellow participant in the revolutionary nationalist movement.

Collegue :

Subhas Chandra Bose

Bose was Roy's political associate; he nominated her to the National Planning Committee of the Congress and brought her into the Forward Bloc's central executive body.

References

• University of Dhaka: Leela Roy née Nag Institutional biography documenting Roy's birth and death dates, status as the first female graduate of the University of Dhaka, educational activism, political work, and association with Subhas Chandra Bose.
• Leela Roy — Constitution of India Biographical account covering Roy's education, women's activism, role in the independence movement, election to the Constituent Assembly, resignation over Partition, relief work, and later political career.
• Illustrious Alumna of Bethune College: Leela Roy Bethune College profile documenting Roy's English degree, gold medal, founding of the Deepali Sangha, establishment of schools and women's institutions, and editorship of Jayasree.
• Leela Roy Played Significant Role in Constituent Assembly Government publication describing Roy's education, imprisonment during the freedom movement, election to the Constituent Assembly, and advocacy of women's participation in the independence struggle.
  2021
• Obituary References, Lok Sabha Debates Parliamentary obituary remembering Roy's courage, nationalist work, advocacy of women's franchise, support for revolutionaries, and relief work during the Noakhali riots.
  1970