Ujjwala Majumdar(1914-1992), daughter of Sureshechandra Majumdar, was born in the Kushumhati landlord family, Dhaka, which was known for its valor and charity. Her father always helped the revolutionaries. In 1928, while traveling to Dhaka he concealed two pistols into the clothes of his daughter to escape police attention.
Bengal in the early 1930s was at the height of revolutionary activities. Even her women did not lag behind; the assassination of Mr. Stevens by Shanti and Suniti, Bina Das’ attempt on Mr. Anderson in the Calcutta University, and Pritilata’s martyrdom – Ujjwala was keenly following all these. In 1934, Governor General John Anderson made intensive arrests of revolutionaries; and hence became their target. Since accessing him in Calcutta was difficult; they decided to target him during his Darjeeling tour in May.
Ujjwala was chosen for a key role. Bhabaniprasad and Ravi have to shoot the governor at the Lebong race course; but they could not carry revolvers with them, since all male passengers on board the Darjeeling Mail were frisked. Ujjwala traveled with Manoranjan as a married couple; with two revolvers concealed in her harmonium. On 8 May 1934, she entered the racecourse with revolvers in her clothes and handed them over to the duo, and left. They missed the target and were arrested on the spot.
Ten days later, Ujjwala was arrested from Calcutta and brought to the Darjeeling Jail; where the Special Tribunal sentenced her to life imprisonment, reduced later to fourteen years’ term; while Ravi, Bhabani, and Manoranjan were given a death sentence (3 December 1934). Released in 1939, she was imprisoned again in 1942 for four years.
Source: WBSA IB A209.39; Kamala Dasgupta, Swadhinata Sangrame Banglar Nari, BS. 1367, in Bengali; Kalicharan Ghosh, Jagaran O Bisforan, 1380 BS, in Bengali.