Jai Bai Chaudhary: Married at the age of 9, worked as a porter to raise the family, then became a Dalit activist

If we talk about the fight for the rights of Dalits, the first name that comes to mind is Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Baba Saheb may have given the Dalit community their rights, but like Baba Saheb, there were many such personalities who fought for the rights of Dalits and also created a good place for them in the society. One of such great personalities was the great social reformer and writer of Dalit society “Jai Bai Chaudhary”. You may have heard her name for the first time. Because the work done by her was limited to history, but today we will tell you how she struggled in her life and got Dalit women their rights.

What is Manusmriti? Why is there controversy about it? Why did Babasaheb burn Manusmriti? Know the answers to all the questions Who was Jai Bai Chaudhary? Very few people would have heard the name of the great social reformer and writer of Dalit society “Jai Bai Chaudhary”. She was born in 1892 in Umrer, about fifteen kilometers from Nagpur city, in the “Mahar” caste. In 1896, due to famine, her family came to Nagpur and she completed her primary education there. In 1901, at a very young age, she was married to Bapuji Chaudhary. After that, due to the very bad financial condition, she also worked as a porter. But one day the missionary nun Gregory noticed Jaibai Chaudhary when she was carrying one of his heavy bags.

After this, she offered Jai Bai to teach as a teacher in her school at a salary of Rs 4 per month and Jai Bai also accepted this offer. Jai Bai, who became a teacher from a porter, belonged to an “untouchable” caste, so when the Hindus came to know that an untouchable woman was teaching their children, they boycotted the school. Because of this, Jai Bai had to leave the school. This incident had such an impact on Jaibai that she resolved to fight against untouchability and caste system and educate untouchable girls and women and in 1922 she laid the foundation of “Sant Chokhomela Girls School”.

Representing Dalit women in the first session of All India Dalit Congress held in Nagpur from 8 to 10 August 1930, Jaibai Choudhary said, “Girls should be given full opportunity to study like boys. With the education of a girl, the whole family becomes educated.” When Jai Bai was publicly insulted She once faced caste discrimination from upper caste women during the “All India Women’s Conference” in 1937. In this conference, she was forced to sit separately from the dining area. After this, on January 1, 1938, Jaibai called a large gathering of Dalit women and expressed her anger at the malicious actions of upper caste women and untouchability. Jaibai was also a member of the “All India Dalit Women Conference” organized in July 1942. Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar himself was also present in the conference. Baba Saheb expressed happiness on seeing the awareness of women in this conference and said- I am satisfied and happy to see the participation of a large number of women in this council that we have made progress. Jaibai’s school was converted into a higher secondary school. The school started by Jaibai in 1922 has now become a higher secondary school. Now the name of this school has been changed to Jaibai Chaudhary Gyanpeeth.

Courtesy: Hindi News