Not everybody knows that she braved lathi-charges, picketed liquor shops and languished in jail for the cause of India's independence. She influenced her husband Jawaharlal and stood by him in his determination to plunge into the movement started by Mahatma Gandhi, to free her motherland from the clutches of the Britishers.
With Jawaharlal away in prison, Kamala took to social work to begin with, she instituted a hospital in Swaraj Bhawan to treat freedom fighters and others wounded in lathi charges. She also started a movement for women's education and to get them out of purdah.
As a member of the Rasthriya Stree Sabha which was set up in 1921, Kamala Nehru worked for the entry of Harijan into temples. She was first among the group of volunteers to sell contraband salt during the Salt Satyagraha.
All through the long months of 1930, the Desh Sevika Sangh which she led along with Kasturba Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu, did hard jobs like policing etc. in the disturbed areas of Bombay. While the men were in jail, Kamala took up the task of organizing work related to the freedom movement. She was President of the Allahabad District Congress. Later she died in Switzerland of tuberculosis.
Kamalaji's life imbibes a spirit of hard-work and a sense of pride in every KNC-ite. They derive immense inspiration and confidence to move ahead against all odds.
AND THIS IS HOW OUR JOURNEY BEGAN...
Kamala Nehru College was established on 20th July 1964. It was then known as the 'Government College for Women' and it was housed in Defence Colony. The College initially offered courses only in the Arts Stream. The Commerce Stream was added later. The founder Principal was Dr.K.K. Gorowara.
The College started out with just 16 staff members & 209 students passed out in the first batch in 1968. The College Magazine 'Swati' was started in the academic year 1965-66. In 1966-67, the College was renamed 'Modern College for Women' and in 1967-68 the College Magazine took the new name 'Apoorva'. On 21st November 1972, the foundation stone for a new building was laid at Hauz Khas (at present August Kranti Marg) by then President Mr.V.V.Giri. It was then that the name 'Kamala Nehru College' was coined. In 1974, on the occasion of Founder's Day, Mrs. Indira Gandhi visited the new building, unveiled the plaque and planted saplings. Dr.(Mrs.)Surinder J.Sharma took over as Principal of the College on 23rd September 1986.
Our present Principal Dr.Minoti Chatterjee intends to carry forward the traditions of the College and make it into an institution of academic and co-curricular excellence amongst the colleges of the University of Delhi. The auditorium, built after painstaking and dedicated efforts of the teachers as well as students and several fund raising campaigns was finally inaugurated on 17th December 1991 by the then Vice-President Dr.Shankar Dayal Sharma. Dr. Gorowara and then Dr. Sharma played pivotal roles in helping the College forge ahead and carve a niche for itself in various domains. Their relentless endeavors and constant encouragement are responsible for producing high calibre students with a human face excelling in all emerging areas. Kamala Nehru College believes in a beautiful blend of the traditional and the modern, an amalgam of academics and extra curricular engagements to shape each KNC-ite into a confident, dignified and responsible human being. In a lighter vein it is said that College life is all about friends, freedom and fun. There certainly is an element of truth in that but College is also about a journey of discovery of the self and a preparation process to step into the future. This is achieved at KNC through specialized societies that cover the whole gamut of personality development aspects by providing plural avenues.
