Following the termination of the World War II , a hoard of educated women participated in the peasant rebellions. The legacy of female nationalists , taking part in the Quit India movement and accepting prison-sentence for the nation, had ignited the flame of protest in the hearts of women.

In September of 1946 the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha (Peasant`s Organization) organized a mass strife among sharecroppers to preserve tebhaga (two-thirds) of the harvest, produced by their ceaseless toil.

Young Communists traveled to the rural areas and the outskirts of the city to call peasants and persuade them to collect the harvested crop and take it to their own threshing ground . This was suggested, so that the two-thirds portion became the property of the poor farmers. This movement that spawned in North Bengal soon reached the other parts of the province.

Rani Mitra Dasgupta, Manikuntala Sen, Renu Chakravartty and other women who were active volunteers of the Mahila Atmaraksha Samiti (Women`s Self-Defense League) (MARS) during the famine crisis of 1943-4 , presided the rustic women`s movement. Although the male agitators were not that much willing to have females as co-protesters, yet they joined hands to accomplish in their mission.

Initially, the role played by women were as subordinate assistants to men. They cultivated the crops for maturing into harvest, prepared food for the leaders, functioned as vigilant, and creating sounds of alarm, to caution the fellow-members, when there were potential threat of risks .

However, the scenario, changed, when, police coercion over the nationalist rebels increased. The shocked Communist Party, not ready for violent armed resistance, relegated itself to the background. This withdrawal, motivated the bold peasant women, to come into the foray of action. Women built up their own battalion, called the Naribahini.

Manikuntala Sen and Renu Chakravartty discussed with their chiefs , the difficulties of women . They arrived at the conclusion, that the eradication of women`s dire straits would never be possible, without proper attention to and curbing of the economic exploitation and political torture, they were subject to.

The first issue of concern was that the timing and venue of meetings for women, should be comfortable for them, since women were linked to the household duties also. Next, if women had to enter mainstream politics, suitable arrangements should be made to get her domestic work, done perfectly. Third, measures had to be adopted to combat women`s plight, due to atrocious husbands . Husbands were often found as alcoholics, wife-assaulting saddists , and greedy snatchers , grabbing all the little amount of money, gathered by the wife as labor-rewards. It was clear, that the central idea of women`s welfare revolved round the attainment of fundamental rights, dignity and respect for women.

But male CPI leaders wanted peasant women to be "good comrades" and put the struggle above personal concerns. CPI women argued unsuccessfully for a program that would encourage peasant women to defy their husbands. Bimala Maji, a widow hailing from the Midnapur District, skillfully mobilized women. She was a partner of Manikuntala Sen during the famine crisis. They concertedly helped hapless famine-affected female victims to construct self-aid units . These women`s committees fetched paddy, by winning the confidence of the landlords, husked, sold it, and caringly retain the profits after repaying the landlords.

At times of the Tebhaga uprising, the Communist Party , bent upon women`s well-being, appointed Bimala as the recruitment-officer for women activists in Nandigram . Bimala enthused women to seize tebhaga and get hold of the harvest. However Bimala hid underground, being chased by the police.

When the police captured Communist Party and Kisan Sabha leaders, Bimala was left with more and more assignment. It was under her guidance, that the outrageous peasants squashed the threshing floors of the jotedars (rich peasants) and sold the landlords` share of the harvest. But Bimala was finally discovered by the police, and was confined in prison for a month until she was alleged with the burden of 140 crimes . She was caught in prison for two and a half years.

The Tebhaga Movement was an important phenomenon in the pages of history, because women gave the movement its momentum. It has proved the reality, that when it comes to protecting one`s nation from the clutches of oppressive foreign rule, women do not lag behind.