REGISTERED No. D-28
The Gazette
of Endía
EXTRAORDINARY
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
NEW DELHI , WEDNESDAY , MARCH 2 , 1949
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
Mh 3
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi , the 2nd March 1949
No. 31 / 49 -Apptts ( sp) .-The Governor - General has to record with the most profound regret the death in the early hours of this morning at Lucknow of Her Excellency Srimati Sarojini Naidu , Governor of the United Provinces .
It is very difficult , in cold print , to do justice to her record of service in the social and political lite of this country . A brilliant orator , a great poetess , a person endowed with unusual charm and sense of humour , she could have spent her life in great material comfort and in the pursuit of literature which she so greatly loved . But when the call came from Mahatma Gandhi for the struggle for freedom , she decided , without a moment's hesitation , to dedicate her gifts to the cause he served , and she has been in the vanguard of this struggle ever since . 25 years ago , she was elected President of the Indian National Congress , the greatest honour the country could bestow on her . For a long time now her health has been poor and would have justified her retirement from the hardship of political struggle but she utterly disregarded the advice of her physicians and her friends and carried on with superb courage . the great political movement of 1942 , although ill and in consider- able physical pain , she was among the first to be arrested and she asked and was allowed to spend her imprisonment with Mahatmaji . Her vitality, her courage and her wit were never in greater evidence than during those difficult days .
ever In elevating Srimati Sarojini to great positions , no one thought that any particular favour was being shown to hor on account of her being a woman ; honours were showered on her because of her personality , her talents and her sacrifice for the country . It was fitting that when the Asian Conference was held in Delhi , she was made President by universal acclaim . And when freedom Was achieved , she was made Governor of a large and difficult province ; and it was characteristic of her whole life that in this post , the last she held in the service of her country , she displayed in full her qualities of courage , dignity and great human affection .
H. V. R. IENGAR , Secy. to the Govt . of India .
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PUBLISHED BY THE MANAGER OF PUBLICATIONS , DELHI , INDIA . PRINTED BY THE MANAGER , GOVERNMENT OF INDIA PRESS , NEW DELHI , INDIA .