In 2002, an unlikely figure ran as the presidential candidate against Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Captain Lakshmi Sahgal was a lieutenant in the Indian National Army during World War II, who fought with Subhash Chandra Bose and the Japanese against the British. She lost the nomination but remains one of the most fascinating women to ever run for president in India.
It was in a German submarine, travelling underwater from Germany to Japan, that Bose came up with the idea of the Rani of Jhansi Regiment (RJR) for the Indian National Army (INA).
Named after Rani Lakshmi Bai, the fierce rebel of the Revolt of 1857, the RJR was an all-woman fighting force that numbered up to 156 in 1943. To help recruit women to its cause, an equally fierce modern-day Lakshmi was found in Dr. Lakshmi Swaminathan, a 28-year old doctor who became Bose’s most trusted Lieutenant.
In her life, Lakshmi saw the story of India play out from World War I to 2012. She played many roles, from doctor to revolutionary and later Communist Party worker. Towards the end of her life, she devoted herself to activism and nursing the poor.
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