Shivraj Singh Chouhan pays tribute to Bhikaji Cama on her birth anniversary
Synopsis
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on 24 September 2026 paid tribute to freedom fighter Bhikaji Cama on her 165th birth anniversary, honouring her legacy of unfurling an early Indian flag at the 1907 Stuttgart congress and her decades-long campaign for Indian independence from Europe.
Key Takeaways
Shivraj Singh Chouhan posted a tribute to Bhikaji Cama on her 165th birth anniversary, 24 September 2026 .
Bhikaji Cama was born on 24 September 1861 in Bombay and became a leading figure in India's independence movement.
In 1907 , she unfurled an early version of the Indian national flag at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart, Germany .
She spent many years in Europe campaigning for Indian self-rule and returned to India in her later years; she died in 1936 .
Tribute posts on freedom fighters' birth anniversaries are a consistent practice among senior BJP and other political leaders.
The woman who carried India's flag to Europe more than a century before independence finally got her moment — and Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made sure she was remembered on Thursday, 24 September 2026, the 165th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Bhikaji Cama.
Posting on X, Chouhan wrote: 'महान स्वाधीनता सेनानी, मैडम भीकाजी कामा जी की जयंती पर कोटि-कोटि नमन करता हूँ!' — 'I bow in deep reverence on the birth anniversary of great freedom fighter Madam Bhikaji Cama! This nation shall forever remain grateful for your unparalleled contribution to the struggle for India's independence.'
The woman who unfurled India's flag in Stuttgart in 1907
Born on 24 September 1861 in Bombay, Bhikaji Rustom Cama became one of the most remarkable figures of India's independence movement — remarkable in part because she waged much of her battle from European soil. In 1907, at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart, Germany, she unfurled an early version of the Indian national flag before an international audience, an act of extraordinary audacity at a time when such defiance could mean permanent exile. It did: she spent decades in Europe, building support for Indian self-rule, before returning to her homeland in her final years. She died in 1936, eleven years before the independence she had fought to see.A date on India's national calendar
Tributes to Bhikaji Cama on her birth anniversary have become a fixture of the national political calendar. Senior BJP leaders, along with other party leaders across the spectrum, routinely mark the day on social media. Chouhan's post — warm, formal, and rooted in the vocabulary of nationalist reverence — follows that pattern. As a four-term former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and now a Union minister, Chouhan has consistently used such occasions to align with the broader BJP project of foregrounding independence-era heroes in public memory. Bhikaji Cama's legacy, once somewhat overlooked in mainstream national memory, has seen growing visibility in recent years — her portrait hangs in Parliament's Central Hall, and her name appears on institutions from Mumbai to Delhi. The flag she carried to Stuttgart may have predated the tricolour Indians know today, but the impulse behind it — telling the world that India would be free — was the same one that shaped a nation.Point of View
A global activist, and a flag-bearer in the most literal sense, qualities that allow tributes to her to carry symbolic weight beyond routine commemoration. For Chouhan, a senior leader rebuilding national visibility after stepping away from Madhya Pradesh's chief ministership, such posts also maintain a consistent public presence. The broader pattern suggests these anniversary tributes are coordinated across the BJP's leadership, functioning as a collective national-memory project as much as individual gestures.
NationPress
24 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Bhikaji Cama and why is she famous?
Bhikaji Cama (1861–1936) was an Indian independence activist best known for unfurling an early version of the Indian national flag at the 1907 International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart, Germany. She campaigned for Indian self-rule from Europe for decades and is considered one of the pioneering figures of the Indian freedom movement.
When is Bhikaji Cama's birth anniversary?
Bhikaji Cama was born on 24 September 1861 , so her birth anniversary falls on 24 September each year.
What did Shivraj Singh Chouhan post about Bhikaji Cama?
On 24 September 2026, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan posted a tribute on X describing Bhikaji Cama as a 'great freedom fighter' and saying the nation would be forever grateful for her 'unparalleled contribution' to India's struggle for independence.
What flag did Bhikaji Cama unfurl in Stuttgart?
In 1907, Bhikaji Cama unfurled an early version of the Indian national flag — designed to represent Indian independence aspirations — before an international audience at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart, Germany.
Why do BJP leaders post tributes on freedom fighters' birth anniversaries?
Senior BJP leaders regularly post tributes on birth and death anniversaries of independence-era figures as part of a consistent pattern of public acknowledgment of nationalist contributors. These posts align with a broader political strategy of keeping freedom movement icons visible in national public memory.
