Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyay) (Bengali pronunciation: [ʃorod͡ʒini];[1] 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949)[2] was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of United Provinces, after India's independence.

Following her time in Britain, where she worked as a suffragist, she was drawn to the Congress party's struggle for India's independence.

Naidu's literary work as a poet earned her the nickname the "Nightingale of India" by Gandhi because of the colour, imagery, and lyrical quality of her poetry.

Sarojini Naidu passed her matriculation examination to qualify for university study, earning the highest rank, in 1891, when she was twelve.

[7] That same year, she married Govindaraju Naidu (Hailing from Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh), a doctor whom she met during her stay in England,[3] in an inter-caste marriage which has been called "groundbreaking and scandalous".

[3] Her social work for flood relief earned her the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in 1911[3], which she later returned in protest over the April 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

[3][10] Later that year, Naidu accompanied her colleague Annie Besant, who was the president of Home Rule League and Women's Indian Association, to advocate universal suffrage in front of the Joint Select Committee in London, United Kingdom.She also supported the Lucknow Pact, a joint Hindu–Muslim demand for British political reform, at the Madras Special Provincial Council.

Naidu utilized her poetry and oratory skills to promote women's rights alongside the nationalist movement.

In 1902, Naidu entered the world of politics after being urged by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, an important leader of the nationalist movement.

[11] In 1906, Naidu spoke to the Social Council of Calcutta in order to advocate for the education of Indian women.

[17] The delegation was followed up with public meetings and political conferences supporting the demands, making it a huge success.

[19] In her speech at the Conference, Naidu emphasized "the influence of women in bringing about political and spiritual unity" in ancient India.

Throughout the speech, Naidu attempted to alleviate worries by reassuring that women were only asking for the right to vote, not for any special privileges that would interfere with men.

[25] The resulting Government of India Act of 1919, however, did not enfranchise Indian women, instead leaving the decision to provincial councils.

[16] In the 1920s, Naidu began to focus more on the nationalist movement as a means of achieving both women's rights and political independence.

[28] Naidu formed close ties with Gandhi, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindranath Tagore and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani.

[citation needed] In 1930, Gandhi initially did not want to permit women to join the Salt March, because it would be physically demanding with a high risk of arrest.

[3] Naidu and other female activists, including Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Khurshed Naoroji, persuaded him otherwise, and joined the march.

[8] The Indian National Congress decided to stay away from the First Round Table Conference that took place in London owing to the arrests.

[citation needed] In 1931, however, Naidu and other leaders of the Congress Party participated in the Second Round Table Conference headed by Viceroy Lord Irwin in the wake of the Gandhi-Irwin pact.

It also included a sketch of Naidu as a teenager, in a ruffled white dress, drawn by John Butler Yeats.

[45] Composer Helen Searles Westbrook (1889–1967) set Naidu's text to music in her song "Invincible.

[48] Naidu is memorialized in the Golden Threshold, an off-campus annex of University of Hyderabad named for her first collection of poetry.

Golden Threshold now houses the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication in the University of Hyderabad.

[55][56] In 2020, a biopic was announced, titled Sarojini, to be directed by Akash Nayak and Dhiraj Mishra, and starring Dipika Chikhlia as Naidu.