Why in News?

• Recently, the Union Home Minister laid the foundation stone for the Rani Gaidinliu Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum in Manipur’s Tamenglong district. 

• Museum would help preserve and exhibit artefacts related to the tribal freedom fighters, involved in different stages of the fight against the British colonial rule like Anglo-Manipuri War, Kuki-Rebellion etc.

Rani Gaidinliu, the daughter of the hills:

• A spiritual and political leader, Rani Gaidinliu, of the Rongmei tribe, was born on January 26, 1915 at Luangkao village, now in Tousem Sub-Division under Tamenglong District of Manipur. 
• At 13, she became associated with freedom fighter and religious leader, Haipou Jadonang, and became his lieutenant in his social, religious and political movement. Jadonang, who was also a Rongmei, started the ‘Heraka movement’, based on ancestral Naga religion, and envisioned an independent Naga kingdom (or Naga-Raja).
• Rani Gandiliu’s association with Jadonang prepared her to fight the British. After the execution of Jadonang, she took up the leadership of the movement — which slowly turned political from religious.
•  Rani started a serious revolt against the British and was eventually imprisoned for life. She was released after 14 years, in 1947.
• Acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British, Jawaharlal Nehru called her the “Daughter of the Hills” and gave her the title “Rani” or queen. 
• But before that, she was bestowed a number of honours including the Tamrapatra in 1972, Padma Bhushan in 1982, Vivekananda Sewa Summan in 1983, and Stree Shakti Puraskar in 1991.
• She posthumously was awarded the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Puraskar in 1996. The Government of India also issued a commemorative stamp in her honour in the same year.
• Historians even hailed Rani’s movement as a significant event in the freedom struggle that inspired many

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/rani-gaidinliu-tribal-freedom-fighters-museum-manipur-7637274/