Union Home Minister Amit Shah has laid the foundation for ‘Rani Gaidinliu Tribal Freedom Fighters Museum’ in Manipur through video conferencing.

The museum is to be set up at Luangkao village, Tamenglong district, the birthplace of freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu, at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Rani Gaidinliu was born on January 26, 1915 at Luangkao village in Tamenglong district of Manipur. She was a spiritual and political leader who belonged to the Rongmei tribe of Manipur.

Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga woman revolutionary leader and successor to the political movement launched by the Naga leader Haipou Jadonang (1905-31) to derive away the British from Manipur.

After the execution of Jadonang in 1931 by the British, Rani Gaidinliu led a popular rebellion against the British rule at the young age of sixteen. In order to suppress her followers and capture her, the British deployed regular army columns. In 1932, she was arrested by the British government who sentenced her to life imprisonment. She spent fourteen years in different jails of Guwahati, Shillong, Aizawl, Tura and others.

Acknowledging her role in the struggle against the British, she began to be called “Rani”. Rani Gaidinliu was finally released from the prison after India’s independence in 1947. She died in 1993.

Many Freedom Fighters in Manipur raised the national flag by fighting against the British

Maharaja of Manipur, Kulchandra Singh courageously fought the British and began the struggle for freedom against them in the North East and was punished with imprisonment in the Andamans