Usha Mehta (March 25, 1920 – August 11, 2000)

Usha Mehta was a freedom fighter best remembered for broadcasting the Congress Radio which she called the Secret Congress Radio, an underground radio station, which functioned during the Quit India Movement of 1942.
Growing up, she was deeply influenced by Gandhian thought. In 1928, an eight-year-old Usha participated in a protest march against the Simon Commission. She regularly participated in protests against the British Raj and picketing in front of liquor shops during India’s struggle for independence. She was jailed during the Quit India Movement after her secret radio station was busted by the British regime.
Post independence, she continued to spread the Gandhian message and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1998. Patriotic till the end, Dr Usha Mehta breathed her last on August 11, 2000. However, her voice and her work will echo her Gandhian idealism for posterity.