Shiban Khaibri
On the eve of 75th anniversary of the “Quit India Movement” or August Kranti movement , the nation on August 9, not only remembered those who sacrificed their lives for this country and those who took part in that movement, but the occasion got historical importance by both the houses of Parliament holding a special session commemorating the event whereby the importance and the significance of the clarion call given by Gandhi Ji in 1942 was debated and discussed by members of almost all Political Parties paying glowing tributes and homage to the spirit and patriotism displayed by the people taking part in the movement. As the importance and the significance of the historical event gives us messages, loud and clear to respect the sentiments and the sacrifices of the people to get freedom to take this country forward and to make the opportunities and the benefits of the progress and development available to all, especially to the most neglected and the underprivileged persons, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted the countrymen to pledge for building a New India by 2022, towards a clean India, poverty free India, corruption free India, terrorism free India, communalism free India and casteism – free India. Merely just a formality of saluting those who took part in the movement, bore the brunt of the police excesses , tortures, public flogging , wanton arrests and firings– won’t achieve anything but the fulfillment of the above pledges would really mean making our freedom fighters feel proud.
It looks prosaic and out of tune as also diluting the importance of the event by using this occasion to air manufactured “fears” and make a mention of historical myths in respect of who took more part in and showed more commitment to the movement and who opposed it while debating the issue. I suppose a pledge also needed to be taken to apply complete brakes to raking up unnecessary controversies and absurd pretences just to score political points which undermined the glory of democracy while healthy criticism, forceful debates on cogent reasons and urgent issues and even lodging protests in decent manners were strengthening our democracy. Debates and dissent are important ingredients of our Parliamentary democracy but the same should not cross the limits of decency and not land at sniping. Political jousting on charades and allegations and counter allegations went against the spirit of democracy and blaming any organization by name on the occasion for not taking active part and even opposing the Quit India movement only had the potential of generating bitterness and ill will.
The question whether the movement was purely non violent as Gandhi Ji always claimed and whether he felt that the British would be really mortified to leave India is very important to analyze. He felt compelled to go in for some acceleration effect which speaks for his call ( !) to Quit India , (!!) to Do or Die and (!!!) every Indian to think himself a free man. All the three issues had an element of some quantum of inherent forceful resistance to the British if not some violence. The very slogan of “Do or Die” carried this message. The call had also some link to famous Kakori incident of 1925 which also related to August 9, which itself was a negation of the independence movement to confine only to peaceful satyagrah and hunger strikes. The two heroes Ram Prasad Bismal and Ashfaq Ullah Khan who conceived the idea of looting the British treasury from the train wanted to intensify and put some life into the independence struggle as the looted money would help the revolutionary activities against the British empire in India and to acquire weaponry besides giving a new fillip to the struggle and invigorating the spirits of young Indians in the independence struggle. The British government was rattled and death sentences were awarded to Ram Prasad Bismal, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Thakur Roshan Singh and Rajindra Nath Lehri who were later hanged. They died with a smile on their lips and a prayer that they are born again in India to fight for its freedom. Some revolutionaries were given life sentences while a few were sent to Nicobar and Andaman cellular jail (Kaala Pani) and the like . Gandhi Ji had expressed his displeasure over looting the train although it was a glorious chapter in the freedom movement. In the same way, he had opposed the Chauri Chaura incident of 1922 when a large group of protestors clashed with the police and both civilians and some policemen died. Gandhi Ji felt angry, went on fast as a penance to have asked people to revolt against the British without emphasizing more on non violence and suspended the Non Cooperation Movement at the national level.
Thus for a considerable period, a sort of dormancy crept in the movement and something urgent was felt to be done especially after the British sent Indian army to take part in the World War 2 much against the wishes of the people. The British sent Stafford Cripps, a close associate of Churchill, to seek full cooperation and support from the Indians for the War. It was opposed but it recognized the Right to Dominion to India associated with the UK. Communal tensions saw a surge as Muslim League pressed for a separate state exclusively for Muslims by partitioning the country. This all prompted Gandhi Ji to give a call for “Do or Die”. The British unleashed all types of repressive measures and thousands were arrested including Gandhi Ji. Violence, arson and damaging offices and buildings culminated into Police high handedness and the movement slowed down if not fizzled out completely.
Was it because of the non violence solely, that India got independence and whether any one political party or a set of select leaders’ efforts only resulted in India getting independence needs to be seen apart from what historians of a particular lineage and thinking have made of it. Supreme sacrifices given by young revolutionaries like Khudi Ram Bose , Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Chander Shekhar Aazad, Surya Sen, Benoy, Badal and Dinesh( The trio) of Bengal, Udham Singh and hundreds of others had a lasting effect. There were young girls even like Rani Guidinliu who was imprisoned just in her 16th year in 1932 and released only in 1947 . We cannot forget or underscore people with a mission like Pingali Venkayya who put all might in the struggle. The national flag was first designed by him. And then, the enormous contribution of Neta Ji Subhas Bose whose Indian National Army launched an armed offensive from the North East. Here the kernel of the point is elaborated by the British PM Clement Atlee who took leading initiative in granting independence to India admitting that Gandhi’s non-violent movement had next to zero effect on the British .It was the erosion of the loyalty to the British crown among the Indian army and navy personnel as a result of the military activities of the INA of Neta Ji Bose . When Atlle was asked, at least to score the level of effect of Gandhi’s (and Congress’s) upon the British decision to quit India, he had twisted his lips and in a sarcastic smile , chewing out the word m-i-n-m-a-l. Red Fort trials of the officers and Jawans of the INA captured as POW by the British destined to be hanged on charges of sedition and waging a war, were the biggest factor in alienating the bureaucracy and the armed forces to the extent of cessation of loyalty towards the British.
We, however, cannot underestimate the role of Gandhi, Patel, Nehru and the Congress but we cannot overlook or ignore the lasting effect of the martyrdom of our hundreds of revolutionaries and the immediate effect of the military campaign by Neta Ji in hastening of granting freedom to India by the British. Patenting of “getting freedom” because of a few leaders and one Political Party alone is not a fair appraisal of the Independence Movement, not in the least.
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