The plan was simple. Small groups of marchers would walk up to the police barricades, try to enter the Salt Works peacefully and go on as far as they were able to walk. All through the morning, bands of freedom fighters strode up to break the police cordon and faced a barrage of lathi blows. They were brutally beaten; many, bleeding from head wounds, fell to the ground. Then groups of volunteers ran up to carry them away to the first-aid station at the back where their wounds were bandaged. Meanwhile, another batch of protestors marched valiantly towards the police. The air was filled with the sickening thud of lathis landing on heads and bodies, cries of pain and the running feet of volunteers. By 11 a.m., 320 protestors had been injured and two killed, but not one freedom fighter had picked up a stone or swung a fist at their tormentors.
Among the horrified spectators was an American journalist, Webb Miller, whose report on the Satyagraha at Dharasana was carried in newspapers around the world. He wrote, ‘In eighteen years of my reporting, in twenty countries, during which I have witnessed innumerable civil disturbances, riots, street fights and rebellions, I have never witnessed such harrowing scenes as Dharasana.’
Gandhi’s Satyagraha proved to the world that non-violence was not for the meek or the coward. In fact, it needed more grit and will power than picking up a gun. A non-violent campaign was much more effective in winning the hearts and minds of the people, who after all had only their own courage to draw on. Sarojini Naidu understood this and she made sure the protest at Dharasana stayed peaceful because she knew that such a show of police brutality would not be forgotten—or forgiven. And it wasn’t. It galvanized the nation, as thousands poured out into the streets to join the freedom struggle, while messages of support and sympathy arrived from across the world.
You would think that someone who led a march of thousands and kept it peaceful in spite of great provocation would be this cool, tough, no-nonsense woman. What is amazing is that Naidu was also a sensitive writer of passionate, lyrical verses, a flamboyant personality who could charm anyone with her witty conversation, and a charismatic orator. Sarojini Naidu shone among the galaxy of leaders of the Congress party and was one of its most popular spokespersons.
Sarojini Chattopadhyay was born in Hyderabad on 13 February 1879, the eldest of the eight children of Aghorenath and Baradasundari Chattopadhyay. Her father was a scientist and educationist who set up the Nizam’s College and pioneered education for women. She grew up in an enlightened household where learning and independent thought were encouraged. Poetry was in Sarojini’s genes as both parents wrote verses and later her brother Harindranath would also win fame as a poet.
In her early years it was poetry that absorbed Sarojini. A precocious scholar, she completed her matriculation at twelve. That year she wrote a 1300-line poem titled ‘Lady of the Lake’ in six days and the next year, a poetic drama of 2000 lines! Her writings began to be published and one of them caught the attention of the Nizam who gave her a scholarship for higher studies in Britain. She studied at King’s College, London, and then at Girton College, Cambridge, and impressed many writers and critics with her poetry.
When her first book of poetry The Golden Threshold was published in 1905, it was praised in The London Times and The Manchester Guardian. The Bird of Time (1912) and The Broken Wing (1917) followed. After this, as the hectic years of the freedom movement intervened, the poet and balladeer was silent for many years. Her last collection The Sceptred Flute came out only in 1937.
The damp and cold English weather led to ill health, so Sarojini returned to India and in 1898 she married Govindarajulu Naidu, a military doctor. The marriage created a sensation not only because an Indian girl was marrying a man of her own choice but also because a Bengali Brahmin was marrying a Telugu of a lower caste. Even her liberal father was not happy with her decision.
The Naidus had four children and Sarojini settled down to domestic life. Soon she was one of the most popular hostesses in Hyderabad, legendary for her sparkling parties where guests were welcomed with poetry, music and animated conversation. Family, friends, social success and fame as a poet—for most women of that time such a life would have been enough, but for the restless and gifted Sarojini Naidu, life was just beginning.
Her life took a new turn when she met the Congress leader Gopal Krishna Gokhale who encouraged her to get involved in public service. Despite her busy and happy life there must have been a yearning somewhere to do more because she responded immediately to his suggestion that she should meet Mahatma Gandhi.
She met Gandhi in 1914 and her life changed. After that her every moment became dedicated to the national movement. She later recalled her first sight of Gandhi, this ‘little man’ with a shaven head, sitting on the floor on a black prison blanket eating squashed tomatoes and olive oil out of a wooden bowl. She had laughed at him, instantly creating a bond with the Mahatma, who always enjoyed a joke.
Over the years the Mahatma and Naidu developed an intriguingly colourful relationship where he was leader, guru and also a beloved father figure. She was among the few who could joke and tease him and get away with it, as she knew how to appeal to his sense of humour. She called herself ‘the licensed jester of the Mahatma’s little court’ and had the audacity to call him ‘Our Mickey Mouse of India’ because of his large ears! A story goes about Gandhi’s insistence on travelling in third-class train compartments and staying in Harijan colonies. Nevertheless, the Congress had to make elaborate arrangements for his visits and once Naidu wryly commented, ‘Bapuji, do you know how much it costs to keep you in poverty?’
For a while Naidu joined Gandhi in South Africa, working among Indians fighting the racist apartheid laws of the government. When she returned to India, she formally joined the Congress and was soon mesmerizing audiences with her powerful speeches. She became an indefatigable speaker, travelling like a whirlwind across the land, addressing huge mass rallies and gatherings of students, women and factory workers. People would come from far only to hear the star campaigner of the Congress. Freedom fighter J. Alva described Naidu addressing a rally: ‘A snap of her fingers and the bustle would be over, a slight look around, she would hold hundreds of mouths shut, that was her commanding influence as “master of the platforms”.’ This relentless travelling was not easy for her as her health was fragile and she often fell ill, yet she soldiered on with indomitable spirit, even going on a triumphant lecture tour of the United States in 1928.
Her achievements were remarkable, considering the status of Indian women in the early years of the twentieth century. Most were uneducated, barely able to read and write, they were married as children and spent their lives behind the purdah. Naidu was the finest example of the new Indian woman that Gandhi dreamed about. She was a wife and mother, a poet, and there she stood before a gathering of thousands speaking with passion and confidence. She inspired innumerable women to walk out of their kitchens, join the freedom struggle and hold high the flag of independence.
Sarojini Naidu’s unwavering focus was on national unity, religious tolerance and the emancipation of women. The British government had given her the Kaiser-i-Hind medal for her social work, which she returned after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. She spoke fluent Urdu and also wrote in it. Among her good friends was Mohammed Ali Jinnah when he was a member of the Congress, and she even dedicated a poem to him. She was also a friend and confidant of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She and Nehru corresponded regularly and their letters to each other after he became Prime Minister, show how much he trusted her advice.
In 1925, Sarojini Naidu was elected the president of the Indian National Congress, the first Indian woman to hold the post. The only other woman president had been Annie Besant. After her election, Gandhi spoke in her praise and she replied with typical understated wit, ‘In electing me to be the chief among your chosen servants, you have not created a novel precedent. You have only reverted to an old tradition and returned to the Indian woman the classic position she once held …’ She was also one of the founders of
the All India Women’s Conference and inspired women like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Vijayalakshmi Pandit and Kamala Menon.
Then in 1930 the Civil Disobedience Movement was launched with that amazing, headline-grabbing march to Dandi. Gandhi had asked her to stay away, but she ignored his request and there are photographs of a smiling Naidu triumphantly marching beside him. Then she led the protest in Dharasana that put the government in a very embarrassing position as it faced worldwide condemnation. Meanwhile, India was in turmoil with protests and demonstrations erupting everywhere. The viceroy Lord Irwin, who had so far ignored every communication from Gandhi, was finally forced to meet him. They signed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact to end the agitation. Soon–after, Gandhi left for the Second Round Table Conference in London and Naidu accompanied him.
The final push towards freedom came in 1942 when, at the Bombay session of the Congress, the Party asked the British to quit India. The next day all the leaders were arrested. Gandhi, Kasturba and Naidu were interned in the Aga Khan Palace in Poona. This was a time of great tragedy for Gandhi because both Kasturba and his secretary Mahadev Desai died here. Naidu, herself in bad health, was always by his side, and when Gandhi started a fast, she nursed him with great love and care.
When the long dreamed of Independence finally came in 1947 Naidu watched in horror as the country was divided and millions died in the communal conflagration. She was deeply saddened that all her years of work trying to build unity and religious tolerance had failed so tragically. At the helm of the newly created Pakistan was Jinnah, who had once been her comrade and friend. Nehru as Prime Minister appointed her as the Governor of the largest province in India—Uttar Pradesh. She accepted the post reluctantly, commenting that it made her feel like ‘a wild bird caged’, but with typical discipline began her duties of ‘Governess’ with energy and flair.
However, the tragedies were still not over. On 30 January 1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. A devastated Sarojini Naidu said in tribute to the man she called ‘friend and master’: ‘This was the only death great enough for him … Time is over for personal sorrow. Time is here and now to stand up and say: We take up the challenge with those who defied Mahatma Gandhi.’
It was Gandhi who had dubbed her ‘Bharat Kokila’, the Nightingale of India, and that vibrant, inspiring voice was quieted on the 2 March 1949 when Sarojini Naidu died at Lucknow and her last rites took place on the banks of the river Gomti. The dreamer of big dreams had once sung:
‘Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken winged bird
That cannot fly.’
At a time when the political scene of India was crowded with many great leaders, Sarojini Naidu created a special space for herself through her vivacious personality, energy and passion for the cause. In a sea of sober khadi, she would stand out in her gorgeous silk saris, with flowers in her hair and glittering jewellery, enjoying every fine thing of life—poetry, music, good food and lively conversation. In 1922 she had given up her exquisite silks for homespun khadi, but the sympathetic poet who dreamed of wiping away ‘the sorrows of life with the sorrows of song’ knew well how to celebrate living.
Dadabhai Naoroji
The reality is that India, up to the present day, has been governed so as to bring about the impoverishment of the people … Is it necessary that for your benefit, we must be destroyed?
—Dadabhai Naoroji
In the nineteenth century very few Indians could even imagine a free country called India. Queen Victoria was ruling as the benign Empress and Mother Goddess of her Indian subjects and the sun never set on the British Empire. In 1892, elections were being held in Britain for the House of Commons, when to everyone’s amazement an Indian won the seat of Central Finsbury in London. Dadabhai Naoroji had fought elections four times as a member of the Liberal Party before finally succeeding. He was the first Indian to become a Member of the British Parliament and stood up in its hallowed halls, the lone voice demanding the rights of the Indian people.
The British ruling classes—the politicians, the bureaucracy and the nobility—had for years built up the image of Britain as a benevolent power, bringing civilization and economic benefits to a deprived and barbaric people. Dadabhai Naoroji used facts and figures to prove that British rule was in fact deeply harmful for India as there was no economic development of the country. That it was draining away the wealth of its largest colony and impoverishing its people, and the real picture was one of oppression and exploitation.
Dadabhai Naoroji was born on 4 September 1825 into a poor Parsi-Zoroastrian family of priests in Bombay. His father Naoroji Palanji Dordi died when Dadabhai was only four and his mother Maneckbai struggled to bring him up. In spite of being illiterate herself, she ensured that her son received a good education. He studied at Elphinstone College and then began to teach mathematics and philosophy there, to one day become the first Indian professor at his alma mater. Later he would teach Gujarati at the University College in London.
Naoroji soon became involved in social reform and what interested him the most was education because he understood that Indians could not fight for their rights without a modern western education. When he began literacy classes for girls, he had to go from house to house convincing parents that educating their daughters would not ruin society and that the girls would not become troublesome rebels just because they knew how to read and write. His efforts were so successful that in a few years the contributions from the public helped him build two schools for girls in the city. One of the biggest benefactors was the Cama family, which owned a successful trading house.
In his long life Naoroji would start at least thirty welfare and political societies. Among them was the East India Association, a predecessor of the Indian National Congress. Then he began to write on politics and social reform in the papers and started newspapers like Rast Guftar (The Truth Teller) that was distributed free, and later The Voice of India. Soon a stream of articles were educating and spreading awareness among readers, and Naoroji became a popular writer.
Notably, this was before the Indian Uprising of 1857 and it makes Naoroji one of the first nationalist leaders and social reformers of India. He was a generation older than the next group of leaders like Tilak, Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea and M.G. Ranade, all of whom were deeply influenced by his thoughts.
In those days India was still under the control of the East India Company. In 1852 its charter came up for renewal with the British government and Naoroji organized a meeting to oppose it. A petition was sent to the British Parliament, pointing out how the officers of the Company Bahadur were systematically bleeding India to enrich themselves; it also gave details of high taxes and bad administration. Even though the charter did get renewed, the petition caught the attention of the politicians and the press in Britain, and it was discussed in parliament and covered in the newspapers. Naoroji realized that Indians had to influence public opinion in Britain to get their grievances heard. The East India Company finally lost its colony in 1858 when the British government took over the administration of India.
Very few people questioned the right of the English to rule India in the mid-nineteenth century. As a matter of fact, the general view, encouraged by the sahibs, was that British rule was a benevolent one and the government genuinely cared for its Indian subjects. At such a time, Naoroji was going against public opinion and saying that in fact India was being exploited, economically ruined and that the welfare of the people was rarely a concern for the government. Even if some Indians agreed with him, he knew few people in Britain would take him seriously.
Just then the Cama family decided to open an office in London and he accepted their offer of a partnership and left for England. Leaving his family behind, he voyaged to a strange land as the messenger of his people. Soon Naoroji’s London home became a refuge for the young Indian students studying there. Bhikaiji Cama and Mohammed Ali Jinnah worked for him and among those he played mentor to was a
shy Gujarati law student who never forgot his kindness and generosity. Mahatma Gandhi later said, ‘Indeed, he was in the place of father to every one of the Indian students … And so Dadabhai became a real “dada” to me.’
From 1855 to 1907 Naoroji led a nomad’s life, commuting between England and India, carrying on propaganda work in London and then coming back to take part in the nationalist movement. He had a sharp business brain and soon Cama & Co. became a profitable concern, but he was unhappy to discover that the company was trading in opium and liquor. As this went against his principles, he quit and set up his own business, Dadabhai Naoroji & Co., in 1859. His business faced some ups and downs but ultimately made Naoroji a rich man, and a lot of his money was used for his social and political work.
Among the many political issues that Naoroji took up with the British government was that more Indians be given jobs in the Indian administration, especially in the Indian Civil Service. Leaders like Gokhale would later echo his viewpoint that Indians were perfectly able to run the administration and they understood the problems of the country better than the British. Famines were more frequent during British rule because of the inefficient administration of British officials, and Indians could have helped avert such situations. Naoroji’s first success came in 1866 when nine Indians were appointed to the ICS.
Naoroji’s financial acumen and administrative abilities became so well known that in 1874 he was offered the position of the Dewan of the State of Baroda. The Maharaja of Baroda Mulharrao Gaekwad was in trouble with the government because of his misrule and he hoped Naoroji could save him from losing his throne. The British Resident at Baroda was highly displeased and sent many critical reports to the government, but the government was so impressed by Naoroji that the Resident was transferred instead! Within a year the Baroda administration had been cleaned up, but Naoroji’s honesty and efficiency made the Maharaja unhappy, so Naoroji resigned and returned to Bombay to join the city’s municipal corporation.
A Flag, a Song and a Pinch of Salt Page 8