He was arrested again and the following two years of imprisonment badly affected his health. While he was in prison, some Congress leaders like Motilal Nehru and C.R. Das had formed the Swaraj party as they wanted to stand for elections to the Legislative Assembly. The Congress had decided to boycott the elections. Lajpat Rai came out and joined them and was elected unopposed. He was also involved in the campaign for the rights of factory workers; in 1920 he was elected the first president of the All India Trade Union Congress and said at the conference, ‘The greatest need in this country is to organize, agitate and educate.’
In 1928 the Simon Commission, with Sir John Simon as its head, came to India to discuss India’s future. The Indian leaders were furious at discovering that the Commission did not have a single Indian member. The Congress decided to welcome the Commission with hartals and black-flag processions with people shouting indignantly, ‘Simon, Go Back!’ On 30 October 1928 the Commission was to arrive at Lahore and Lajpat Rai was leading a procession towards the railway station. In spite of the fact that it was a peaceful march, the police began to beat them up, and even though people tried to shield him, Lajpat Rai was hit on the chest by the lathis.
He was already unwell and the beating made him seriously ill. Lajpat Rai died on 17 November 1928 and many believed it was because of his injuries. Punjab did not forget their lion and a month later a young revolutionary named Bhagat Singh shot dead the police officer named Saunders who was responsible for ordering the attack on the procession. Bhagat Singh and his friends were hanged in 1931. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote, ‘Bhagat Singh … did not become popular because of his act of terrorism, but because he seemed to vindicate … the honour of Lala Lajpat Rai, and through him of the nation.’
Lala Lajpat Rai was a true man of action who soldiered on through many adversities, bad health and imprisonment. He was impatient with the slow pace of constitutional protests and believed that people just had to rise up and demand their rights. Tough-talking and practical, he had radical views about religion and society, and worked to make a difference in the lives of people. He had the courage and charisma to inspire and lead people to change their lives and his work still survives in all the schools and colleges he opened in north India. The Lion of Punjab knew how to lead by example and the people followed with absolute faith, knowing that he would never let them down.
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Fear in citizens is the enemy of freedom from domestic misrule. Whatever your age and your profession might be, do not murder the truth that arises from time to time in your heart.
—Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Everyone at the small school in Hosur near Bangalore was waiting for a visit by the Inspector of Schools. The classrooms were spic and span, the teachers looking busy and the students all ready to spring up to answer any questions the visitor asked. When the Inspector entered a class and began to ask questions, the smartest boy in class stood up to answer.
The Inspector suddenly asked, ‘Now tell me, what is the colour of God?’
The boy thought for a moment, then replied, ‘It’s blue, sir.’
The Inspector frowned, ‘How can you be so sure?’
‘Because the sky is blue and the ocean is blue.’
The Inspector laughed because he had finally met a student quick-witted enough to answer an unanswerable question. All his life Chakravarti Rajagopalachari successfully faced every intellectual challenge with his agile, logical mind and sharp wit.
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari was born on 10 December 1878 in the village of Thorappalli in modern Karnataka. His father Chakravarti Iyengar was the village munsif. When Rajagopalachari was five, the family shifted to Hosur where he completed his matriculation at the age of thirteen. He graduated from Bangalore at sixteen and then studied law at Madras University. He began his practice at the Salem Bar and soon became a very successful lawyer.
Then the nationalist movement beckoned and Rajagopalachari joined the Indian National Congress and attended the Calcutta session of 1906 as a member of the Madras delegation. This was the time when the agitation against the partition of Bengal was reaching its peak and so was the battle between the Moderates and the Extremists in the Congress. However, it was only with the arrival of Gandhi on the national scene that Rajagopalachari became more politically active.
Meanwhile, he had been appointed the chairman of the Salem Municipality and immediately took measures against untouchability. He made sure that Dalit children were admitted into schools and Dalits could draw water from all the wells. There were the usual howls of protest from orthodox Hindus and one man came up to Rajagopalachari and asked angrily, ‘Will you then touch a scavenger in his dirty clothes?’
Rajagopalachari politely replied, ‘My friend, I will touch even you.’
His efforts at reforming society always offered practical solution. When a man came to him asking for help for his widowed daughter, Rajagopalachari advised that the girl should be married again. When the Brahmin priests refused to perform the marriage ceremony Rajagopalachari, a Brahmin, learnt all the mantras and presided over the marriage himself.
Rajagopalachari shifted to Madras and all the while he was watching Gandhi’s campaign at Champaran with great eagerness. He was quick to recognize the appearance of a very different kind of leader. When Gandhi came to Madras is 1919, Rajagopalachari invited him to stay in his home. There was an instant rapport between the two—both clever, subtle, witty men, and this led to a lifelong friendship that survived many disagreements. It was Gandhi who began to call him ‘Rajaji’ because he said Rajagopalachari was too much of a mouthful!
In March 1919 the government passed the Rowlatt Act, which imposed ‘emergency measures’ to control public unrest. It authorized the government to imprison without trial anyone they thought was ‘conspiring’ against them. At this time Gandhi was brooding over a way to organize an effective protest against the Act that would make the government sit up. He said the idea of an India-wide hartal came to him in dream while he was staying with Rajaji. The two friends worked out the strategy together, and then as he was leaving, Gandhi gave Rajaji a charkha as a parting gift. One day Gandhi’s son Devadas would marry Rajaji’s daughter Lakshmi.
As Gandhi’s leading lieutenant in the south, Rajaji led the hartal in Madras and it was a successful non-violent protest. From then on he played a leading role in the various campaigns of the Congress party and the party members soon recognized his skills as a negotiator and strategist. For instance, when the Montagu—Chelmsford Reforms were proposed by the government in 1919, involving some measure of self-government, the Congress was divided over how to respond. As leaders struggled over the exact phrasing of the resolution, in the words of C.R. Das, ‘We were worried. Then came on the scene this thin Madrasi, who put a comma here, a semi-colon there, inserted a phrase here, removed one there, and within a few minutes, to the astonishment and joy of everyone, he was able to give us an acceptable resolution.’
During the Non-cooperation Movement Rajai was among the band of eminent lawyers like C.R. Das, Motilal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel who gave up lucrative practices to join the freedom struggle. This was the time when the Prince of Wales was visiting India and the government banned all public meetings. Rajaji promptly addressed a gathering in Vellore, and was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison. Like many of his comrades he spent the time with books, teaching himself Sanskrit and writing a book Life and Death of Socrates in Tamil.
Then Gandhi stopped the Non-cooperation agitation after the violent incident at Chauri Chaura. This led to a hiatus in the freedom struggle and for six years Rajaji concentrated on his social work. He established a Gandhi Ashram in Pudupalayam near Salem and worked in villages. It was a happy time as he taught modern farming methods, encouraged spinning, opened schools, and lectured on hygiene and sanitation. He sat in village courtyards talking about the evils of caste and religious intolerance. He also started a magazine Vimochanam. During the years of r
ural retreat he donned his lawyer’s gown only once, when he successfully defended a Dalit who had been arrested for entering a temple.
In 1930 Gandhi decided to launch the Civil Disobedience movement with the march to Dandi. Many Congress leaders were highly sceptical of the effectiveness of his plan as they felt that people would not be interested in defying the Salt Law. Rajaji was the quickest to recognize the cleverness of the strategy and the real aim of the march and said shrewdly to Gandhi, ‘It is not salt but disobedience that you are manufacturing.’
On 30 April 1930 Rajaji led a group of volunteers to the sea beach at Vedaranyam, near Tiruchirapalli. The District Collector of Thanjavur, a British officer named Thorne, immediately declared the march illegal. Hearing of his order Rajaji quipped, ‘… Thorns and thistles cannot stem this tide of freedom.’ The moment he picked up a handful of salt at Vedaranyam, he was arrested and sent to Vellore Jail. His arrest was aimed at scaring people but it had the opposite effect—people in thousands now trooped to Vedaranyam to defy the Salt Law.
Rajaji was in favour of Gandhi joining the Second Round Table Conference in London. However, in 1932, when the government announced the Communal Award that gave separate electorates to Depressed Classes, there was an impasse between Gandhi and the leader of the Dalits, B.R. Ambedkar. Gandhi, believing that this was yet another clever ploy of the government to divide the ranks of the nationalist movement, went on a fast at Yeravada Jail, further complicating the situation. At this impasse it was Rajaji who shuttled between the two and negotiated an agreement.
In 1935 the Government of India Act allowed elections for provincial governments to be run by Indians, elected by a limited electorate. The Congress decided to take part in elections and formed the government in a number of provinces. On 14 July 1937 Rajaji was sworn in as the Premier of the Madras government. He took this as an opportunity to carry out many of the social reforms that were important to him. During his years of working in the villages he had seen poor, illiterate farmers being exploited by moneylenders who charged them such high interests that they never managed to pay off their debts. So among his first reforms was the Debt Relief Act, which said that if the original loan had been paid twice over through the interest payments then the loan stood cancelled. He also introduced prohibition—which made the finance department protest because taxes on liquor were a big source of income for the government. In reply, Rajaji introduced a sales tax on expensive goods that made up for the loss and was aimed at taxing the rich. This was the first time that a sales tax was introduced in Asia. He also passed laws to allow free entry into temples for everyone.
His government had to resign when the Congress decided to withdraw in protest at India being involved in the Second World War. Rajaji did not agree with the decision as he felt that they could demand further power later if they supported the government in the hour of crisis, but he had to obey the orders of the party. The Muslim League gained an advantage at this time by being in the government while the Congress was out of power. Rajaji made his disappointment clear to Gandhi and withdrew from active politics for a while. So he was not present at Bombay when the Quit India resolution was passed in 1942.
The last decade before Independence was a time of great turmoil with the Muslim League stridently demanding a separate nation—Pakistan. There was great distust and unrest among the Hindus and Muslims that the Muslim League and Hindu parties like the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh did their best to whip up. The Congress was deeply divided between people like Rajaji and Maulana Azad who felt that they should negotiate with Jinnah, and those who did not want to because that would acknowledge Jinnah as the sole representative of the Muslims. As a matter of fact, a large part of the Muslim population did not support the Muslim League and Jinnah knew that very well. Rajaji faced a lot of opposition and criticism for his stand and was shouted down at meetings.
After Gandhi was arrested in 1942, Rajaji made another attempt at an agreement. His proposal was that the two-nation problem should be sorted out only after Independence. He suggested that there would be a plebiscite in areas with a Muslim majority and if the people voted for a separate homeland then the Congress and the Muslim League would hammer out a division of the country. Rajaji managed to convince Gandhi to try the new plan but Jinnah, unsure of his actual strength among the Muslims, would not agree. He kept raising new demands and then finally rejected the plan.
After Independence, Rajaji was appointed as the governor of Bengal. This was a terrible time with Calcutta facing devastating communal riots. Gandhi came to the city and his presence finally checked the carnage and led to a semblance of calm. Rajaji was deeply worried at Gandhi’s fasting for peace and visited him often. Gandhi then returned to Delhi at Nehru’s call and the next piece of news that Rajaji heard was that he had been assassinated. A sorrowful Rajaji said of his old friend and comrade, ‘He was killed because he preached all faiths were one and all names were God.’
Lord Mountbatten was the first governor general of Independent India, and when he left in 1948, Rajaji was appointed to the post. He was the first Indian to occupy what was the home of the British viceroy and now became our Rashtrapati Bhawan. On 26 January 1950, when the new Constitution came into effect, he handed over the reigns of office to Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India.
Rajaji continued in politics—he joined the cabinet of Prime Minister Nehru, had a second stint as the chief minister of Madras and later started a new political party called the Swatantra Party. He remained a trusted adviser of Nehru, and at the time when there was much agitation over making Hindi the official language, he suggested that both Hindi and English be selected and that Hindi be introduced only gradually in non-Hindi speaking states. At the same time, he became a popular writer; his delightful retelling of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are popular even today. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954.
He was the calm, reasonable voice in the most turbulent of times. With a brilliant, analytical mind and razor-sharp wit, he would cut to the core of every problem and find a workable solution. He was never afraid to protest and often disagreed with both Gandhi and Nehru but remained their friend. After a long and eventful life, C. Rajagopalachari, the elder statesman of our freedom movement, died on 25 December 1972. The scholar Suniti Kumar Chatterjee called him, ‘the still, small voice of India’s conscience’.
Bhagat Singh
The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting-stone of ideas.
—Bhagat Singh
He was a very unusual revolutionary. His life was less about guns and bombs and more about ideas and ideals. He loved books and wandered around with them in his pocket, lending them to anyone who was interested. He spent hours in the Dwarkadas Library in Lahore, reading about the revolutionary movements of the world and dreaming of leading a revolution in India. He set up a library for his fellow revolutionaries and they would hold long discussions on socialism—especially Marxism—and the purpose of a mass uprising. He is said to have popularized the slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad!’ When he was in prison, Bhagat Singh’s lonely jail cell was packed with books that kept him company.
Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907 in Khatkar Kalan village in the Lyallpur District of Punjab. His father Kishan Singh Sandhu was a farmer. His uncle Ajit Singh was a revolutionary who had escaped abroad to avoid being arrested and was a source of inspiration for young Bhagat Singh. He was educated at the Dayanand Anglo Vedic School and College in Lahore, and while still a teenager, he was joining protest marches against the British government. Later he wrote for and edited Urdu newspapers in Amritsar and continued to write till his death.
Like many patriotic young men of the times, Bhagat Singh was first drawn to the Congress party but soon became disenchanted by their political strategies. He was an enthusiastic participant in the Non-cooperation Movement, but when Gandhi suspended the agitation after Chauri Chaura, he was deeply disappointed. He was not convinced by Gandhi’s belie
f in non-violence and began to look for another path to freedom—he came to believe that revolutionary action was the only answer. Young men in Punjab, the United Provinces and Bengal, inspired by the revolutionary movements in Russia, Ireland and Italy, began to join secret societies. They started the assassination of unpopular British officials, and looted banks and the government treasury to finance their propaganda campaign as well as the buying of arms and training of terrorists. Among the secret societies were Yugantar and Anushilan in Bengal. The revolutionaries of the north met at Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi in 1928 and formed the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.
In Bengal, the most daring act of the revolutionaries was the raid of the Chittagong Armoury, led by Surya Sen. They knew very well that a small band of fighters taking on the armed might of the British Army had little chance of succeeding, but they wanted to show the people that it was possible to challenge the power of the government. On the night of 18 April 1930 one group led by Ganesh Ghosh captured the police armoury at Chittagong, while another led by Lokenath Paul took over the Auxiliary Force Armoury. They captured a number of guns but could not find the ammunition, and this hindered their campaign. They realized they could not hold on to the armouries once the army arrived and sixty-five revolutionaries escaped into the Chittagong hills where they were soon surrounded by thousands of troops. In a fierce battle eighty British soldiers and twelve freedom fighters were killed. Surya Sen managed to escape and continued with the struggle, often given shelter by poor peasants of the region.
The exploits of the revolutionaries fired the imagination of the younger generation. This was also the time when women came forward to join the revolutionaries. When Surya Sen was eventually captured, a girl called Kalpana Dutt was captured with him. He was hanged in 1934 and Dutt given a life sentence. There was also Pritilata Waddedar who died during a raid; two schoolgirls Suniti Chowdhury and Santi Ghosh shot dead a District Magistrate. Bina Das, while going up to receive her degree at a university convocation, shot point-blank at the governor of Bengal. Sadly, these individual acts of courage may have fuelled passions against the British rule, but in real terms they did not do much to weaken the British government’s hold on the country.
A Flag, a Song and a Pinch of Salt Page 12