Western India's Tryst With India's Freedom Struggle
By Anushka Singh
It was in 1930 that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi launched the protest against the British government's imposition of a tax on salt. The protest was one of non-cooperation as Bapu took 80 marchers along with him on a 390 kilometers long walk stopping at 21 historic places from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi. Along the way, thousands came to pay their homage. On reaching Dandi finally, they took a pinch of salt and sent the message of India's independence across the world.
Throughout the journey, Bapu stopped to rest some afternoons while at some, he stayed back for the night. It is the Dandi Path that carries with it the inspirational reservoir of memories.
Sabarmati Ke Sangh
Gandhiji's ashram was originally established at Jivanlal Desai's Kocharab Bungalow on 25 May 1915. Jivanlal Desai was a barrister and a friend. The ashram was then called the Satyagraha Ashram. Bapu was keen on carrying out activities such as farming and animal husbandry, in addition to other pursuits that called for the need of a much larger area of usable land. Two years later, on 17 June 1917, the ashram was relocated to an area of thirty-six acres on the banks of the river Sabarmati and it came to be known as the Sabarmati Ashram.
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| Gandhi's statue at Sabarmati Ashram |
This is believed to be one of the ancient ashram sites of Dadhichi Rishi who had donated his bones for a righteous war. The Sabarmati ashram is located between a prison and a crematorium and Gandhi believed that a satyagrahi has invariably to go to either place. He had said "This is the right place for our activities to carry on the search for truth and develop fearlessness, for on one side are the iron bolts of the foreigners, and on the other the thunderbolts of Mother Nature."
The Formation Of Gujarat Vidyapith
Not many know that at the time Gujarat Vidyapith was founded in Ahmedabad, it did not have its own building. It had been initiated from Dahyabhai Ijatram Mehta’s (Vakil) bungalow near Kochrab Ashram on November 15, 1920 from where Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated the Gujarat Mahavidyalaya. As the bungalow started to register space constraints compounded with the looming threat of plague, Vidyapith was shifted to Aga Khan Estate near Nehru bridge where a building stands now.
It ran from there briefly till on March 9, 1923 when the foundation stone of Pranjivan Vidyarthi Bhawan was laid by scientist Prafulla Chandra Ray which, after following its completion, was inaugurated by Gandhi in 1925.
Bhil Massacre Obscured In History
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| Motilal Tejawat |
Soon, soldiers from Mewad Bhil Corps arrived at the procession and under direction from officer Major H G Saturn fired randomly on the gathering. About 1,200 innocent tribals were killed in the unprovoked firing. Dhekhadiya and Dudhiya wells were left overflowing with bodies. Reportedly, in the firing, Tejawat was shot twice in the thighs and his companions carried him away on a camel to a hill by the river.
The incident that occurred just three years after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was largely forgotten and left obscured from official records. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his tenure as the Gujarat chief minister had Shaheed Smriti Van and Shaheed Smarak monuments constructed at the site.
The Palchitaria massacre was washed and forgotten in the leaflets of history. The official diary maintained by Sutton had no mention of the massacre at Palchitaria yet had references to the much smaller incidents involving Bhils in the same area around that period.
There were two reasons the incident never made to the history books. First, those who died were poor and illiterate tribals. Also, the British government had already faced a lot of flack after the Jallianwala episode and took all possible steps to suppress the incident.
Incidentally, then, thousands of tribals had gathered to hear Tejawat who had 21 demands on his agenda he raised on behalf of the tribals, including lowering the revenue or lagaan levied on tribal farmers.
The meeting was held on the banks of Heir River on a three-acre land. Following the firing, there were corpses strewn everywhere. Some of the corpses were dragged away by family members and friends, while the remaining were dumped into a well nearby. After narrowing escaping the massacre, Tejawat stayed underground till 1929, allegedly at the request of Mahatma Gandhi. After that, he remained in jail for seven years.
On visiting the spot after India got her Independence, when Tejawat visited the place to pay respect to the martyrs, he named the spot of the massacre 'Virubhumi' Tejawat . The massacre became part of the local folklore but did not get a place in the history books.
Aga Khan Palace And Bapu
Pune's tryst with India's freedom struggle has been legendary. The magnificent Aga Khan Palace on Nagar Road,built in 1892 by Sultan Mohammed Shah, is a sprawling premises with well-manicured lawns.
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| Aga Khan Palace in Pune |
The Aga Khan Palace played a pivotal role in India's Independence Movement. It was here that political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu and Mahadev Desai were imprisoned during the Quit India Movement from 1942 to 1944. A small amount of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes were also housed in a tomb in a garden close to Kasturba Gandhi’s samadhi.
The palace also houses a Gandhi museum where his personal belongings such as utensils, slippers, letters and clothes are exhibited. Anedotes from the past can be seen narrated on the walls of the palace which are decorated with black and white pictures of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom struggle.
Pune Replete With Phule Story
Pune would be incomplete without her wadas which historically important hidden gems in the nook and corner of the city. Among such wadas is the humble-abode-turned-wada, Phule Wada.
Located between the cluster of multi-storey buildings, Phule Wada was home to visionary reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, who dedicated their life fighting against social evils and promoting girl child education.
Their house has now been converted into a museum and houses photographs of Mahatma Phule and Savitribai. It narrates the life, struggle and work of the two luminaries.
Jail For The Fighters
This 150-year-old Yerwada jail has held immense historic importance during India's freedom struggle. Here revolutionaries and freedom fighters such as Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Motilal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were imprisoned.
Also, and importantly, the Poona Act, an agreement to uplift the depressed section of the society between Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar was signed under a tree in this very premises. The tree stands tall in the jail’s courtyard since the jail was opened for tourism by the Maharashtra state government.
Goa To Rewrite History
It was on June 18, 1946 that began a new defining phase of Goa’s freedom struggle that ended with the liberation of Goa, 15 years later on December 19, 1961. It was on the evening of June 18, 1946, at Margao an unforgettable day in the history of Goa’s freedom struggle.
Then, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, a great nationalist and valiant freedom fighter against the British Rule, arrived in Margao and defied the Portuguese regime. : The Goa government is working closely with the Centre to give official recognition to freedom fighters who participated in Goa’s freedom struggle, particularly the satyagraha at Patradevi and Karwar in August 1955.
Incidentally, this year, the Lohia Maidan at Margao and the Martyrs’ Memorial at Patradevi will be completed and the Martyrs’ Memorial will bear the names of all the 70 freedom fighters who were killed by the Portuguese.
