Prem Singh
August 9, 2019 is the
77th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, famously known as the August
Revolution and an important milestone in the history of India's freedom
movement. The 75th anniversary of this movement, a movement which was fuelled
by the intense desire for freedom of the Indian people, was celebrated two
years ago on 9 August 2017. On that occasion, political parties across the
spectrum had organized a number of programs in memory of the martyrs of the
August Revolution. As per a letter written by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia to the
Viceroy Linlithgow, the British government had killed fifty thousand patriots
and injured many times more people during the August Revolution.
On the occasion of the
75th anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a call for the revival of
the spirit of the Quit India Movement by coining a new slogan 'karenge aur karke rahenge' in place of
Gandhi's slogan 'karo ya maro' - Do or Die. The slogan is a sort of
exhortation to achieve the goal of building a 'New India' by the year 2022. He
said that India will complete 75 years of Independence in 2022 and the memory
of the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement should be utilized by
striving for creation of New India so that the vision can be realized by the
75th anniversary of Independence.
Prime Minister's call is
utterly misaligned with the basic spirit which underlay the Quit India
movement. Because it is hard to link this spirit with the idea that lies behind
Prime Minister's New India. It is an un-mindful bizarre effort to make a
stagnant mentality, which is otherwise known as 'Manuvad', fit in the borrowed
and poor digital setup. This New India is being built at the cost of the
Constitution, sovereignty and resources of the country. While the Constitution,
sovereignty and resources of the country had been achieved with the
Independence from the colonial power, of which the Quit India Movement was the
gateway, it is natural for the Prime Minister to think that the spirit of the
struggle for Independence, including the Quit India Movement, would hold any
meaning only when it is used for building New India. This can only be possible when
the spirit of freedom is reduced into spirit of slavery. In his call, this
obvious meaning can be read that the time has come to correct the 'incorrect'
spirit of freedom struggle. The Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was farsighted enough, who had opposed the struggle
of Independence inspired by an incorrect spirit!
The communists of India
would be called honest because they had opposed the Quit India Movement and at
the same time had no concern with the spirit of Quit India Movement, and the
people and leaders who participated in it. Although the Communist Party of
India (CPI) had later apologized for its role in the Quit India Movement but
even today, most communist leaders and intellectuals can still be found to
argue in favor of their opposing roles during the Quit India Movement on the
basis of international conditions. They consider the Independence of India in
1947 as a consequence of international conditions, not the result of the Indian
people's struggle and sacrifices.
In this article, the
spirit of freedom which inspired the people of India during the Quit India
Movement, has been contemplated with reference to Lohia's analysis of the same.
Lohia uses the phrase 'will of freedom' instead of spirit of freedom in his
analysis.
In the Indian freedom
struggle the will of freedom and the strength, gathered from various sources,
to achieve the Independence finally culminated in the Quit India Movement. The
Quit India Movement conveyed the fact that even if the leaders of the country
were directed by the will of freedom, the real strength to achieve it
decisively resided in public. In this nationwide movement large number of
people participated and the movement witnessed unprecedented courage and
endurance. Lohia has written, quoting Leon Trotsky, "... barely one
percent of the Russian population took part in the Russian Revolution. In our
Revolution no less than 20% of our people took part." ('Collected Works of
Dr. Ram Mannohar Lohia', Volume 9, Ed. Mastram Kapoor, P. 129, Anamika
Publishers, Ansari Road, Delhi - 110002, 2011)
The 'Quit India'
resolution was passed On August 8, 1942; Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the tricolor on
the Gowalia Tank ground; and on the night of 9th August the senior
leaders of the Congress were arrested. Due to the arrest of leaders, the action
plan of the movement could not be formulated. The relatively young leadership
of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was active, but it had to work
underground. In such a situation, Jai Prakash Narayan (JP) wrote two long
letters from unknown places to provide the guidance and encouragement to the
revolutionaries and to explain the character and method of the movement.
It can be said that the public itself was its leader during the Quit India
Movement.
Lohia wrote on the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the Quit India Movement, "9th August was and
will remain a people's event. 15th August was a state event. ... 9th August
1942 expressed the will of the people - we want to be free, and we shall be
free. For the first timer after a long period in our history, crores of people
expressed their desire to be free. ... Anyhow, this is the 25th anniversary of
9th August 1942. It should be celebrated well. Its 50th anniversary perhaps
will be celebrated in such a way that 15th August will be forgotten, and even
26th of January will either be foreshadowed or would equal it." ('Note and
Comments', Vol. II, Ram Mannohar Lohia, P. 221, Ram Mannohar Lohia Samata Vidyalaya
Nyas, Sultan Bazar, Hyderabad - 500001, 1975)
Lohia did not live to see
the fiftieth anniversary of the August Revolution. His belief that people will
listen to him after his death, has been proved to be a delusion. Fiftieth
anniversary of the August Revolution came in the wake of New Economic Policies which
had already introduced in the year 1991. These policies had opened the
country's doors to the domestic and foreign multinationals for loot; and a five
hundred years old mosque was demolished in the name of Lord Rama. Since then,
due to the nexus of neo-liberalism and communalism, the ruling class of India
has become a bitter enemy of the Indian people, who had paved way for freedom
while facing the suppression of imperialist rulers in the Quit India Movement.
The inception of PM's
much glorified New India took place in 1991-1992. In the last three decades, the sovereignty and resources from
the country, and the constitutional rights from the public have been snatched.
The spirit of freedom struggle, including that of the Quit India Movement, is
being used, by its propagators, in the direction of building this very New
India. 'Lohia ke log' (Men of Lohia)
too are involved in this venture. By the time it will be the hundredth
anniversary of the Quit India Movement, the picture of New India would become
quite certain. If not then in order to stop this future from becoming a reality,
a new resolution must be taken by taking the aid of the words of Lohia, - ' we
want to be free, and we shall be free' from New India. Further taking clue from
Lohia's perception about the spirit of the Quit India Movement, it can be said
that this revolution to regain India will be brought to life by the people of
India as they did on August 9, 1942.
(The writer teaches
Hindi at Delhi University and is former president of Socialist Party)
