Martyrs, Mahatma and Media

As India's freedom struggle entered its most radical phase, revolutionaries, moderates and the press collided—revealing enduring tensions between ideology, sacrifice and the price of speaking truth to power

- SANJEEV CHOPRA

From the perspective of India’s freedom movement, 1929 was a salient year: this marked the end of the ‘conservative and constitutional era’ of Motilal Nehru.

The baton of the Congress presidency was passed on to his son, Jawaharlal, whose views were radical and in sharp contrast to those of the old guard. The demand was no longer for Dominion Status—the younger Nehru unfurled the tricolour on the banks of the Ravi on December 19, and asked for Purna Swaraj (complete, unfettered Independence). Our protagonist, Virender, was in fact arrested one day before the Congress session, where he was making arrangements for the session as a young volunteer.

INQILAB ZINDABAD

Earlier that year, the Imperial government had legislated the controversial Public Safety Bill with its retrospective stipulations. Although the Central Assembly, under the leadership of Vithalbhai Patel (Sardar’s elder brother), had rejected the Bill, Viceroy Irwin approved it by using his extraordinary powers. This was the spur for the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army to ‘make the deaf hear’: two of its leading members—Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt—hurled smoke bombs in the Assembly. No one was harmed—for that was never the intention—but ‘Inqilab Zindabad’ reverberated in the Assembly, even as they stood their ground to offer themselves for arrest.

The HSRA was not just against British rule; it envisaged a revolution to ‘ring the death knell of capitalism, class distinction and privileges’. But while the revolutionaries were willing to make any sacrifice for their country, they were not ready to compromise on their dignity. The barbaric prison conditions saw them undertaking fasts unto death to ensure that they were treated like human beings. In fact, when the Bengal revolutionary Jatin Das became a martyr to the cause, it galvanized not only the nation but also friends and supporters in Ireland, who too had made fasting into a potent political weapon.