National Women’s Day recalls date India stood up to the colonial power
BELATED National Women’s Day greeting to all readers.
The National Women’s Day commemorated the march on August 9 in 1956 to the Union Buildings by more than 20 000 women who protested the extension of the hated “pass laws” to African women.
Walking down a corridor in Parliament three days back, I was intrigued to see a wall-mounted picture of a sari-clad woman among a group of other women, who, with a look of fierce determination on their faces, appeared to be marching to a protest. I realised the importance of the picture when I read the caption: “Women’s March 9 August 1956”; Sophia Williams, Rahima Moosa, Helen Josephs and Lillian Ngoyi were mentioned as leaders of the group.
This picture granted me a perspective and a powerful image to associate the National Women’s Day with. I took it as a fortuitous coincidence.
However, I later realised there is another coincidence of much larger significance.
August 9 also occupies a unique place in the modern Indian history. “Quit India Movement” was started this day in 1942, a day after Mahatma Gandhi launched it on August 8, 1942, as a mass civil disobedience movement demanding an end to the British rule in India.
“Nothing less than freedom,” thundered Gandhi. The mantra he gave was “Do or Die – We shall either free India or die in the attempt: we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery.”
Government servants were expected to openly declare their allegiance to the Congress, if not quit their jobs; Indian soldiers serving the British were expected to refuse to fire on fellow Indians at the instructions of their colonial commanders; Indian princes ruling “princely states” in an understanding with the British were asked to accept the sovereignty of their own people, instead of maintaining allegiance to the colonial masters; Gandhi proposed that peasants refuse to pay the land revenue; tenants were told that the land belonged to those who toiled on it.
The Movement, launched in the middle of World War II, expectedly rattled colonisers who came out hard on protesters. The leadership was promptly arrested; the Indian National Congress was banned and the police and army were pressed into action. By the end of 1942, over 60 000 persons had been arrested, 26 000 were convicted and 18 000 detained.
National flags were hoisted on government buildings; groups of Satyagrahis offered arrest to register their protest. Crowds of villagers, sometimes numbering thousand, physically removed railway lines with a purpose to impair government machinery.
Responding to Gandhi’s call, students over the country went on strike, organised protest marches, composed and distributed (illegal) newsletters, served as couriers for the underground networks which had emerged after the top and middle-level leadership was put behind bars by the colonial government in one clear swoop. Workers in the factories also went on strike.
The Movement also witnessed few instances of violence and sabotage directed at symbols of the colonial authority like railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, etc.
The colonial government held Gandhi responsible for such acts. Gandhi responded true to his style – a fast. In February 1943, Gandhi, while still in prison, embarked upon a 21-day fast. It was his way of registering protest, against the “leonine violence of the state which had provoked the people” and against the unwarranted detention of thousands. The fast served to raise public morale and add more energy to the already vigorous mass movement that Quit India Movement had turned into. In an already tumultuous world of the time, Gandhi’s fast and the Movement attracted worldwide attention.
Quit India Movement was remarkable for two more reasons. The action of the colonial government to imprison the leadership gave wings to underground networks which created, encouraged and nourished another generation of young leaders. Leaders like Achyut Patwardhan, Ram Mañohar Lohia, Chotubhai Puranik, Biju Patnaik, R.P. Goenka and later Jayaprakash Narayan were given wings by this national fervour; they were to subsequently prove themselves indispensable in the nation building exercise post-Independence.
Another remarkable aspect of the Quit India Movement was participation of women, specially school and college girls, and rise of a women leadership. They kept up the momentum by organising protests, holding public lectures and demonstrations, supplying material and sometimes even transporting explosives to sabotage railway lines.
Aruna Asaf Ali on August 9, 1942 presided over the flag hoisting ceremony at the site in Mumbai where Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement a day before. She became a leader of the underground network and guided the Movement from underground. She published bulletins, edited Inquilab, a monthly journal along with Lohia.
Sucheta Kripalani was another who organised the underground network. She left her job of a lecturer in Banaras Hindu University and plunged into the struggle for independence. She was tasked by Congress to organise a women’s department and help raise the political consciousness of the women. Throughout the Movement, she remained underground and continued to keep the flame of struggle alive by connecting groups in different parts of the country.
Usha Mehta helped run the underground Congress Radio. Through “Voice of Freedom”, she disseminated information about the struggle. She was later sentenced to four years in prison.
Sushila Nayyar was the personal physician of Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi and was imprisoned with them in 1942.
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, a royal-turned-Gandhian was instrumental in organising processions and protests during the Movement. Another remarkable mention is that of Matangini Hazra who, at the age of 73 in 1942, led a procession of 6 000 people, a majority of them women, to picket a police station. She was martyred in the ensuing police fire, with the national flag in her hand.
While South Africa celebrates August 9 as National Women’s Day, India celebrates the day as August Kranti Diwas (August Revolution Day), paying rich tributes to our shared history of Struggle against discrimination, against exploitation, and to our leaders, the Struggle heroines and heroes.
Five days from now, India celebrates the 71st anniversary of independence from colonial rule. It was no coincidence that India attained independence soon after the call to the colonial rulers to “Quit India”.
Note: The author would like to give credit to the book ‘India’s Struggle for Independence’ by Bipan Chandra and other contributors, which served as a reference material.
Shukla is Consul-General of India in Cape Town