Decades of Daring Deeds (An Old and Rare Book)

About the Book India's freedom struggle of less than a century has two main trends, one the constitutional approach, generally associated with the Congress. It believed in non-violence as a technique. The other stream consisted of many of whom revolutionaries, were outwardly Congressmen also. The outstanding example was Surya Sen (Masterda) who was at the same time the president of his District Congress Committee. Actually, he was the leader of the most well known Chittagong. revolutionary action at Just because the Congress and the Congressmen have received more than their due share of publicity, it is necessary to do justice to others who have contributed no less, probably much more, to our freedom struggle.

Their actions can come under two categories, organised (actual or contemplated) and isolated actions of dedication and daring which inspired the youth of the nation who had become somewhat dormant. I have started with the earliest of them, the Chapekar Brothers of Pune. Going chronologically, I have covered 38 such episodes. Some of them are better known and some less. Some are almost unknown. But each was inspired by the same ideal of patriotism for which they suffered and sacrificed everything. The last act of heroism came with the naval uprising in Bombay in 1946. That was the last nail in the coffin of a dying Imperialism in India. Today we enjoy our independence. May it live long and be shared by all. That will be the best way of repaying our debt to these intiepid soldiers of freedom.

About the Author Born at Barisal (now in Bangladesh) on the 31st of May, 1914, Prof. Satyavrata Ghosh had a chequered career. Though he belongs. to a family of outstanding educationists, his own academic career was cut short just after he passed the matriculation examination. For a considerable period, he suffered incarceration as a detenu, suspected of revolutionary activities. Externed from the province of Bengal, he did his M.A. in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University, topping the list.

With the outbreak of War, however, he could secure a job at Delhi with the Government of India but soon lost it due to earlier police reports. He was literally on the streets. Here came a turning point in his career. Unable to get a job, he turned desperate and moved from pillar to post. He somehow managed to get a job as political secretary to a Kanpur industrialist, Ram Ratan Gupta, who was then a Central M.L.A. belonging to the Nationalist Party.

Congressmen were in Jail. The Nationalist Party was all-important in our political life. He helped the party and also the organization of Indian Council of World Affairs. This brought him closer to the fast changing political scene of India. But as a sensitive soul what he saw around him was depressing. He looked for fresh fields and pastures new before joining his family tradition of teaching.

He became Prof. Ghosh' and joined Rohtak Jat College. He also served various other colleges as post-graduate professor of Political Science and retired as principal of a Government college in M.P. Later he shifted to Bombay and became a post retirement journalist and author.

Foreword Historians pretend to be impartial but they are hardly so. Actually, they could not be impartial even if they wished. Every man or woman is limited and fettered by prejudices woven into his or her mental structure. There are also interests that guide them. While talking glibly of the freedom of expression, every historian, even a journalist, is guided by self-interest which may sometimes be of a very low order. They can be hired, be in the pay of vested inter ests, even serve as enemy agents. We are facing such a situation around us.

The towering fact emerges that impartiality is not possible. When it is so, the historian or the journalist should consciously take sides; I mean the side of peace and progress. They should be fearless fighters for peace and crusaders for progress. And in our atomic age, progress is inextricably linked with peace. Our his torians and journalists should act as midwives and use their talents and energy to usher in a better world for all.

Patriotism without proper maturation can lead to parochialism, linguism and obscurtantism. Misguided ideology led to the partition of the country on the basis of the so-called two-nation theory which collapsed during the 1970-71 war of Bangladesh. Muslims in West Pakistan fought against Muslims in East Pakis tan. During this war more than 3 million Muslims in East Ben gal were massacred and a lakh women raped. Neither Iqbal, nor Jinnah could save them. Indeed they were responsible for this holocaust.

Independence itself was preceded by an unprecedented com munal carnage. This shattered the dreams of both the Congress and the revolutionaries. As a consequence of the World War and the heroic activities of 1.N.A. under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the Britishers, a race of shop-keepers, thought discretion to be the better part of valour and quit the country.

Introduction For some time now, say for more than 17 years, I have been devoting myself to that part of our freedom struggle which is hardly known. I am all the more interested, even committed, because I find that there has been a sinister attempt to play down its con tribution. It is only in recent years that we see some interest to know about it. Even research scholars devote their time and talent to dig out this somewhat obscure chapter of history.

When some attempt was made to project their image through the popular medium of teleserials, I was tempted to come out with a serial myself, more authentic than those shown. But suddenly, and for some mysterious reasons, the projection of this part of the freedom struggle was discontinued.

As I am keen that the role of the revolutionaries be known to our people, I was left with no other alternative than to fall back on the less popular medium of writing and that too in English. But writing is a permanent way of perpetuating the memory of the heroic sons and daughters of India who have otherwise gone down in history unsung, unwept and unhonoured.

This much as an 'apology' (or, 'explanation', if you choose to call it so) for writing a book on a hitherto somewhat unusual sub ject. But I have good reasons for it. Even commercially speaking, a book on such a topic is likely to prove attractive, particularly to post-Independence Indian youth.

I have discerned a new trend during the past few years not only from my own experience while touring, speaking and discussing the subject, but also from the media. For example, Dharmayug, a very popular and prestigious Hindi magazine, chose to bring out a special number on the Indian freedom struggle in August 1988. I had written for them on my subject in the past but there was a gap of a few years due to my eye trouble.

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