Only on Tuesday evening, a group young girls in weird cloth masks to hide identity, came riding the pillion of motorbikes driven rashly by some brash young men who screeched the moving monsters to a violent stop at a popular park. Irritated, a daring elderly gentleman on a stroll asked one of the alien couples why the mask. The male said “too much sun”; the fairer one promptly amended saying, “We want safety from wolfish men.” The old man trashed the proposition saying it’s illegal to hide identity. Bandits and terrorists could take advantage. Masks could provoke wrong elements more than usual. The police have power to hold up masked human creatures and take them to task. The couples laughed off, saying no police can touch them. They know their liberties too well. They are highly educated and can fix erring police officials in a minute.
The wise old man changed the topic and sought to know if they knew how young people of yore sacrificed luxury and comfort to contribute to the freedom struggle. Girls howled back, “Don’t talk of old problems. Talk of what’s ailing today in matters of making money.” Not accepting defeat, the wise guy told them to listen for only ten minutes. Reluctantly, two couples stood on. “Every third so-called academic genius among you is with spectacles as he suffers from myopia for devouring junk food and hating home dishes and never sweating out in open fields. They imagine that clinging to the age-old culture and tradition would earn them nothing. They have no craving for being with friends to exchange ideas and have a good health-boosting laugh. The virtual world is their habitat. Then, he asked them to name a great patriot. The young people could only name Shahid Bhagat Singh after jointly searching on the google helplessly. Somehow, they were detained forcibly and told a bit of inspiring history: that on July 28, 1921, the Congress decided to boycott the upcoming visit of the Prince of Wales in November as part of the Noncooperation Movement led by Gandhi, started shortly after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
India’s wealth was exported to Britain and local artisans suffered because handmade goods were banned to sell British products. Indian soldiers were angry too for being forced to fight in the First World War, which had nothing to do with India. Farmers were rebellious for being forced to grow cash crops namely tobacco, cotton and indigo instead of food grains and having to pay strange trade taxes despite continuous famine situations.
The students did not go to school run or supported by the British; people left jobs with the police, military and civil services; lawyers left their practice, including stalwarts like CR Das and Motilal Nehru. Educated urban youths were encouraged to join the Charkha programme to encourage the Swadeshi Movement which resulted in the boycott of British cloth. Viceroy lord Reading realised the enormity of the problem but imagined that the intellectuals felt comfortable with the British because they were treated well. All this crippled the government machinery by November 1921. Khilafat leader Hasrat Mohani was furious when the Ali brothers Maulana Mahammad and Shaukat were put in jail for their appeal at the Karachi Khilafat Congress to Muslims to abandon the Army. Gandhi had embarked on a ‘no-revenue’ campaign in Bardoli to tackle the issue of liberties of speech, Press and association. But Gandhi stopped the revolt on February 11, 1922 following the burning alive of 22 policemen by enraged farmers at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
The sad part was that the affluent aristocrats did not surrender their jobs or titles. But the educational boycott was amazingly effective. In Bengal, 20 headmasters and other teachers resigned; and a large number of students left government-aided schools. As a result, a number of national institutions were founded including the Jamia Milia Islamia in Aligarh (later shifted to Delhi) and the Kashi Vidyapith in Varanasi. As many as 422 institutions came up in Bihar and Orissa, 190 in Bengal, 189 in Bombay and 137 in Uttar Pradesh despite the fact that formal certificates were not available for the youth to secure jobs.
The economic boycott was extremely successful as the import value of foreign cloth fell from Rs 102 crore in 1920-21 to Rs 57 crore in 1921-22. Picketing continued and merchants pledged not to indent foreign cloth. But 1921 saw the post-war boom giving way to a recession, especially in Calcutta, where jute mill owners tried to cut back productivity with four-day-a-week work at mills. The revolting workers organised 137 strikes in Bengal, involving 186,479 employees.
Countless Congress workers in Bengal and Madras struck work, but Gandhi opposed the method saying they needed to regulate the relations between capital and labour; and it would be foolish to encourage sympathetic strikes. The Gandhian programme of village development was through the spinning wheel and hand-woven cloth (khadi) at all panchayats, campaigns for Hindu-Muslim unity; and educating society about the ills of alcohol and untouchability greatly inspired the youths.
Panchayats were extremely popular in Bihar and Orissa and the anti-alcohol campaign was welcomed as the lower castes saw an opportunity for getting Sanskritised. In the Punjab, students walked out in mass protest, having been inspired by lala lajpat Rai. In Rajasthan, a unique pattern of the powerful peasant movement had emerged. In the Bombay Presidency, Muslim and Hindu traders and peasants united strongly, particularly in Sindh because of the Khilafat Movement. In Bombay city, great support came from the Gujarati businessmen, professionals and clerks, while the Maharashtrians were still mourning the loss of lokmanya Tilak. In southern India, only Karnataka was unaffected due to the royalty. In the north eastern States, Assam had become active, particularly in the tea garden regions where workers demanded increase in salary only to hurt the British employers. Bengal remained the epicentre of the freedom struggle programme and planning. The Khilafat alliance had worked magic in Bengal too.
The Prince of Wales arrived to be greeted by a countrywide protest against the British rule. The Indian youths had lead in all movements sacrificing self interests. Such was the patriotic spirit then!
The brash young men and women had by now become restless as Facebook and WhatsApp remained closed for twenty minutes. No historical facts inspired or excited them. The park they came to enjoy companionship became hell and they simply disappeared without expressing gratitude for acquiring rare knowledge. So, more ‘July 28 facts’ remained untold: Simla Agreement ratification in 1972 and, more importantly, the declaration of World War I in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Serbian Gavrilo Princip, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
erring Puri temple priests will now have to go. Reforms will be brought in by a Justice-headed commission. It may begin with abolition of their hereditary rights. Their number has grown uncontrollably huge. They may have to take scripture knowledge and behaviour to be appointed as paid employees. Commercial activities outside the temple domain will disqualify them conclusively as their attention would remain focused on private business.
But some State officials, including Ministers, have shamelessly said that the two crore rupees paid to the most despised Daita servitors is absolutely in keeping with norms. Public cries that it is bribe.
People have a right to know on what basis and norm the money from the public exchequer was given to the greedy, unruly servitors.
It seems the lord now desires that crooks are thrown out without delay. The Hindu community is rejoicing that criminal servitors are now being tamed for good.
The court has issued non-baleable warrant against criminal servitors. If they don’t surrender, their most treasured property would be confiscated. Thankfully, the devotees are rejoicing!