Roland, that was a great post on the Salt March. Gandhi actually walked all the way there, at his age, gathering followers along the way.
There is a Dandi website. I’ll read your post in detail tonight. I’m at a coffee shop, Saturday tea time, ‘chilling out’ ! 😂 ☕️= with cream. > On Apr 2, 2022, at 16:01, Roland Francis <[email protected]> wrote: > > Gandhi’s Salt March of Dandi in Gujarat, was the beginning of the struggle > for India’s independence. > > Today his great-grandson on the Old Bombay FB group, tells of some family > memories of events that followed. > > Tushar Gandhi writes: > > “These two incidents don’t have a direct connection to my ancestors except > for the fact that they happened due to the call given by my great > grandfather, Bapu and my grand uncle Devadas who were imprisoned in Gujarat > and in the Punjab during the Salt Satyagraha. Both the incidents I am going > to narrate are from the Salt Satyagraha. > > The first one happened in Bombay. There was a government Salt Depot at > Wadala. The Bombay Congress served notice to the Colonial Government that on > a certain date at a mentioned time they would raid the depot and liberate > salt. The Government had decided to crush the uprising. And so they prepared > well a huge posse of armed police were stationed at Wadala to protect the > Depot. > > At the given time the Congress workers assembled outside the Salt Depot. It > was a very disciplined group of Satyagrahis. This incident is recorded in the > history of the Congress which assembled a nation wide report of statements of > witnesses reporting the brutality of the colonial government. This incident > was recorded from a statement given by an eye witness, a youth who observed > the Satyagraha. > > ‘At the appointed time the Satyagrahis formed ranks and marched towards the > gate of the Salt Depot. They were confronted by ranks of heavily armed > police lead by senior officers mounted on horse back. The police officers > warned the Satyagrahis to stop and disperse. No one paid any heed to the > warning. > > In the first rank of Satyagrahis was a middle aged Sikh man. He was of medium > height and slight of build. As he marched towards the gate he was confronted > by a young British policeman who shouted at the man to stop, the Sikh man > ignored the warning and walked on. The officer showed hard and pushed the > Sikh man who stumbled but regained his balance and took two more steps > towards the gate. This time the officer hit him with his baton, a hard blow > that glanced off his head and struck him on his shoulder. > > The Sikh Satyagrahi staggered and fell to his knees. After a few attempts he > staggered to his feet and stumbled back on to his feet and took a couple of > more steps. > > This time the officer hit him brutally on top his head from behind. The > man’s turban came off and there was a thud as the Baton crashed on to the > man’s head. It sounded as if the bone had cracked. The Sikh man collapsed and > lay motionless on the ground. It felt as if he had succumbed, he lay > motionless. After five minutes he twitched. It was the first sign he had > survived then he made attempts to stand up but three or four times he tried > and collapsed. Finally after several attempts he managed to stand on his > feet. Without bothering about the police or about his injuries he staggered > on towards the gate. > > The young British policeman stood shocked with surprise watching the man > stagger on. His officer shouted at the policeman “Stop him!” The policeman > turned to his superior and said, “I have beaten this man with all my > strength, yet he ignores me and his injuries. I don’t know what I can do > more to him.” The report ends here. No one knows the identity of the heroic > Sikh Satyagrahi or of the eye witness who reported the incident. > > The raid on the Wadala Salt Depot did happen. A plaque commemorating the > Satyagraha was installed on the wall of the Depot. But then Bombay turned > into Mumbai and forgot it’s history. The depot disappeared and then the > plaque disappeared too. > > Now not many Mumbaikars remember Bombays heroic participation in the Salt > Satyagraha. The Sikh Satyagrahi also vanished into oblivion. In a non violent > battle too the foot soldiers make sacrifices and the generals get the credit. > > The second incident happened in Quetta, now in Pakistan. The Pakhtuns, most > of them Khudai Khidmatgars, followers of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan decided to > perform a satyagraha in the Town Centre. A day before the Satyagraha, police > arrested Khan Saheb. On the appointed afternoon Pakhtun followers of Khanbaba > began congregating in the town centre opposite the police headquarters. > > The District police Chief had ordered that the Satyagrahis were to be > dispersed using any and all means. So the station commandant got a machine > gun mounted on the roof of the headquarters. Hundreds of Pakhtun Khodai > Khidmatgar followers of Khan Baba gathered in the square opposite the police > headquarters. It is reported that a platoon of police men out on a patrol > were returning to the head quarters when their jeep stalled in the midst of > the Satyagrahis. > > The policemen panicked and started firing to disperse the Satyagrahis. This > spooked the commandant and he ordered the the Machine Gunner to strafe the > mob. By the time better sense prevailed and the machine gun fell silent the > square was littered with the dead. A hundred plus people were killed that > afternoon in the town square. > > This was one of the biggest massacres during the Salt Satyagraha. A fact > finding mission of the Congress conducted an inquiry and filed its report. > One sentence of that report is chilling. It describes the condition of the > dead. All those who died were inspected and their injuries noted. The report > states that all the bullet wounds were in the chests of the dead. None on > their backs. It means as the bullets started flying the Pakhtuns stood their > ground. None turned around and fled. This requires unparalleled courage and > determination. > > After I read these two reports many a times I have questioned myself whether > I would have been able to behave as courageously and as fearlessly as the men > in these reports. They were heroes and martyrs an ungrateful nation forgot. > Next time someone tells you the British gave us our independence easily, tell > them we got it due to the sacrifices of so many forgotten heroes and martyrs > who paid for it with their blood.” > > Roland. > Toronto. > >
