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We imagine a freedom fighter as a black-and-white figure about to be thrashed by a hoisted baton, or sprinting away from cops in half-pants, or holding the tricolour and going somewhere. We imagine a freedom fighter as a rebel who challenged the Empire and who now is eligible for pensions and railways discounts.
Yet, a large number of people who are called freedom fighters today probably went to jail for reasons other than waging a noble war against the British. Some old hands say, a considerable number of youth who took part in the picketing were not very different from the great Indian hordes of hooligans one sees today jogging happily in a mass demonstration and waving to the cameras.
Every age has an in-thing and during the pre-independence days freedom struggle was that thing. And the young wallowed in its free entertainment. Many of whom are today 'freedom fighters'. Also, several people who receive the freedom fighters' allowance today played amusingly fringe roles in the massive theatre of rebellion.
Hindi litterateur and a former Maharashtra minister, late Ram Manohar Tripathi used to recall his uncle's contribution to the freedom struggle. The uncle owned a grocery shop in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. During the Quit India Movement when violent protests engulfed the country, some boys wanted to torch the local police station.
Hindi litterateur and a former Maharashtra minister, late Ram Manohar Tripathi used to recall his uncle's contribution to the freedom struggle. The uncle owned a grocery shop in a small town in Uttar Pradesh. During the Quit India Movement when violent protests engulfed the country, some boys wanted to torch the local police station.
Tripathi's uncle refused to join the protestors but loaned a can of kerosene from his shop to the mob. Years later, the same uncle, now much older and slightly bent, walked up Tripathi's first floor home at Kurla in Mumbai, with a request to recommend him for the freedom fighters' pension.
After Independence, the government announced several incentives for freedom fighters. Those who spent more than six months in jail are given Rs 10,001 per month today while those who were imprisoned for less than that period get Rs 4,000 per month. It is no wonder that the number of freedom fighters in the country is magically increasing instead of dwindling with the inevitability of death.
An interesting nature of the list of freedom fighters is the sheer number of women in it, especially from impoverished backgrounds. There is a reason behind this apart from the natural patriotic fervour of many. There was a time in the struggle when 'Jail bharo' was in fashion and many men, especially daily wage workers who didn't want their families to starve, sent their wives instead.
After Independence, the government announced several incentives for freedom fighters. Those who spent more than six months in jail are given Rs 10,001 per month today while those who were imprisoned for less than that period get Rs 4,000 per month. It is no wonder that the number of freedom fighters in the country is magically increasing instead of dwindling with the inevitability of death.
An interesting nature of the list of freedom fighters is the sheer number of women in it, especially from impoverished backgrounds. There is a reason behind this apart from the natural patriotic fervour of many. There was a time in the struggle when 'Jail bharo' was in fashion and many men, especially daily wage workers who didn't want their families to starve, sent their wives instead.
Ahilya Rangnekar, who was deeply immersed in the struggle, remembers meeting many such female prisoners at Yerwada which is now famous for hosting Sanjay Dutt. "Some women told me they were there because they wanted their husbands to remain free and earn," says Rangnekar, a former MP, seated in her modest Matunga house, its plasters now peeling off.
Many were also jailed for "symbolic protest". In the tumultuous days of 1940s, Anand Rai cut a sapling from a reserved forest and duly reported it to the district magistrate. "I wrote to the district magistrate that I had disobeyed a law by cutting a sapling from a reserved forest. A few weeks later, I was arrested," recalls the 84-year-old Rai, a self-styled Gandhian.
Many were also jailed for "symbolic protest". In the tumultuous days of 1940s, Anand Rai cut a sapling from a reserved forest and duly reported it to the district magistrate. "I wrote to the district magistrate that I had disobeyed a law by cutting a sapling from a reserved forest. A few weeks later, I was arrested," recalls the 84-year-old Rai, a self-styled Gandhian.
Rai's journey from home to jail was interesting. A sub-inspector, one Gopalachari, who had arrested Rai proved to be fanatically patriot. After arresting him, Gopalachari kept Rai in an affluent home for a night before transferring him to the coarse bed of prison.
The lives of freedom fighters were not always entirely consumed by the struggle. They knew how to juggle imprisonment and business. Jagatdeo Narayan Verma, who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi from Bihar to Mumbai and never returned home, had a small homespun khadi shop in Matunga. During his imprisonment in Yerawada and elsewhere, his manager would visit him in jail every fortnight with the ledger.
The lives of freedom fighters were not always entirely consumed by the struggle. They knew how to juggle imprisonment and business. Jagatdeo Narayan Verma, who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi from Bihar to Mumbai and never returned home, had a small homespun khadi shop in Matunga. During his imprisonment in Yerawada and elsewhere, his manager would visit him in jail every fortnight with the ledger.
"My father would instruct the manager on how to run the business," says the freedom fighter's son RJ Verma.
Needless to say, a considerable number of surviving freedom fighters went through tremendous agony for the cause. They were tortured and some had to spend days wearing manacles weighing 14 kilograms. Ramesh Kulkarni was 16 when he joined the freedom movement in January 1943. He would sing Vande Matram with older boys in the streets of Dadar in Mumbai.
Needless to say, a considerable number of surviving freedom fighters went through tremendous agony for the cause. They were tortured and some had to spend days wearing manacles weighing 14 kilograms. Ramesh Kulkarni was 16 when he joined the freedom movement in January 1943. He would sing Vande Matram with older boys in the streets of Dadar in Mumbai.
He would also volunteer to distribute bulletins to underground freedom fighters. One night the police picked him up, and before he was pushed into an overcrowded Worli jail, he was detained at a police station evocatively called Shaitan Chowki in Central Mumbai. "The officer thrashed me badly. My limbs ached for days," says 82-year-old Kulkarni, who gets disconsolate today every time a government servant is rude with him.
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