Context around India and Independence
Any freedom movement would have taken to arms. Yet determined, courageous and visionary Indians thought outside the box and achieved independence through nonviolence and non-cooperation means. This unthinkable view at a time of high tension that separated India’ s independence movement is unique amongst any other struggle for independence seen around the world. It exemplified to the world that India can offer alternative approaches.
It has to be recognised that India’ s independence came at a price – the partitioning of the country on religious grounds that turned the lives of millions of people upside down. It was the world’ s biggest man-made human migration across the line of partition.
India, as we know it today, established itself as the Republic of India when the Constitution of India came into force on 26th January 1950.
REMEMBRANCES OF INDIA’ S INDEPENDENCE BY PRAJAPATIS
So many people had participated in the struggle for independence of India in one form or another. So how have the members of the Prajapati community been involved in this struggle? Did any of our members participate in or witness Gandhiji’ s famous salt march, non-violence and civil resistance, meet any freedom fighters, attend political meetings of those times, and so on?
Yes, I am going back to 70 years ago or more. Our community members who might have taken part at that time may not be present any more, but their children or grandchildren or relatives might be somewhere. They might have some knowledge- verbal, photographic, written- about such participation.
In trying to obtain such information, I was fortunate to get in contact with some members of our community who have provided information and experiences which I would like to share with you. I am very grateful to all of them.
I hope their experiences will inspire us and our younger generation.
Shri Balubhai Vallabhbhai Lad
Shri Balubhai is the President of Navsari Ashram, India. He was born in 1933 in Jalalpore. I have taken the gist of his recollections of those days as under.
Many Prajapati and Koli community members lived with Gandhiji in South Africa and followed what he said. Gandhiji was well-versed about the surrendering spirit of all these people. He got much support from the local people when he started salt Satyagraha in Dandi and Dharashana in South Gujarat. The British government did“ lathi charge” and a lot of people were beaten up badly about which Balubhai says,“ Being a resident of Jalalpore, I have seen Satyagrahi prisoners being tortured in the police station in front of my school.”
Balubhai was studying in the fifth standard at that time. He sang patriotic songs, practised lathi techniques in Sevadal, took training in self-defence, and learnt self-reliance lessons. In his own words,“ On the Independence Day( 15th August 1947) at 12 mid-night, we hosted the Indian flag in our street, and as such our street was named‘ Zanda Chowk’, which is still addressed today as‘ Zanda Chowk, Jalalpore’.”
During the Haripura Conference there was an unprecedented procession in which numerous bull-carts were there, and people participated very enthusiastically. The elder brother of Balubhai, who was 14 years older than him, went on a bicycle and participated in the Conference which was presided by Subhashchandra.
At that time, the Swaraj Ashram was set up for the freedom struggle in Bardoli village. The farmers in Bardoli Taluka vacated their homes and stayed with their live stocks on the land owned by them. The farmers stopped giving revenue to the government and totally boycotted the British. In an English newspaper, an article on India’ s freedom struggle to spread all over India was published under the title of“ Bardolise India” i. e. to spread as per Bardoli’ s fight across the country.
vol. 42 | Prajapati Sandesh 2017 49