Do or Die : The summer of 1942
Jyoti Khataniar
The summer of 1942 experienced a tremendous wave of unprecedented rebellion all across the country when on the night of August 8, the country went ahead with the execution of the idea of extreme opposition to the British empire. Mahatma Gandhi on that night gave the final mantra to the nation : Do or Die. This mantra electrified the whole nation and the British empire totally failed to understand its deep rooted significance and wider consequences. The then Viceroy of British India, Lord Linlithgow believed only in one solution : to crash this massive uprising with brutal military power. Mahatma Gandhi was equally determined to oppose it with the soul force that he had practiced for a long time since his days in South Africa. Eminent historians like Sumit Sarkar were of the opinion that the summer of 1942 found Gandhiji in a strange and uniquely militant mode. In a press interview that Gandhiji gave on May 16, 1942 the standing was of a determined and fearless statesman when he came with a statement – ” this orderly disciplined anarchy should go, and if as a result there is complete lawlessness I would risk it. ” It is pertinent to note that the idea of lawlessness and a continued form of disorder was the principle reason that the colonial British power often placed before the nation and the world against India’s independence. Lord Linlithgow vehemently opposed India’s every effort towards freedom and took every measure to derail the entire process. The Viceroy even kept a British battleship ready to deport Gandhiji and other prominent leaders of Congress. The do or die message is the result of India’s continuous effort to attain freedom since 1857 which Linlithgow correctly anticipated and analysed. He wrote to Prime minister Winston Churchill that he was facing the most serious rebellion since 1857. Scholars like B.R Nanda come with the view that these comparisons are not quite apt. The Indian soldiers participating in 1857 mutiny ( which was termed as India’s Struggle for Freedom by none other than Karl Marx) had some arms, ammunition and training. With his long years on the Indian soil , Gandhi knew well that the rural population of the country must be included in his last effort to overthrow the British government in a non-violent way. Even today, there are occasions when Indian scholars and politicians use Gandhi’s profound realisation: India lives in villages. The British administration was taken aback when they witnessed unprecedented participation of students from schools and colleges all over the country. The British response under Lord Linlithgow was ruthless which even the British press found difficult to justify. According to official figures, by the end of 1942, over 66,000 persons had been convicted or detained. The imperial military had fired on 538 occasions. The total lives lost were over two thousand. It was a disaster in terms of administrative understanding and handling of the movement for the imperial British power. The official history of India, prepared by the former USSR estimated that during this period 694 labour strikes were held and 772000 labourers took part in them. For the villagers, Gandhi’s message was that peasants would stop paying taxes and refusal to pay taxes would give them the courage to think that they were capable of taking independent action . Their next step would be to seize the land.
Tyagbir Hem Barua ( 1893-1945)wrote a brilliant summary on the role of the Assamese people in the revolution of 1942 . A leading freedom fighter and an efficient organiser of the various phases of the freedom struggle in Assam, Tyagbir compared this movement with the French revolution. In terms of its influence and outreach, as all the leaders of the national congress including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were arrested on August 9, 1942, the movement was virtually a leaderless one. Gandhiji already prepared the ground with individual Satyagraha and urged every Indian to be their own guardian. It is interesting to note that Mahatma drew the inspiration of the most famous slogan of modern Indian history – do or die – from the poet laureate Alfred Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade(1854)”. This famous poem contains these immortal lines: ” Theirs not to make reply,/ Theirs not to reason why,/ Theirs but to do and die./ Into the valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred.” It is important to note that, in order to face the Japanese army, the Allied Forces had made massive preparations on the soil of Assam. Armed forces were fully equipped with numerous guns and bullets which could be easily triggered against the common Assamese people taking part in this movement. Eminent Assamese leaders like Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi, Siddhinath Sarma, Maulana Tayabullah, Bishnuram Medhi, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed , Deveswar Sarma were all arrested. As all the Congress members of the Assam Legislative Assembly were arrested, Sir Syed Muhammad Saadullah KCIE(1885-1955) quickly grabbed this opportunity to form a provincial government. Tyagbir Hem Barua noted that the Saadullah government was instrumental in sabotaging the movement and its role was reactionary. According to him, the torture and the activities of the Saadullah government was a black spot in the history of the province. Kanaklata Baruah was shot dead(September 20, 1942) at Gohpur police station when she went ahead to host the national flag. Mukunda Kakati was also killed in the same incident. It is reported that Muslim gundas ( hooligans) were imported from the Bengal Province to Dhekiajuli Police Station to torture the freedom fighters, especially women taking part in this movement. Similar incidents happened in various places of Tezpur and Nagaon.The heroic tale of Tilak Deka(August 28 ,1942)became a symbol of dedication, integrity and love for his motherland when the British military sergeant shot him point blank. When the villagers approached the dead body of Tilak Deka, the British military fired at the gathering and six innocent lives were lost. However, this brutal firing could not deter the public from performing Tilak’s last rite that very night. The next day, around 300 people were arrested and all of them were tortured.
Two incidents of 1942 are still remembered. One is the killing of Bhogeshwari Phukanani , the grand old lady of the Assamese freedom struggle who was killed by the British at Barhampur. The British military indiscriminately fired at the public who went ahead to protect Bhogeshwari Phukanani and another young lady named Ratnamala. As a result, Lakhmiram Hazarika, Thagiram Sut and Bolu Sut were killed. Lakhmi Hazarika with blood and bullet in his chest and just before his death took out 1 anna and 6 paisa , his only savings , from his pocket and gave it to his comrades to spend for the country. Tyagbir Hem Barua commented that with his blood and coins , he glorified the entire freedom struggle.