Armed Revolutionary Movement 1857-1947

Abhi_G · Post by **Abhi_G** » 09 Oct 2014 18:19

Surya Sen and the Chattagram (Chittagong) Rebellion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Sen

Btw Jatindranath Das is not Baghajatin. Das was Bhagat Singh's compatriot who died in Lahore jail by fasting continuously for 63 days. Bhagat Singh and others were also part of the protest hunger strike.

Bhagat Singh's compatriot Batukeshwar Dutta was from Barddhaman in Bengal. While Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukdev sang Vande Mataram and went to the gallows, Batukeshwar was imprisoned in the Cellular jail. He was freed after serving his term but died in penury in independent India. I have heard that he expired in Kanpur where he had settled.

He was cremated where his 3 compatriots (Bhagat,Rajguru,Sukdev) were cremated in Ferozepur (as per wiki) in Punjab. My shata koti pranaam to these revolutionaries who had given their youth, blood, flesh and bones for the motherland. My throat chokes when I remind myself about them....

Bagha Jatin was Jatindranath Mukherjee who was associated with the Indo-German conspiracy case and fought and died during a gun battle in Balasore. It was part of the great Ghadar rebellion.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 14 Oct 2014 03:49

Interesting factoid : Masaryk - the Czech so-called "patriot/founder" who passed on Voska's intel on Bagha Jatin's plans to the US gov, and which US gov then immediately shared it with their rascal Brit friends - was a "Unitarian" Christian by religion. There we have it again: Charles Andrews touched base with Gandhi in SA, was a "Unitarian". Kallenbach was a Unitarian. The first founding meeting of the Tagorean "Brahmo-samaj" at initiative of Dwarkanath was under the presence of a "unitarian" missionary. It was Dwarkanaths association that converted itself into INC.

Can someone put the connections with unitarians - (further connection back to this radical stream within Anglican Protestantism, and its deep connections to British state politics) with Indian "revolution/controlled-release-anger" dynamic?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Oct 2014 11:04

in massa the lutherans and unitarians are the highest earning and educated segment of the christians, even higher than the jews and hindus. so there must be a lot of them among the wealthy and educated elites on both coasts.

Ardeshir · Post by **Ardeshir** » 16 Oct 2014 19:29

A personal narrative of the siege of Lucknow from its commencement to its relief
An eBook, albeit from a gora perspective about the events of 1857, especially in Lucknow.

devesh · Post by **devesh** » 18 Oct 2014 14:40

brihaspati wrote:Interesting factoid : Masaryk - the Czech so-called "patriot/founder" who passed on Voska's intel on Bagha Jatin's plans to the US gov, and which US gov then immediately shared it with their rascal Brit friends - was a "Unitarian" Christian by religion. There we have it again: Charles Andrews touched base with Gandhi in SA, was a "Unitarian". Kallenbach was a Unitarian. The first founding meeting of the Tagorean "Brahmo-samaj" at initiative of Dwarkanath was under the presence of a "unitarian" missionary. It was Dwarkanaths association that converted itself into INC.

Can someone put the connections with unitarians - (further connection back to this radical stream within Anglican Protestantism, and its deep connections to British state politics) with Indian "revolution/controlled-release-anger" dynamic?

accidentally met an old school friend from Delhi recently. a Punjabi Hindu. he says he's a "unitarian Christian" now. even has the "like" and "follow" on Facebook. not sure if entire family converted or just him. goes to a famous law college in Delhi.

the Masaryk you speak of: wasn't he also involved in the march across Russia of the Czech-35000 men? did he ever come into direct contact with the Bolsheviks? the 35000 lost their will quickly. only some of them returned home, I think.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Nov 2014 20:51

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/141104/c ... -old-files

Spies, lies and old files
DC | V. Balachandran | November 04, 2014, 02.11 am IST

"He was also concerned with the Indian Legion, composed of Indian prisoners of war, which in 1944 was absorbed by the SS," an archive release said in a statement. Arathil Candeth Narayan Nambiar was arrested in Austria in June 1945 and interrogated as a Nazi collaborator. (Archive photo: rediff.com)

British journalist and author Philip Knightly had said that spying is the world’s second oldest profession. Although we detest intelligence agencies, we lap up anything written on spies even if the stories are a century old.

Hence it is not surprising that our media had given wide publicity when the British National Archives recently released some old intelligence files on the late A.C.N. Nambiar.

Most of these files are prior to the Second World War when he was residing in Europe as a journalist. He was also our ambassador to West Germany in the early 1950s. During our freedom struggle he was a close associate of Jawaharlal Nehru and also of Netaji Subhas Bose.

Some of our correspondents went overboard by calling him a “shadowy figure” and a “Soviet agent”, although the files only spoke of him being under surveillance in the category of “Soviet Intelligence Agents and suspected agents”.

All intelligence agencies and police organisations keep their watch lists under different categories for easy retrieval. Our media should realise that a name occurring in a list does not confirm that he was an agent.

Actually several intelligence files on activities of Bose and Nambiar while in Berlin were released long ago by the British archives. Some of the newly released files are repetitions.

The current files give details of Nambiar’s interrogation after his arrest in 1945 when he was kept in the custody of the Allied forces for six months. Nothing would have prevented the British agencies from prosecuting him had they found any evidence against him for being a Soviet spy.

The two trials against Ghadr (“Revolt”) Party activists in Chicago and San Francisco courts (1917-1918) were initiated by British intelligence.

Also, there would have been no need for the Soviets to utilise a Berlin-based Indian correspondent to pry into the secrets of the British Empire when he had no direct access to official British government papers.

Christopher Andrew, who wrote the official history of MI-5 (The Defence of the Realm), had said that the Soviet intelligence agencies were far more successful in penetrating into British secrets in the 1930s than vice versa.

He says that this success was because of “Whitehall’s still primitive grasp of protective security”. He says that the Rome embassy was leaking like a sieve. Nearly 100 British high grade documents were copied and sent to Moscow in 1935 by the Soviet intelligence by subverting a local chancery servant who was a favourite of the ambassador.

The reason why Nambiar was kept under watch was different. During that era, Communism was the biggest danger for British politicians and intelligence services. They were quite comfortable with Fascism and Nazism.

Benito Mussolini, who founded Il Popolo d’Italia newspaper, was recruited in 1917 by Samuel Hoare, then in charge of the Rome station for keeping Italy on the Allied side in the First World War.

Mussolini was paid £100 a week, “then a considerable sum”. Even Winston Churchill called him a “Saviour of his country”. Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister, sent Mussolini friendly letters even while he was destroying the Italian Socialist Party.

The same attitude prevailed towards Hitler. In the late 1930s, MI-5 had raised an excellent source in the German embassy in London. He was Wolfgang zu Pulitz, an aristocrat-diplomat whose family had owned the castle at Pulitz.

He had told MI-5 that Hitler would have lost the initiative, had UK stood firm at Munich. Instead the appeasement had made him feel that Britain was a decadent power. Home secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, who had by then become Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain’s closet foreign policy adviser, reacted quite adversely when Pulitz’s intelligence was conveyed to him.

He told his constituents on March 10, 1939, that “appeasement” would usher in a “Golden Age”. Five days later, Hitler annexed Bohemia and Moravia after occupying Prague.

The British intelligence leadership also displayed similar attitude. Christopher Andrew says that till 1933 MI-5 paid no attention to the Nazi threat.

After the Reichstag Fire incident (February 27, 1933) in which Nambiar and other pro-Communists were arrested, the Nazis sent word to MI-5 claiming that they had seized solid documents proving the Comintern’s conspiracy against the West.

Guy Liddel, senior MI-5 officer visited Berlin in March 1933 to peruse these documents, which turned out to be worthless, and to start intelligence liaison with the “German Political Police”.

That was a week after the Nazis had opened the brutal Dachau concentration camp. Andrew accused Liddel of underrating the Nazi threat and overestimating the Communist menace.

Nambiar’s brother-in-law, Viren Chattopadhyaya (brother of Sarojini Naidu), who had moved to Berlin from London, was already in the crosshairs of British intelligence since 1909 as he had defended Sir William Curzon Wyllie’s assassination by Madanlal Dhingra.

{Somerset Maugham in his Ashenden series of short stories writes about British attempts at suborning Chatto!!!}

In Berlin he set up the “Indian Committee” for freedom struggle. But two Indians in the Committee, Harish Chandra and Jasraj Singhji Sisodia, betrayed him by giving intelligence to MI-5 on their attempts to subvert the loyalty of Indian PoWs in Germany.

They also revealed that the King of Afghanistan was trying to organise a jihad against the British Raj. These two also gave intelligence to MI-5 on the Ghadr movement which resulted in pursuing two court cases in America.

{Peter Hopkirik wrote a book on this incident of raising a jihad against British Raj.}

The suspicion on Nambiar was confirmed when he simulated his brother-in-law by setting up the “Indian Information Bureau” in 1927 in Berlin, as desired by Jawaharlal Nehru to guide the Indian students.

From 1942 onwards he was in charge of the Free India Office opened by Bose. An additional reason for watching Nambiar was his close association with the “League Against Imperialism” in which Viren was actively involved.

The 1927 Anti-Colonial Congress in Brussels where Nehru spoke was organised by them. The Germans had told Guy Liddel that this was a “front organisation” of the Comintern, created to stir up trouble in all colonies. In those days anyone sympathetic to Communism was suspected to be a Soviet spy.

The writer is a former special secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and member of the two-man 26/11 enquiry committee

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 10 Nov 2014 17:02

Ardeshir wrote:An eBook, albeit from a gora perspective about the events of 1857, especially in Lucknow.

Is'nt it here that the Bibi Ghar massacre happened? I have read the British version of the event. Of the "Natives" killing women and children and dumping them in a well. This event, I guess drastically increased the ruthlessness with which the British retaliated. But are there any Indian version of the event?

dipak · Post by **dipak** » 12 Nov 2014 17:42

Baba Prithvi Singh Azad

There is no wiki link in his name.

However, I read a book on Baba Prithvi Singh Azad long back ...in my teens.
Had a tremendous impact on me.

Worth a read, if you are able to lay your hands on it.

He was settled in Canada, and already very old in 1890's. Was on a ship which was hired to carry the revolutionaries from Canada to India. He had his own style and contribution to the Indian freedom struggle. I remember, in the book, at one point of time, he wrote letters to Mahatma Gandhi and disagreed on some of his principles. MKG could not give any satisfactory reply to his arguments.

He was awarded Padma Bhushana later.

His name should also be included in the forgotten nationalist revolutionaries, IMO.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 15 Nov 2014 09:40

Sachin wrote:
Ardeshir wrote:An eBook, albeit from a gora perspective about the events of 1857, especially in Lucknow.
Is'nt it here that the Bibi Ghar massacre happened? I have read the British version of the event. Of the "Natives" killing women and children and dumping them in a well. This event, I guess drastically increased the ruthlessness with which the British retaliated. But are there any Indian version of the event?

No, the Bibi Ghar incident happened in Cawnpore now Kanpur. The well was in Company Bagh( after that famous MNC, John Company) in Kanpur. Company Bagh is now called Nana Rao Peshwa Park. Lucknow was known for the Defence of the Residency. After the events at Lucknow, the Union Jack flew over the Residency 24x7x365, till Aug 15, 1947. When the British departed, they cut the flagpole down to it's base so that no other flag would ever fly over the Residency from that pole. You can still see the remains of the base, all rusty now.
The well in Kanpur was sealed up and an avenging angel statue put over it. The statue was the work of one Baron Marochetti an Italian gent and inspired by a design of the Vicereine, Lady Canning. The angel statue and the memorial plaque is now in All Soul's Church in Kanpur Cantt. which is opposite the Cawnpore Club( aka the Burra Sahib club analogous to the Secbad or Bangalore club with which I am sure it has reciprocatory rights). Supposedly according to the British this massacre occured due to the orders of Nana Rao Peshwa. You may want to read a fictional account by Manohar Malgaonkar called The Devil's Wind, which is a fictionalized account from Nana Rao's perspective of the events of Kanpur, and in this novel written in the first person as if by Nana Rao, the Peshwa blames the massacre to one Begum who had some axe to grind with the Brits. Malgaonkar claims his grandfather was a Divan of Scindia(Shinde) and so had access to many documents about Nana Rao Peshwa and his ultimate fate.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 15 Nov 2014 09:43

Another famous incident is the Chapekar brothers incident and the Plague laws and quarantine laws imposed by the British during the 3rd plague pandemic in 1897. The Chapekar brothers assassinated the British official in Pune who was looking after the quarantine laws and because of the highhandedness of the authorities in enforcing the laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapekar_brothers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22_June_1897

svenkat · Post by **svenkat** » 15 Nov 2014 21:40

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanchinathan

Vanchinathan was born in 1886 in Shenkottai to Raghupathy Iyer and Rukmani Ammal. His actual name was Shankaran. He did his schooling in Shenkottai and graduated in M.A. from Moolam Thirunal Maharaja College in Thiruvananthapuram. Even while in college, he married Ponnammal and got into a lucrative Travancore Government job.

On June 17, 1911, Vanchi who was just 25 assassinated Ashe, the district collector of Tirunelveli, who was also known as Collector Dorai. He shot Ashe at point-blank range when Ashe's train had stopped at the Maniyachi station, en route to Madras.[1] He committed suicide thereafter. The railway station has since been renamed Vanchi Maniyachi.

Ashe was instrumental in working against the Swadeshi shipping company started by freedom fighter VO Chidambaram Pillai. On that day,

The mlechas of England having captured our country, tread over the sanathana dharma of the Hindus and destroy them. Every Indian is trying to drive out the English and get swarajyam and restore sanathana dharma. Our Raman, Sivaji, Krishnan, Guru Govindan, Arjuna ruled our land protecting all dharmas and in this land they are making arrangements to crown George V, a mlecha, and one who eats the flesh of cows. Three thousand Madrasees have taken a vow to kill George V as soon as he lands in our country. In order to make others know our intention, I who am the least in the company, have done this deed this day. This is what everyone in Hindustan should consider it as his duty.

Vanchi was a close collaborator of Varahaneri Venkatesa Subrahmanya Iyer (normally shortened to V.V.S.Aiyar or Va.Ve.Su Iyer), another freedom fighter who sought arms to defeat the British. He trained Vanchinathan to execute the plan in all perfection.[4] They belonged to Bharatha matha Association.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 15 Nov 2014 23:51

One must also list Veerapandiya Kattaboman, a Polygar( British pronunciation) or Palaigar after whom is named the IN establishment INS Kattaboman, which is the VLF facility to communicate with submarines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerapandiya_Kattabomman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Kattabomman

This is not armed but there was some exhortation to arms in his poems, Subramanya Bharati:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramania_Bharati

His death was tragic as he was gored by a temple elephant who he used to feed regularly.

rkirankr · Post by **rkirankr** » 22 Nov 2014 18:12

Sangolli Rayanna

abhischekcc · Post by **abhischekcc** » 25 Nov 2014 16:13

brihaspati wrote:Interesting factoid : Masaryk - the Czech so-called "patriot/founder" who passed on Voska's intel on Bagha Jatin's plans to the US gov, and which US gov then immediately shared it with their rascal Brit friends - was a "Unitarian" Christian by religion. There we have it again: Charles Andrews touched base with Gandhi in SA, was a "Unitarian". Kallenbach was a Unitarian. The first founding meeting of the Tagorean "Brahmo-samaj" at initiative of Dwarkanath was under the presence of a "unitarian" missionary. It was Dwarkanaths association that converted itself into INC.

Can someone put the connections with unitarians - (further connection back to this radical stream within Anglican Protestantism, and its deep connections to British state politics) with Indian "revolution/controlled-release-anger" dynamic?

Churchill was Anglican

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Nov 2014 03:52

Did Bji mention Churchill in his post?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Dec 2014 09:01

AIR tweeted about Khudiram Bose whose birthday it is today.

Only 18 years old.

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 20 Dec 2014 05:29

The statement by ML Dhingra is outstanding and inspiring. He made a very good point that the Brutish people would not do anything different than what he did. The Brutish had no response to him.

Sadly, the so-called father of Indian nation, Gandhi, had not the intellectual and moral courage to comprehend this simple thing. It is shocking. It is shameful.

member_19686 · Post by **member_19686** » 31 Dec 2014 19:38

An interview with Prithwin Mukherjee the grandson of Bagha Jatin where he discusses the contribution of the non Gandhian leaders for Indian freedom & recalls interesting anecdotes of his grandfather.

http://www.theundercurrent.ca/canada2A.htm

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 05 Jan 2015 23:28

Great link. I enjoyed reading it.

Interesting and very accurate description of the Cult of the British Empire:
"“It takes a great mind to appreciate a great empire.” Flabbergasted by the cult of the British Empire."

The cult is well and active, with a gigantic library of books it is hard to get past it.

Then there sit he cult of the Mahatma. Interesting point, "Those who are recognized and rewarded had been supposedly by the side of Gandhiji, no matter whether they fought for the country or not." The prapagandhi cult is all active (I did not coin the propagandhi word, I read it somewhere.).

Finally, a very interesting choice of words: " ... mere regional personification ...". INC Propagandhi has converted all the real fighters that they don't approve to be only regional heroes. Then set them up in other regions as competitors or so that other regions look upon this with both suspicion and competition for their own heroes, who are also put int he regional bracket. So it is regionalize the real fighters, but make the Gandhians the Pan-Indian or Pan-world heroes. I had made this point earlier in one of the threads.

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 06 Jan 2015 12:49

The Kakori Conspiracy case suddenly came to mind today. After Chari Chaura( burning of the police station) Gandhi stopped his Non-cooperation movement. This disillusioned several young men and some took it upon themselves to rob the British treasury etc. One such incident was carried out at Kakori station now a suburb of Lucknow, famous for its kebabs and mangoes ( Dussehri growing area Malihabad is the next station I believe towards Sitapur) etc. The Lucknow-Saharanpur passenger was stopped and the treasury being transported was looted. The principal people involved belonged to the Hindustan Republican Party and were rounded up and hanged. Madan Mohan Malviya who got the Bharat Ratna interceded on behalf of the perpetrators but clemency and commutation of the sentences to life was denied at the highest level of the King Emperor. Many mounted the gallows, Ram Prasad "Bismil", Asfaqullah Khan, and others. Asfaqullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil conceived the plan to rob the train. They also took part in the robbery along with Chandrashekhar Azad and others. Azad was cornered in a park in Allahabad a few years later and killed himself. For some strange reason trucks in UP in the 60's and 70's used to have garish picture of Azad painted on them making his moustache pointy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakori_conspiracy

surinder · Post by **surinder** » 06 Jan 2015 21:02

We should not be referring to the Kakori incident as "Loot" or "Robbery". It was an act of Freedom fight, where the brave Indians were (a) getting their treasures back from the looters, the Brutish, and (b) hurting the cruel, exploitative regime by depriving it of resources and security.

It is great that Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya spoke on behalf of the revolutionaries. What did our Mahatma and Chacha and the Iron Man do?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Jan 2015 06:25

We should learn to refuse to use repugnant words to describe the freedom fighters.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 29 Jan 2015 20:54

Work on Kalianwala Khu memorial to kick off at Ajnala gurdwara today

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab ... 35302.html

Eleven months after the mortal remains of martyrs of the 1857 uprising were excavated from the Kalianwala Khu, a historic well in Ajnala, the Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj Committee will kick off the work on a memorial at the site from tomorrow.

Committee president Amarjit Singh Sarkaria said, "We have decided to start work on the memorial after waiting for the government to provide us land for it. The memorial will be built at the same spot where the historic well is located."

He said the historic well was getting damaged with time and they could not afford to wait anymore for the government to chip in. He said they would preserve the historic well in its current form. Stairs would be constructed so that visitors could also see it deep inside. Articles recovered from the well would be showcased alongside the mortal remains of the martyrs.

He said the state government had announced to provide land for the memorial near the historic site, but nothing had materialised so far. He said they had not invited any political leader or administration officials for the event.

"We've simply placed an advertisement in the newspaper, inviting all to be a part of this historic moment," he added. According to him, all organisations associated with the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Committee, Jalandhar, will participate in the event.

The mortal remains of martyrs were dug out by the gurdwara committee with the help of local researcher Surinder Kochhar in February last year. A gurdwara was located over the historic well. It was shifted to a new location on the same premises before starting excavation.

Later, the state government set up a committee to probe into all aspects of the incident as there were different versions about it. The panel was entrusted with the responsibility of establishing facts and building a consensus before proceeding further about raising a memorial at the historic site. The state government also initiated efforts to establish identity of the martyrs. However, nothing came out of it.

Around 90 skulls, 170 jaws, 26 skeletons and more than 5,000 teeth were recovered from the well. Apart from it, 70 Re 1 coins of the East India Company dating back to 1830-40, two British medals, gold beads, three gold amulets, four rings, four bangles, a few bullets and other articles were also found from the well.

A slice of history
According to gurdwara committee members, around 500 soldiers raised the banner of revolt at Mian Mir Cantonment in Lahore as part of the 1857 uprising. They swam across the Ravi to reach Ajnala. Out of them, 218 were killed by the British at Dadian Sofian village near here, while the remaining 282 were incarcerated in a cage-like room where many of them died of asphyxiation. Following orders from the then British Deputy Commissioner, Fredrick Cooper, the remaining were shot dead and their bodies thrown into a well that later came to be known as "Kalianwala Khu" as the British used to call Indians "kale" (black).

Abhi_G · Post by **Abhi_G** » 01 Feb 2015 22:49

Can someone comment on Lala Hardayal's book "Hints of Self-Culture"? I am interested in reading that book but wanted to have an overview first from anyone who has read it.
Thanks.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 02 Feb 2015 19:11

Abhi_G
Check the comments of people who have read this book below

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/154 ... lf_Culture

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 24 Feb 2015 19:19

Reading sev. bks simultaneously,one excellent book on the Raj and the small brigade of Brit. civil servants who suffered much hardship in India in administering the country.So many millions (300M+) ruled by so few.The interesting part is the intense war between Brits, themselves ,mostly played out in London,those who wanted the empire to flourish and those with "noble intentions" who wanted to "educate the natives",so that they would ultimately rule themselves independently! Even Macaulay realized that his ed. system would in time produce natives who would ultimately achieve freedom thanks to the enlightenment of education. The "empire" was bound to fall in time.

The system of administration, Gov-Generals,later Viceroys,down to Dt. Officers (Collectors) ,who actually had immense power to wield social change in the rural heartland of India,well described. The transition from John co. to Raj rule ,an inevitability, examined,with Queen Victoria's great love for her Indian subjects.Her famous "Munshi" was more powerful than the British PM! The establishment hated him,tried every trick in the book to denigrate him only to come a cropper.The Empress would not hear of any criticism of him. Some quotes later on.
by so few"!

The "mutiny" well examined,with some revelations, that native troops "did not" rape English women,a canard spread by some ,which resulted in large atrocities committed by Brit troops when they recovered and captured rebels.

To paraphrase Churchill,it is a mystery that "so many were ruled over by so few"!

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 02 Mar 2015 14:28

Komaram Bheem

Komaram Bheem (Telugu:కొమరం భీం 22 October 1901–08 October 1940) was a tribal leader who fought against the Asaf Jahi Dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad.[2] Komaram Bheem openly fought against the ruling Nizam government in a guerrilla campaign. He defied courts, laws, and any other form of Nizam authority, living off the sustenance of the forest. He took up arms against Nizam Nawab's soldiers, and fought Babi Jhari until his last breath

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 02 Mar 2015 14:36

Kanneganti Hanumanthu

Kaneganti Hanumanthu was a freedom fighter who rebelled against British Rule[clarification needed] and spearheaded the Palnadu Rebellion against tax. He was executed by the British General Rutherford.[citation needed] He was born in Minchalapadu in the Durgi mandal which is in Palnadu in Guntur district. A local peasant leader, he refused to pay British taxes and participated in a revolt over the issue. He was killed while resisting British police forces at the age of 30. The following rebellion cry is attributed to Hanumanthu:

Neeru pettava, Natu vesava Kota kosava, Kuppa nurchava Endhuku kattali ra sisthu?

Translation: Have you ever irrigated the land, or plant a seed in your life? Ever harvested or trashed a field? Why would I pay you any tax for what is mine?

Knowledgeable gurus, kindly help by improving the Wikipedia page.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 02 Mar 2015 14:41

Any Charles Dickens fans out there?

Charles Dickens, like many of his English and British contemporaries, was a genocidal racist. Thus Charles Dickens in a letter to Emile de la Rue on 23 October 1857 about the so-called Indian Mutiny of 1857 : “I wish I were Commander in Chief over there [ India ]! I would address that Oriental character which must be powerfully spoken to, in something like the following placard, which should be vigorously translated into all native dialects, “I, The Inimitable, holding this office of mine, and firmly believing that I hold it by the permission of Heaven and not by the appointment of Satan, have the honor to inform you Hindoo gentry that it is my intention, with all possible avoidance of unnecessary cruelty and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to exterminate the Race from the face of the earth, which disfigured the earth with the late abominable atrocities [2,000 British killed in the 1857 Indian War of Independence aka the 1857 Indian Mutiny] (see Grace Moore (2004), “Dickens and the Empire. Discourses of class, race, and colonialism in the works of Charles Dickens” (Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot , UK ): http://www.amazon.com/Dickens-Empire-Di ... 0754634124 ).

Let's never have any illusions whatsoever about the UKstani white pakis.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 12 Mar 2015 07:27

Ajit Doval and Subramanian Swamy talk about INA and Subhash Chandra Bose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKpl7v_c-Qo

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 12 Mar 2015 17:37

Apologies if posted earlier.

an interesting article that shows that Indians continued the fight even after 1857 and it took enormous effort by the British to snuff out the rebellion.

India's secret history: 'A holocaust, one where millions disappeared...'

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 17 Mar 2015 23:12

http://www.bhagatsinghthind.com/hindooalley.html

From India to Hindoo Alley, Oregon
After graduating from Khalsa College in Amritsar, Punjab and encouragement from his father, Bhagat Singh Thind left India for Manila, Philippines on March 5, 1912 as a US Protectorate at the age of 19 years. He remained in Manila for nine months working for five dollars a day before resuming his journey aboard the vessel "Minnesota" to America. He arrived at Seattle, Washington on July 4, 1913.

Life at Hindoo Alley
From Seattle, Dr. Thind worked at several lumber mills. He eventually found his way, along with other Sikhs to Astoria, Oregon in area known as Alderbrook. Because of the high concentration of East Indians there, Alderbrook was known as "Hindoo Alley".

There was a central cookhouse where the workers ate Indian food. Most men were single, and on regular occasions sent their earnings back to their families in India. The Astoria community considered the Hindus "vastly interesting and peaceful." However, most Indians kept to themselves and did not mix with the citizens. During their free time the Indians would hold wrestling bouts in Rosenberg Hall, which was located in central Astoria.

Dr. Thind lived at 2564-½ Birch Street, which was adjacent to the mills. There were 12 bunkhouses along the waterfront between 51st and 52nd Streets on Birch where the most of the Hindus lived. Dr. Thind lived with 3 other workers, as was the custom to having four men per house. (See illustrations below).

On April 23, 1913, some patriotic and enlightened Indians held a meeting in Astoria with the objective to liberate India, with the force of arms, from British colonialism. This group would eventually be known as Gadar.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 26 Mar 2015 22:42

http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/26spec2.htm

The forgotten spy

August 26, 2005 14:13 IST

As one enters the house of Saraswathy Rajamani, one is struck by the number of photographs of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. They are everywhere, on the wall, on the table, inside the cabinet. For someone like her, it is quite understandable -- because not everyone spends her teenage years working for Netaji or for the Indian National Army -- that too as a spy.

After spending her growing years fighting courageously, often risking her own life, Saraswathy lives a lonely life of neglect and penury.

Till recently she had been living in a small, dilapidated, rented room. Thanks to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, she has a house now, albeit an old one in a colony.

Her sad story that appeared in a newspaper caught the chief minister's attention, and she was immediately allotted a house and a grant. However, it was unfortunate that it took so long for a government to notice a person who fought for India's freedom.

When I entered her house, Saraswathy was in no mood to talk. She was breathless -- a result of three previous heart attacks. A few visitors were just leaving.

"I have grown old and tired, and the family who visited me just now was very close to me but I couldn't remember who they are. My mind is forgetting everything; faces, voices and names." Her voice trailed off. She says she is 83. I think she's possibly 78, if she left the INA in 1945 as an eighteen year old.

A few minutes later, she started talking again; about her meeting with Mahatma Gandhi, her days with the INA, her work as a spy for the INA, etc.

Though frail and restricted to a liquid diet, her tired mind is agile enough to take a trip back through the years, images became clearer and she started recounting her life in Burma.

Let's go back about seventy years. Mahatma Gandhi was paying a visit to one of the richest Indians in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar). The man who owned a gold mine and his entire household gathered together to meet the Mahatma. Save one 10-year-old girl. The family looked for her, Rajamani, everywhere. The little girl was in the garden practising shooting. The Mahatma was shocked to see such a small girl play with a gun.

"Don't play with the gun, little girl," he told her.

"I am practising shooting so that I can kill the British," said she without even looking at him.

"Violence is not good, girl. We are fighting the British through non-violent ways. You should also do that," the Mahatma urged.

"We shoot and kill the looters, don't we? The British are looting India, and I am going to shoot at least one Britisher when I grow up," she would have none of the non-violence talk from the Mahatma.

As she grew up, she started hearing a lot about Netaji, and became very enamoured of him. Her chance to meet him and listen to his speech came only six years later when she was 16. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was speaking about liberating India. Unlike the Mahatma, Netaji urged everyone to take up arms and fight the British.

Rajamani was so impressed with his speech that when he asked the audience to donate, she removed all her gold and diamond jewellery and gave them to the Indian National Army. A young girl donating all her expensive jewellery did not fail to attract the attention of Netaji. On enquiry, he came to know that she was the daughter of one of the wealthiest Indians in Burma.

The very next day, Netaji arrived at her residence to return all the jewellery. He told her father, "Due to her innocence, she gave away all her jewellery. So, I have come to return it."

While her father smiled, an angry Rajamani said, "They are not my father's, they are mine. I gave all of them to you, and I will not take them back."

So stubborn was the girl that Netaji could not but admire her determination. "You have the wisdom only Goddess Saraswathi has. Lakshmi (money) comes and goes but not Saraswathi. So I name you Saraswathi."

Rajamani became Saraswathi Rajamani from that day onwards. Immediately, she urged Netaji to recruit her in his army.

Rajamani and five of her friends became members of the Indian National Army the following day. Netaji asked them to work as spies for the INA. All the girls dressed themselves as boys and worked in the camps and houses of British officers. For the next two years, they were boy spies.

"As a boy, my name was Mani. We diligently listened to all the conversation the British officers had and later on, all five of us discussed the information we had collected, and then conveyed it to Netaji. Those were very exciting days," said Rajamani, the excitement coming through even in her feeble voice.

The exciting days included a brush with death too. The instruction to them was that if they were caught by the British, they should immediately shoot themselves. But before one girl could do that, she was caught. Rajamani decided to do the rescue act.

"I went to the den as a dancer, drugged the Britishers and rescued my friend. As we were running for our lives, a Britisher shot at my right leg. I ran with my leg bleeding. Both of us climbed onto a tree and sat there for three days. Only on the fourth day, we came down. Netaji was so happy with our bravery that he saluted us and congratulated us several times. I was given a medal by the Japanese emperor himself," recounted a proud Rajamani.

Came the end of World War II. The Allies won the war, and Netaji decided to disband the INA. He asked all its members to return. Saraswathy Rajamani and her family gave away everything they had including the gold mines and made their way to India.

"Please don't ask what happened to us after we came back to India, and how we lived. I don't like to think or talk about it," Rajamani said firmly.

She closed her eyes for some time and then said in a low voice, "A hand that has only given things to people accepted money from the government a few days ago. I was in such dire straits that I could do only that."

She was referring to the money and the house donated to her by the Tamil Nadu government. Though she is very grateful to the chief minister, the very thought that what she accepted was charity, for the first time in her long life, troubled her.

"The CM was very nice. I went in my INA uniform, saluted her and said Jai Hind."

But the tired woman gets all fired up when she starts talking about Netaji. "He was so great that he could see what would happen tomorrow. He would surprise you all the time by coming in different disguises. He believed in Swami Vivekananda's ideals, and Netaji was like God to all of us."

So strong is her love for Netaji even today that she and some other freedom fighters have been assembling in Madurai on Netaji's birthday for the last several years. "We stand in front of his statue and salute, then meditate. Once I was in the ICU after a heart attack. I thought I would not be able to go but I do not know how it happened, I could go out just in time to be there to salute Netaji. It was a miracle! In the case of Netaji, miracles do happen."

She put on the INA cap and said apologetically, "I am tired. Otherwise, I would have worn the dress for you too to see."

As we were ready to go, she stood up, saluted and said, Jai Hind! And, the handshake! It was not the handshake of a tired old woman; it was warm and very strong, exactly like the woman.

Photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 01 Apr 2015 08:10

Two incidents, long forgotten except to people from Dakshina Kannada the erstwhile South Kanara district (Mangalore district):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodagu_Gowda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravivarma_ ... ba_Heggade

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 11 Sep 2015 14:25

brihaspati wrote: Can someone put the connections with unitarians - (further connection back to this radical stream within Anglican Protestantism, and its deep connections to British state politics) with Indian "revolution/controlled-release-anger" dynamic?

http://content.iskcon.org/icj/7_1/71kkd.html

Long read, and visiting this thread after a while so just saw this now, but use "find" to locate mentions of "Unitarian" here... Some things to ponder upon. Although I don't know if it makes connections "revolution/controlled release-anger dynamic".

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 18 Sep 2015 08:00

WB state files on Netaji being released today. I think we'll have to wait for at least a couple years before the PMO releases its share.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 29 Sep 2015 17:52

12 facts about Bhagat Singh

http://www.indiatimes.com/culture/who-w ... webFbShare

His body was hung for 1 hour.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 15 Oct 2015 00:20

RoyG wrote:WB state files on Netaji being released today. I think we'll have to wait for at least a couple years before the PMO releases its share.

NaMo met Bose family and promised to release files on Netaji's birth anniversary in Jan 2016.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 23 Jan 2016 19:39

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/0 ... ce-leader/

India’s government on Saturday started declassifying secret files to settle questions over the death of Subhash Chandra Bose, a Congress Party leader who formed a national army to fight British colonial rulers with the help of the Japanese in the 1940s.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released digital copies of 100 secret files relating to Bose’s life in the presence of several members of his family. The National Archives of India plans to release digital copies of 25 declassified files on Bose every month.

India’s Civil Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma said Modi already has informed Bose’s family that the government possessed “only circumstantial evidence and not any direct evidence about his death.”

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 03 May 2016 14:21

Cross posting from the BRF Social Media thread. Our (Saswati Sarkar, Brihaspati, Jeck Joy & myself) set of articles on Rashbehari Bose.

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rashbehar ... /8230.html

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rashbehar ... /9745.html

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rashbehar ... 10005.html

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rashbehar ... 10257.html

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/rashbehar ... 10259.html