Chachaji

Sharma: Mr Jauhar, you were present in Delhi in 1924. Gandhiji had gone on a fast for Hindu-Muslim unity at Mohammed Ali’s house. Do you remember anything about it?

Chacha Ji: I was too young. Still I remember about the Hindu-Muslim riots in those days when Mahatma Gandhi went on a fast. He was fasting in Mohammed Ali’s house at Kucha Chelan. I felt very much for Mahatma Gandhi who was on a fast. And practically every day I used to go to that house and sit there for some hours. But all my activities in those days were of a young volunteer, nothing beyond that.

Sharma: Do you remember anything else about the fast?

Chacha Ji: About the fast, there is nothing more that I know deeply. Of course, there was a great stir in the city and everyone was very much disturbed. But then gradually everyone felt that Gandhiji will pass through this stage and will come out. And really it helped the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity quite a lot in those days.

Sharma: In 1926 Swami Sharaddhanand was assassinated in Naya Bazar. Do you remember anything about that?

Chacha Ji: Previously it was called Burn Bastion Road, then Naya Bazar, but now it is called Sharddhanand Bazar. As I have said before I was working with Lala Diwan Chand, contractor, as an employee. He was a leader of the Arya Samaj—a very young person in those days, about 30 or so. And he received the message that Swamiji was shot dead in his office at the Jama Masjid. Before he could get his car and go I rushed to the spot directly and reached before him and by that time hardly three or four persons had reached. The person who had shot Swami Shraddhanand was caught and was there. But then some Arya Samaj leaders had asked them not to beat him or take any revenge in any way. So he was simply caught and was only sitting there when I reached. Abdul Rashid was his name.

Swami Shraddhanand was in a blood pool. And then the police was there. I was there with the police for four or five hours. It appeared that several shots were fired and they were trying to search for the empty cartridges. Two or three of those cartridges I could trace from some corners and handed them over to the police. So naturally in the proceedings of the Shraddhanand murder case my name was also there. And when the trial started, three or four times I was also called as a witness in the court only on account of finding the empty cartridges.

The funeral procession of Swami Shraddhanand passed through the entire Walled City—in those days there was no city outside the walls, practically no city. And it passed through all the important streets and mostly through all such areas which were inhabited by Muslims such as Lal Kuan, Chawri Bazar, Jama Masjid etc. It was one of the biggest processions I have ever seen. The body was kept in a truck but it was kept very high so that from all their roofs everyone could see the face of Swamiji, which was kept open. There was so much of deep enthusiasm, excitement and zeal, specially among the Arya Samajis and the Hindus. But what I found is that the entire city, at that moment, felt deeply and that no untoward incident happened. The procession passed through streets and bazars without any incident. And my own feeling is that most of the Mohammedans were also very sad and sorry about the assassination. But fanaticism of the religious people acts out like this somehow and sometimes. And it cannot be helped. I am sure that there was no general enmity even in the Mohammedans against Swami Shraddhanand. They all respected him and loved him.

Sharma: It has been recorded by the historian of the Hindu Maha Sabha that the day Swamiji was shot dead there was illumination in the Muslim localities in Delhi. They celebrated the incident. Do you remember anything about it?

Chacha Ji: I might not have noticed or some fanatics might have done so somewhere “to celebrate this assassination of a saint”, who contributed so much to the national life and the community! At least I never saw or heard anything. As far as my feeling goes, it must all be false.

Sharma: Could you tell us why the procession was taken through Muslim localities? Was it deliberate?

Chacha Ji: No. The procession passed through those streets because that was the only city—if you come from Naya Bazar which is now called Shraddhanand Bazar—naturally you have to come through Lal Kuan, Sirkiwalan. The whole city was within the walls and Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Lal Kuan and Fatehpuri—this was the main city. In those days the population of Delhi was hardly four lakhs or so. Naturally such a procession had to pass through all these bazars, there was no other choice. In those streets and those mohallas, which you called Mohammedan mohallas, if Muslims were living there, then thousands of Hindus were also living in those very streets and mohallas with Muslims. I was also living in a Muslim locality—Gali Kasim Jan. So, there was nothing wrong as it was not deliberate to provoke or incite those people. No, not at all. But that was the only right way to do it. Moreover, if it was deliberate, they had to show to the public that such a Sanyasi or such a high saint can be and has been shot in this age, and his body could be seen by everyone. My feeling is that there was no general enmity in the Muslims against Swami Shraddhanand. They respected him. They had heard him from the Mimber of the Jama Masjid from where no person of any other religion can speak. They held him, generally, in high regard.

Sharma: Were there any Muslims in the funeral procession?

Chacha Ji: I do not think so. There might have been a few Muslims. As far as my feeling goes Mohammedans were not there in the procession.

Sharma: You were associated as a witness in the Shraddhanand murder case. Do you know what were the reasons for the killing of Swamiji?

Chacha Ji: As far as I can remember, it was only the fanaticism and nothing else. Because he was the leader of the Shuddhi movement in the previous three or four years, some fanatic Mohammedans might have felt that such a person, who can convert Muslims to Arya Samaj, should be killed. Probably they thought that that was their Dharma (Iman). So he was killed. That is fanaticism, That is all.

Sharma: Do you know something about Abdul Rashid?

Chacha Ji: No, I do not know anything about him at all. I had seen him at Swamiji’s place. I had seen him at the trial. But I did not know him.

Sharma: Do you remember what he looked like?

Chacha Ji: He was a thin, tall fellow, clad in striped clothes like the religious Mohammedans. And there was a sort of fury on his face. That is fanaticism.

Sharma: Do you remember anything about the Simon Commission?

Chacha Ji: When the Simon Commission came it was boycotted, and there was a big procession. And as far as I remember, I was in that procession at Connaught Place—the most conspicuous place where the resentment was being shown by way of slogans like: “Go back, Simon Commission.”...with which our country resounded from shore to shore.

Sharma: What part did you play in the boycott?

Chacha Ji: I was only a humble volunteer all through in those days, because I was so young. Wherever there was any work I would go there, wherever there was any procession or anything of that nature I would join that. That was the “Fire” in me. I could not sit idle. I did not have any encumbrances, and was alone in the city. So, wherever there was anything of the national movement, I would go there, join that and work as a volunteer.

Sharma: You must have done something to collect men for the procession.

Chacha Ji: No, I was not in that thing at all, collecting men for procession or anything like that. What was the year?

Sharma: 1927.

Chacha Ji: No, I had not done anything. But I feel it was a spontaneous movement which was nationwide and very strong. So people collected automatically and shouted, “Simon Commission, go back.”