Chachaji

In 1926 Swami Shraddhanand was assassinated in Naya Bazar (now known as Shraddhanand Bazar). He was shot in his sick bed by a person who had sought and obtained an interview with him. Perhaps, his assassination was the outcome of fanatical outbursts against the publication of a book maligning the Prophet. Its author had been acquitted in judicial proceedings, but he was murdered in Lucknow. As stated earlier, I was working with Lala Diwan Chand, who was a leader of the Arya Samaj. He received the message that Swamiji was shot dead. As soon as he received the message, I rushed to the spot directly and even reached there earlier than Lala Diwan Chand who came by car. At that time, there were hardly three or four persons at the place. The assassin of Swamiji was caught and kept without any beating or assault in deference to the wishes of the Arya Samaj leaders who assembled there. His name was Abdul Rashid. He was a thin, tall person, clad in striped clothes. There was a fury on his face, reflecting fanaticism. Swami Shraddhanand was lying in a pool of blood, and the police had cordoned off the place. I was there for four or five hours. It seemed that several bullets were pumped into Swamiji’s body. The police were searching for the empty cartridges. I could trace two or three of those cartridges from the corners and I handed them over to the police. So my name was also there as a witness in the proceedings of Swami Shraddhanand Murder Case and I was called as a witness three or four times to the court during the trial.

The funeral procession of Swamiji passed through the entire walled city of Delhi. In those days, there was no city practically outside the walls. It was one of the biggest processions I had ever seen. The body was kept on a truck in an elevated position so that people could see from the roof-tops of their houses. I found that the entire city deeply mourned the killing of Swamiji without any outburst of anger. The entire procession passed through the streets and bazars without any untoward incident.

The procession passed through the Muslim localities also such as Lal Kuan, Sirkiwalan, because that was the only route if one comes from Naya Bazar. The old city was within the walls — Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar, Lal Kuan and Fatehpuri, and in those streets and mohallas, thousands of Muslims and Hindus were also living together in amity. I was also living in a Muslim locality — Gali Kasim Jan. My feeling is that there was no antipathy among Muslims against Swamiji. They held him in high esteem. That was quite evident when they heard him from the mimber of Jama Masjid, where no other religious person was ever permitted to speak. It was fanaticism that was responsible for the killing of Swamiji.

Boycott of Simon Commission, Delhi

When the Simon Commission came to Delhi in 1928, it was boycotted as per the call of Mahatma Gandhi. There was a big procession and I was in that procession at Connaught Place, which was a very important area. “Simon Commission go back, go back Simon Commission” were the slogans which were raised by the people as a mark of their resentment. It was a spontaneous, people’s movement, which was nationwide and very powerful. I was a humble volunteer in those days. There was fire in me and I could not sit idle. I was living alone in the city and I did not have any encumbrances. Whenever there was any work related to the national movement, I would go there and work as a volunteer.

Boycott of Foreign Cloth

Prior to 1930, Mahatma Gandhi had given a clarion call for boycott of foreign cloth and use of khadi (hand-spun and hand-woven cloth). Some of the dedicated people had started wearing khadi. In 1930 I was one of the prominent workers to organise the boycott of foreign cloth in Delhi. The leader was Behan (Sister) Satyawati in those days, who was nicknamed by Gandhji as Tofani Satyawati. She was the grand-daughter of Swami Shraddhanand. Under her dynamic and courageous leadership, we had a big batch of volunteers and we had a powerful organisation to see that the cloth merchants could not sell foreign cloth. We organised the boycott of foreign cloth effectively throughout the katras in Chandni Chowk, which was the wholesale and retail market for foreign cloth. At that time we used to ask the shopkeepers to collect and take their cloth to their homes or we would seal their goods ourselves. Then we would also not allow foreign cloth to be despatched to other cities for sale, because Delhi was always the wholesale market for foreign goods, specially cloth. We were vigilant and we had a regular organisation to check and see that nobody disobeyed our orders. We knew it through our own intelligence network when merchants took out the cloth and sent it to the railway station and we were prompt to seize and seal the confiscated goods in our own godowns.

A regular non-official court (panchayat) was organised with Lala Narain Dutt, Pearey Lal (also known as Motorwala) and a few others as members. We would arrest anyone who broke our rules and sold foreign cloth, and take him to the panchayat. The fines varied according to the infringement. If it was a small quantity, the fine was between one to two hundred rupees, and if someone sold a bale or two, the fine was one thousand rupees. The maximum fine which was ever imposed was on one Shri Jaipuria, who was living at Sabji Mandi. He was asked to pay Rs.10,000 but he refused to comply. I took a batch of thirteen women volunteers to his bungalow and asked him to pay the fine. Otherwise, these women would sit on dharna (hunger strike) at his house and he would be responsible for the consequences. Lalaji threatened me twice saying he would shoot us, or shoot me at least. I said: “I do not care for my life. We must collect the fines as per the orders of the Panchayat. So, we are here.” Everyday I had to go twice or thrice to supervise the dharna of the women volunteers. He also approachd the police but he realised that things would become more serious. Ultimately we gheraoed his house and the fine from Lalji was realised, even though it took about thirteen or fourteen days of dharna by our women volunteers. Like that we collected a few lakhs of rupees as fines. This movement went on for about six months or so in 1930.