Chachaji

In 1940, Mahatma Gandhi declared ‘Individual Satyagraha’. I missed going to jail this time also. I fell seriously ill and was reduced to a skeleton. But I could not resist my intense desire to participate in spite of my physical infirmity. So, I filled in the form and sent it to the Provincial Congress for its permission. In the meantime, I had appointed Murari Lal Parashar as tutor to my children. He was living in just a hut, where Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi-Branch now stands. I was convalescing and Parasharji was attending to me. He was persuading me to give up the idea of going to jail. I replied: “One has to die once. Why should one not die now when the country demands? If I have to die, I will die here also. If I go to jail and die there, it is much better and welcome.” However, he was relentless in persuading me. He volunteered to do satyagraha. Although he had never taken any part in the Congress party or movement he came forward to do so. He filled in his application, went to the Congress Office and offered ‘Individual Satyagraha’. He was sentenced for one year and was imprisoned in Rawalpindi Jail.

Sri Aurobindo’s Support to the Allies

Since 1940, I had been going to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry, once in three or four months with my friend Dr. Indra Sen, Professor of Philosophy, Delhi University. Once when we went to the Ashram there was a notice from Sri Aurobindo, which categorically stated in effect that we should cooperate with the British and the Allies in the Second World War; anyone in the Ashram who believes or acts otherwise should quit the Ashram on his own; he is the enemy of the country as well as the Ashram.

I was very much surprised and shocked. It was just the opposite of what Mahatma Gandhi said. I was more or less going to faint there when I read the Notice Board. I was torn between my long standing loyalty to Congress and Mahatma Gandhi and my spiritual Guru, Sri Aurobindo. I was in a miserable state of mind in those days on account of the two opposite views.

Within a few days, a detailed message was put up on the Ashram’s Notice Board signed by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in which they explained in detail that the war was not between the nations, but between Good and Evil, between the Divine and the Asuras. If the war is lost, the civilisation would go back by thousands of years; this war must be won for the Divine under all circumstances.

We also learnt that Sri Aurobindo had contributed, even though he was a sadhu, Rs. five hundred to the Viceroy’s War Fund and he offered that his name could be used by the Government for war propaganda against the enemy. He used all his spiritual powers for the victory of the Allied forces.

When the Cripps Mission came to India with its proposal, Sri Aurobindo felt that it was a mission sent by the Divine Himself. Sri Aurobindo wanted this message to be conveyed to Mahatma Gandhi and the members of the Congress Working Committee.

Shri Doraiswamy, one of the leading barristers of Madras and associated with Sri Aurobindo Ashram, was sent to New Delhi. I moved with him in my car, taking him to Mahatma Gandhi and members of the Congress Working Committee to explain Sri Aurobindo’s views regarding the Cripps Mission. Shri Doraiswamy was the messenger or envoy of Sri Aurobindo to convey his views about the Cripps Mission. After discharging his task, Shri Doraisamy went back. I do not think that the message was received seriously, as they resolved to turn out the British by the Quit India Movement. They thought that the British could be forced to leave the country when they were facing difficulties. This was the main strategy of the Congress and it was conveyed to us by Barrister Asaf Ali after returning from the meeting of Congress Working Committee.

My Role in Quit India Movement (1942)

I was fully involved in the political movement, not out of any selfish motive but as an offering for the liberation of the motherland, right from my school days during 1919, when Martial Law was imposed in Lahore. In 1942, I was working as a member of the Delhi Provincial Congress Committee. As the Quit India Movement was intense and revolutionary, I offered myself to do my bit. Although there was some struggle in my mind between Mahatma Gandhi’s call of Quit India movement and Sri Aurobindo’s message to support the Allies in the Second World War, I could not resist the intense urge to play an active role in Quit India movement. About 30 or 40 active Congress workers met at a secret spot in Narendra Place to chalk out the plan for the movement in Delhi. I was asked to bring Mrs. Aruna Asaf Ali, as she had not reached the meeting place and they thought they could commence the meeting only after her arrival. I went to her house but could not find her there. By the time I returned, I saw a number of policemen arresting the prominent Congress workers who assembled for the meeting.

Mrs. Aruna Asaf Ali, Shri Jugal Kishore Khanna and myself escaped arrest by the police. The Quit India movement in Delhi was organised and led by the three of us. Shri Jugal Kishore Khanna was not usually with us and he used to hide himself somewhere else. Mrs. Aruna Asaf Ali and myself used to meet often, outwitting the police and C.I.D. She had to sit all alone quietly in a hideout. The whole day she would be expecting or apprehending that the C.I.D. officials may come and arrest her. There were some days when I had to change her place twice or thrice in a day. Ordinarily, there was hardly any place where we could stay for more than two or three days. Once we entered some friend’s house, we could not get out. He would not like us to stay there; even though he was certainly more frightened than us he could not dare to inform the police that we had entered his house by force. If police came to know that he had given us shelter, he could be harassed or arrested for harbouring the wanted Congress workers.