Chachaji

In 1932, I had given up my service with Lala Diwan Chand and started my business in partnership with Pandit Kanhaiya Lal Punj. Besides my work in Congress and Arya Samaj, I was preoccupied with my business naturally.

My wife Dayawati and I were quarrelling for one reason or other, for fun or for sharpening our wits. She used to complain: “You do not attend to the household work at all. The children are so small.” I would retort: “You are in the house only. You look after the children and do just a little bit of work. But I go out to work for the Congress, Arya Samaj and business and all other important matters.” At that time, we had two children, Anil and Lata. One day she played a clever trick on me. She gave purgative to both children and slipped away from our house. Both children were purging and purging. I did not know where she had gone and I could not go out of the house for any work. Anyway, I had to attend to the children and call the doctor to treat them. I could not leave them to find the whereabouts of my wife. Ultimately I sent my people and found that she had gone to one of our friend’s house. She returned and said: “Now do you know what work I have to do in the house for the children? This is a lesson that I wanted to give you.” So, I appreciated my wife’s work in the house and her looking after our children.

But she was behaving in a different manner. And one evening she slipped away from the house. She went to Chandni Chowk, took the Congress flag and led a procession of women. Late in the night, I came to know that she was arrested. On 12th October 1932, she was convicted to six months’ imprisonment and was sent to Lahore Jail. Hence, I could not have time or opportunity for going to jail in 1932, as my wife played the trick on me and took the lead in participating in the freedom movement. I had to look after my children in addition to my preoccupations with Congress, Arya Samaj and business. The elder one was a son whereas the younger one was a daughter. After two or three days, I went to Lahore and left my daughter Lata with her mother in the jail. Of course, I brought back my son with me to Delhi. During six months of my wife’s imprisonment, I had to send my son also to the Lahore Jail for a week or two and then bring him back with me. At that time, my in-laws were also in Lahore. When I went to see my wife in jail, I used to stay with my in-laws. My mother-in-law was an old-type lady and she was very happy whenever I went there.

My mother-in-law asked me: “How is my daughter?” I replied courteously: “She is quite all right.” She asked: “Where is she?” I replied: “She is in Lahore.” She enquired: “How can it be? I have not seen her.” I explained that she was in Lahore Jail for the last one month. She was shocked: “How can a girl from a good family go to jail?” She could not believe my statement. Then I said: “It is a fact. You come and see her.” Next morning I took her to the jail and showed her her daughter. It took quite some time for her to appreciate the jail-going of hundreds of women from different parts of Punjab and Delhi. Prominent among these brave freedom fighters were Lady Rani Zutshi, Kaushalya Devi, Swami Shraddhanand’s daughter and Dr. Prakash Chand’s wife and many other women political prisoners. After six months my wife Dayawati was released and she came back triumphantly. She felt that because I had gone to jail I had become egoistic and rated myself as superior to her. She showed that she could as well participate in the freedom movement and go to jail and there was nothing very special that I had done by going to jail. This is the story about my wife’s participation in the Second Civil Disobedience Movement in 1932.

I was then an active member of the Congress party, attending to the party work regularly. As a member of the Provincial Congress Committee, I was attending to the general organisation work and other works allotted to me by our President. Barrister Asaf Ali was President of Delhi Provincial Congress Commitee and was also a member of the Congress Working Committee. Whenever he went to attend the Congress Working Committee meetings, we anxiously waited for his return to know the decisions of the Congress.

Elections in 1934

A very important event of those days was the election of 1934 because the government had put up its own man, Mr. Nanak Chand, against Barrister Asaf Ali. I was in charge of the election campaign in New Delhi; almost all the voters there were government employees, except for a few contractors who were constructing New Delhi in those days. Our Congress organisation was streamlined and quite in order. The New Delhi area was spread up to Delhi Cantonment and we distributed the pamphlets of our candidate to almost every voter by approaching him personally. Truthfully speaking, it was certainly not on account of our campaign or our influence that Asaf Ali won this prestigious election. The government servants, residents of New Delhi, voted for the Congress candidate because it was a secret ballot and the British Government could not know as to who had voted for whom. So, quite a good percentage of voters in New Delhi voted for Asaf Ali and that was how he got elected against all odds.

As I was residing in New Delhi, I knew each and every part of the constituency. With the help of Congress party members, volunteers, my friends and relations, I organised the election campaign in a systematic and organised manner. Three or four pamphlets were prepared in favour of Mr. Asaf Ali and the National Movement. We requested our friends and acquaintances to vote in favour of our Congress candidate — Mr. Asaf Ali. However, nobody could openly commit that he would vote for Asaf Ali, but a large percentage of people voted for him.