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Indian Express
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
The Quit India Movement began on August 8, 1942. A look back at how the movement shaped Indian literature
The Quit India Movement, like many other great events that shaped our national life, had an impact on literature and other art forms. It influenced many Indian writers, some of whom also played an active role in the movement. Ku Rajavelu (Tamil), the author of 1942 (1950), Nityananda Mahapatra (Oriya), author of Ghardeh (1975), Satinath Bhaduri (Bengali), author of Jagari (1945), and Phanishwar Nath Renu (Hindi), author of Maila Anchal (1954) also served prison sentences while participating in the movement. Apart from these, Samaresh Basu's (Bengali) Jug Jug Jiye (1977) written in four volumes, Yashpal's (Hindi) Deshdrohi (1943), Geeta Party Comrade (1946), and Meri Teri Uski Baat (1979), Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya's (Assamese) Mrityunjay (1970), Doodhnath Singh's (Hindi) Aakhri Kalam (2006), RK Narayan's Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), Bhabani Bhattacharya's So Many Hungers (1947), Satakadi Hota's (Oriya) Mukti Yudh (2021), Khushwant Singh's (English) I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale (1968) – are some important novels which have either been written on the Quit India Movement or have referred to it. Political novels often face the risk of polemics and bias. Despite these limitations, such works can be an authentic source of the historical, social and ideological reality of a particular movement. Bhaduri's Jagari, set in the Purnia region of Bihar, is the first important novel written on the movement. In the words of Saroj Bandyopadhyay, who wrote its preface, it was 'the fiery ground of forty-two'. Scholar Shishir Kumar Das has described it as 'one of the finest political novels'. Bhaduri once again returns to this movement in the second part of Dhorai Charit Manas. According to Bandopadhyay, 'This makes us understand how deeply the author was moved by this incident. It was as if he wanted to see those people by removing all the veils in the light of a revolutionary great fire.' The author used retrospection and stream of consciousness, giving this novel its distinct identity. Told in the first-person, the stories of the four characters of the novel — Bilu, an activist of the Congress Socialist Party, his father Master Saheb, a devoted Gandhian, his younger brother Nilu, a committed worker of the Communist Party, and their mother, whose life is spent in looking after these three men – reveal the complexity of personal and political lives. Except for Nilu, all three are in jail for participating in the Quit India movement. Bilu has been sentenced to death based on Nilu's testimony in court. The night before Bilu's hanging, many incidents surface and disappear in the consciousness of the four characters. All of them see life from their own perspective. In the preface, Bandopadhyay rightly notes, 'The subject of Jagari is man, not the political worker.' At one point communist leadership of India perceived the imperialist war as a People's War. This became the reason for the conflict between the Congress Socialists and Communists. Even the Communist Party workers became victims of confusion and dilemma regarding the definition and criteria of patriotism and treason. In the novel, Communist Party workers tell Nilu that he has not done the right thing by testifying against Bilu. Nilu himself is also not fully convinced about his action. The argument of loyalty to the party was his only solace. This conflict and political dilemma have also been captured in Jagari. Significantly, the author does not ignore the fault-lines and weaknesses of the national freedom movement led by Congress that culminated in the Quit India Movement. This novel conveys the idea that when the intellectuals were immersed in the revolutionary and libertarian ideas of the West, Gandhi had already entered the minds of the masses. This novel can also be read as an allegory. At the very end, it is revealed that Bilu's death sentence had been postponed. But no one except the high officials was informed about this. Bilu was not even removed from the hanging cell. A non-political prisoner was hanged that morning. The first one to get this news was Nilu, who was waiting outside the jail with an official order to take Bilu's body. The dreadful night finally ends, and a joyful morning begins. The writer associated with the socialist movement is a former teacher of Delhi University and a former fellow of Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
Economic Times
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Comrade's glory and folly: VS Achuthanandan's century-long life mapped the state's social revolution
Agencies Representational Veteran communist leader and former Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan died on Monday. He was 101. VS lived 23 years longer than the average life expectancy in Kerala. Which, at 78, is the highest among all states - and nine years longer than in UP. The increase in the average lifespan of a Malayali is but one example of the social transformation the state underwent, driven by people like VS. That a tea seller could rise as a political leader seems remarkable to many. But not in Kerala. Pinarayi Vijayan started life as a weaver. VS started off as a tailor, joined a coir factory, and became a trade union worker at the factory, commencing the political career that took him to the CM's office, and into the hearts of millions of Malayalis. Communists of Kerala came out of Congress Socialist Party. Their leaders were ordinary people who organised mass movements, taking forward the dynamic of emancipatory change that decades of social reform, including socio-religious reform, had set in motion in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and, to a lesser extent, in Malabar, directly under British control. Kerala's communists were the most radical of the freedom fighters, in the forefront of championing interests of peasants and workers against landlords and their overlords, the British. They spoke of socialism, Marx and the Soviet Union. But by organising people to break the resistance of entrenched authority, Kerala's communists effectively ushered in democratic modernity. This was in line with the official goals of Congress and other political formations. By going farther than other parties in using organised strength to secure the people's rights, the communists hegemonised the state's other parties as well - so much so that there is little to distinguish the actual political imagination of any party in Kerala from that of the communists, except, of course, in the case of BJP, and some fringe Muslim is true that Congress led the Opposition to the radical land reforms Bill brought by Kerala's first elected government, of communists, and the Congress government at the Centre used Article 356 to dismiss the government. But Congress was part of the coalition government that subsequently implemented provisions of the of Kerala were a force for democracy, abolishing pre-capitalist property relations in the primary form of property of the time: land. They carried forward the tradition of Kerala's social reform movements that had identified education as the key to social empowerment and universalised primary education. Adult literacy movements, a library movement that established at least one library and reading room in every village, and substantial investment in the expansion of healthcare - all these were not all done by communists, true. But the ideas of equality and empowerment of the common man that inspired all such activity were championed most effectively by the communists. They got a disproportionate share of the resulted from the ordinary people's political empowerment. Adult franchise remains a formal ideal in those parts of India where a dalit can still be attacked for riding a horse, or showing other uppity challenges to traditional hierarchy. In Kerala, adult franchise universalised human dignity because all the state's political formations bought into the ideology of progress towards equality through the organised strength of the is not what an enlightened state dishes out to grateful subjects. It's the consequence of popular of Kerala adored the initial generation of communist leaders - who changed them from powerless, assetless, unlettered bits of labour at the disposal of those who owned land or factories, into citizens with entitlements, to political power and what power could do to allocate resources in a pro-people as one of Kerala's foremost communists - who had been jailed and tortured, had to go into hiding when the party was banned, led an austere lifestyle, and was incorruptible - was adored, like A K Gopalan and E M S Namboodiripad. But his active political life extended to the time of 24x7 TV, and later, into that of celebrity, promoted by social his long stints as leader of opposition, and one term as CM, VS dominated the public discourse as other leaders had not. He championed environmental causes and acted against overt misogyny. But he shaped and reflected the limitations of Kerala's communist movement as well. Women hold up half the sky, said Mao. Labour force participation rate for Chinese women is 60%. While Kerala women are as educated as men, their presence in the workforce is low. Patriarchy governs norms of acceptable conduct. Reform of culture and caste ossified in Kerala. Not so much despite, as because of communists. After having laid the ground for rapid capitalist growth - removing pre-capitalist restraints on deployment of labour and creating an educated workforce - opposition to capitalism stunted the economy and aborted social and cultural changes associated with growth. Only of late has pragmatism allowed the communists to promote private was decisive, and could rally public support. But limitation of his party's appreciation of the emancipatory potential of broad-based capitalist growth curtailed his legacy short of prosperity. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Apple has a new Indian-American COO. What it needs might be a new CEO. Central banks' existential crisis — between alchemy and algorithm What if Tata Motors buys Iveco's truck unit? Will it propel or drag like JLR? Paid less than plumbers? The real story of freshers' salaries at Infy, TCS. Stock Radar: HDFC AMC gives a breakout from Cup & Handle pattern to hit fresh highs – time to buy or book profits? These large-caps have 'strong buy' & 'buy' recos and an upside potential of more than 20% Weekly Top Picks: These stocks scored 10 on 10 on Stock Reports Plus Stock picks of the week: 4 stocks with consistent score improvement and return potential of more than 19% in 1 year
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
CM, NDA netas pay tribute to JP on Sampoorna Kranti Diwas
Patna: CM Nitish Kumar and other NDA netas on Thursday paid floral tributes to the statue of Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) near Gandhi Maidan to mark the Sampoorna Kranti Diwas (Total Revolution Day). Tired of too many ads? go ad free now JP had given a clarion call for total revolution in society on June 5, 1974, while addressing a big rally at Gandhi Maidan here. At the state function, the CM also interacted with those who had participated in the JP's movement. State assembly Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, deputy CMs Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, as well as ministers, including Vijay Kumar Choudhary also paid tributes to the great leader. JP was an eminent freedom fighter and among the founders of the Congress Socialist Party. He had also actively participated in the Quit India Movement, and in the post-Independence period, led the Sarvodaya movement, besides leading the 1974 students' stir against the then Congress and PM Indira Gandhi that ultimately led to the imposition of Emergency on June 25, 1975. In their separate statements, state BJP chief Dilip Kumar Jaiswal and deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary also paid tributes to JP, besides taking a dig at RJD chief Lalu Prasad for aligning with the Congress.
