CHAPTER 10
Deep in the jungle of Bori, below the south-west face of the Dhupgarh escarpment, four men met in a small clearing. One of these men was Maan Singh of whom we have already heard. The others were called Azad, Bengali and Chatterjee. These were of course not their real names, but they were more comfortable with these aliases, so thoroughly had they adapted themselves to the roles which they had chosen for themselves. These four men were revolutionaries, or so at least they thought of themselves. Their aim was the violent overthrow of the British Raj. They were not however mere terrorists, they did not think random acts of violence-tossing a bomb at the Viceroy’s elephant for instance-were likely to shake the solid foundations of the Raj. They believed only a nation-wide conspiracy, precisely executed, could do the job and this is what they were discussing.
It was Maan Singh who began the discussions. “So are you all ready.”
“Yes,” said Bengali, “but tell me one thing comrade, what do we do once we have taken the hostages. What I mean is, how will the would come to know about the whole business.”
“Good question, Bengali, First there is the press, which will waste no time in spreading the news, and then of course, there is the radio Once the news is broadcast, Indian soldiers in garrisons all over India will rise against the government.”
“And massacre the tummies and the firanghi officers, said Azad, who was Maan Singh’s understudy.
“Massacre, no not massacre. The will be disarmed and put in detention, No need for unnecessary violence.” This was Maan Singh.
“You are squeamish about violence comrade?” Asked Bengali.
“I just regard it as a necessary evil. Regrettable but sometimes unavoidable.”
“A revolutionary must be ruthless in the pursuit of this cause. Otherwise what is the difference between us and the Congress party.” Bengali was the die-hard sceptic.
“The Congress party is only a stooge of the British imperialists. All they want is personal power. Give them some crumbs of power and they will readily compromise with the British. They are only talking of domination status and will I believe, settle for even less, Remember they are a party of lawyers and they can think of a thousand half-way houses between slavery and freedom Our goal is, on the other hand, total independence – nothing less.”
“Still there is something in common between you and Gandhi, comrade. He talks of non-violence and you are against unnecessary violence.” Said Chatterjee.
“I disagree with the Mahatma on many things, but he is still a great man.”
“But is he saint, that’s what I want to know, and if he is, what is he doing in politics,” asked Chatterjee.
“I think his sainthood is only tactical. He knows that people in this country worship saints, and he is using this to shrewdly bolster his own leadership. I have often wondered why there are no more saints in the Congress party. The answer is simple, Gandhi would not allow them to come up. But having said that, I have to say that he is in the main, sincere. He believes in what he says, unlike the other clever politicians that we have. That I think is the secret of his success.”
“Gandhi is only a stretcher bearer for the British Empire, carrying its dying carcass in his arms and his non-violence only gives it a fresh transfusion of life. Look at what he did after Chauri-Chaura. How can you stop a country-wide movement just because of one incident. Gandhi owes his rise to the patronage of the British Empire and he is working for them. I can put no there construction on recent events.” Bengali fancied himself as the firebrand revolutionary.
“That again boils down to unnecessary violence, but I don’t want to argue with you Bengali, I still think Gandhi is sincere, but let us not make an issue of it. We have our job to do. Let’s get down to details.”
“Yeah, that’s what I want to hear,” said Chatterjee.
“Do you know why I chose 27th May as the date.”
“No.”
“Because it’s the date of the Governor’s Ball, during Pachmarhi Week, when the entire government, including the Viceroy will be in the Governor’s House in Pachmarhi, There will be dancing, and singing and a lot of drinking. The building will be poorly guarded. Pachmarhi is the last place where they expect trouble. Only four men posted at the guardhouse and two at the doors of the Governor’s House. If we approach the building from the north, up the valley, we can practically walk in without being observed. So we walk into the building, take the Viceroy and his party hostage, while the rest of India rises up against the Brirtish. If this is not a perfect scenario, I don’t know what is.”
“Brilliant. You are a genius comrade”, said Azad.
Even Bengali had to admit that the scheme was a good one, “that’s brilliant scheme, as I have already said, but there is one, “that’s a brilliant scheme, as I have already said, butthere is one flaw in it. We want the sepoys to begin a national uprising on their own, as it were, without any direction from a central committee. I doubt if there will be a spontaneous uprising of the kind that we want, and even if there is, it will fail for want of direction and leadership. That is why the mutiny failed.”
“You need have no fears on that score. Exactly on the midnight of the 27th a note will be delivered to the Times of India, The Hindu and The Pioneer, as well as some selected vernacular papers, letting them know that we have the we have the government of the country in our hands and appealing to the sepoys to rise against the oppressors.”
“And you think they will publish it. “Bengali was incredulous.
“Once they know that the contents are true they will.”
“I still think we are putting too much reliance to much reliance on the good faith of newspapers.”
“I do not think it would have been possible to plan and execute an Ali-India conspiracy without the police getting wind of it. Their spies are everywhere. So this was the only way. In any care, do you have a better scheme.”
“I do not. “Bengali had to admit.
“In that case we go ahead with our scheme. For the next three weeks, no one is to move out of the forest. Is that clear.”
And on that note the meeting ended.
