This Is Not That Dawn: Jhootha Sach (16 page)

The speakers spoke as the mood took them, without bothering to ask for permission. None of the prominent Congress leaders, neither Dr Gopi Chand Bhargava, nor Bhimsen Sachchar, nor Dr Radhey Behari were present. There were some Congress workers and volunteers milling around, but the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh members outnumbered these. Ratan too was present.

A man climbed on to the dais, shook his clenched fist and declared, ‘Punjab is ours. We’ll never allow a Pakistan in Punjab. We care nothing for the League or the Congress! As long as the blood flows in our veins, we won’t let the League form the government. Whoever wants to fight, come forward! Don’t hide like cowards.’

The gathering cheered and clapped. Someone invoked the name of Hanuman to pep up the throng, ‘Nara-e-Bajrangi!’ The crowd responded with the Hindu war chant, ‘Har Har Mahadev! Victory to Bajarangbali!’

The chairman thumped the table in protest against this outburst, but the man ignored the warning and continued to speak.

Another speaker said, ‘Right from the time of creation, this country was known as the Aryavarta. This is the land of the gods Ram and Krishna. The Vedas called it Panchnad, the land of five rivers. How can Pakistan be formed here? Those who want Pakistan should go to Arabia. The policy of Gandhi and the Congress has always been detrimental to the Hindus. The Congress has always sacrificed the rights of the Hindus to appease the Muslims. Now the League and the Muslims have the gall to demand half of the country. The Congress leaders have acquiesced so that they can hold positions in the government, but the League and Jinnah would next demand control over all of India. What the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb failed to do, Mohammed Ali Jinnah wants to accomplish! To mock us they shout slogans: We’ll get Pakistan with a smile! We’ll get Hindustan by bloodshed!’

The crowd booed and chanted, ‘Shame! Shame!’

The speakers asked the audience, ‘Are you going to take all this lying down?’

‘Never! Never!’ The audience roared back. They began to chant again, ‘Victory to Bajrangbali! No formation of Pakistan! No partition of Hindustan!’

The chairman thumped the table and interrupted the speaker several times, ‘Sir, please speak on the issue before this gathering.’ But the speaker continued to extol the greatness of the indestructible Hindustan.

After the speaker finished, the chairman got up and addressed the audience, ‘Friends, first of all, I ask for your forgiveness, and may I go on to say that this meeting is progressing in a highly irregular way. The City Congress Committee organized this event, but the speeches here do not conform to the Congress policies. I am, therefore, compelled to close the meeting.’

Mahesh, the city correspondent of
Pairokaar
, came to Puri and asked him, ‘What are we to report of these speeches?’

‘Better to ignore them. Just report what Comrade Kapoor said. Kapoor was wise enough to close the meeting.’

Comrade Kapoor climbed down from the dais. The volunteers began to roll up the dhurries and floor coverings on the dais. From behind the wall of audience around the dais, came the sound of the Sikh war cry … ‘
Jo bole so nihaal, sat siri akaal
!’ And then, ‘Vande Mataram! Har Har Mahadev!’

The audience turned round. The short-statured Master Tara Singh, in his steel-grey turban and with a sword hanging from his belt, and Dr Gopi Chand Bhargava, his dhoti flapping, were walking towards the dais. Seeing them approach, the Congress volunteers stopped removing dhurries and floor coverings.

Puri turned and said to Mahesh, ‘Now there might be something worth reporting.’

Master Tara Singh began his speech without waiting for the chairman’s permission, ‘We shall never tolerate a Muslim government in Punjab. Don’t forget history. The Sikh race came into being by fighting the Muslims. If we have to live under Muslim rule, why did Govind Singh, the tenth guru, appear in his avatar?’

His words made Puri’s hair stand on end. Master Tara Singh continued, ‘The League thinks that by dislodging the Unionist ministry and forming its own, it will lay the foundation for Pakistan. It should drop that illusion. We’ll not let the League ministry function for even a day in Punjab.’

Puri tuned round when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and saw Narendra Singh and Asad. The words sprang from his lips, ‘This man is breathing fire!’

‘Don’t you know what he did in front of the Assembly hall?’ asked Singh.

Mahesh began to relate the incident, ‘Master Tara Singh was infuriated and brandished his sword on the steps of the Assembly building. It’s sure to have repercussions.’

Dr Gopi Chand Bhargava was next on the dais. He said, ‘Trust us, we’ll never allow the formation of a Pakistan. The League’s machinations caused the downfall of our Unionist ministry. We will not allow its ministry to survive. We’ll fight the League at every step inside the Assembly chamber. You people fight the League in the streets.’

Asad said with a smile, ‘The bania is crafty. He would fight sitting safely in his Assembly hall chair. We’d have to fight bloody battles in the streets. These people have no bone to pick with Khizr, who masterminded all this. They have no desire to expose the conspiracy hatched by the governor and that toady Khizr. They just want to oppose the League. Khizr held the majority in the House. So why did he resign? If he could no longer bear the burden of the administration, he should have discussed this matter with his Cabinet, and with the Unionist Party executive. His resignation goes against any parliamentary procedure and traditions. The Congress members in his Cabinet should protest against that, but they’re concerned with only issuing threats to the League. How could the League break up the Unionist ministry? It was broken up by the governor and Khizr.’

Narendra Singh said, ‘Khizr has shown himself to be the smartest. The Congress and the Hindus consider him to be their ally. The League supporters shout, “Khizr is our brother.” Jenkins has always regarded him as a trusted crony.’

Puri, Asad and others had walked past the Bharat Insurance Building, towards the junction of Anarkali and Mall Road. Asad called out to a man coming from the direction of Lucky Lines on a bicycle, ‘Hey, Abdul! Where are you off to?’

‘I’d come to see the Congress procession on Mall Road. The buggers were exposed today,’ replied Abdul in a hoarse voice.

‘What’s wrong with your voice? Were you in this morning’s march?’

‘Of course!’

‘I heard that the news is out, that toady Khizr is now your brother. Has he joined the League?’ Asad asked.

‘After all he’s a Muslim, not a kafir like you,’ replied Abdul. ‘The Congress finally showed its true colours today; soon it’ll be the turn of you communists to be exposed.’

‘What d’you mean true colours?’

‘Haven’t you heard?’ Abdul said in disbelief. ‘The Congress minister in the Unionist Cabinet led a march on Mall Road this evening. The Congress people have torn off the green from their tricolour flag. We’re glad that they’ve admitted that the Muslims are not with them. Quaid-e-Azam has always said that the Congress could never be a representative of the Muslims, that it was a organization of and for the Hindus.’

‘Are you telling the truth? You saw the torn flag, or just heard about it?’ Asad asked in a troubled tone.

‘Saw it with my own eyes, and along with thousands of witnesses. I followed the procession up to the Assembly hall. Tara Singh pulled out his sword and shouted a challenge, “Come on, whoever is brave enough!” The long-haired bum doesn’t realize the power of Islam, that’s why he’s making threats with his knife. He supposes that his threats will bring in the government of the Congress and the Akalis. The Muslims will rule in Punjab! Who can stop the march of the true religion?’

Puri, Asad and Narendra Singh walked in silence through Anarkali bazaar. Nobody had anything to say. When they were halfway across the bazaar, Asad spoke, ‘I heard that some progressive elements of the League have sent a proposal to Jinnah saheb about forming a joint ministry with the Congress. In view of such erratic behaviour by the Congress, who knows what will come of that? No other party except the League would be able to form the ministry at the moment. The tussle between the League and the Congress has turned into a confrontation between Hindus and Muslims. This stalemate can’t be resolved by another round of Assembly elections. Whoever is a Unionist or an independent candidate at present, he too would turn into a Hindu or a Muslim. The policy of holding elections on sectarian–religious basis introduced by the British is now bearing fruit. This conflict can either be resolved by mutual agreement, or by the swords of Tara Singh and the head imam, Allama Mashriki. It means that either the Hindus or the Muslims pack up and leave Punjab, or that both should live forever under British rule.’ Puri and Narendra Singh listened in silence.

When they reached the Shiv temple in Anarkali, they found a gathering of about 150 people in the middle of the road. Shanno Devi, a well-known leader of the Congress, stood on one of the extensions for seating the customers in front of a store, and was working up to the climax of her speech, ‘My Muslim brothers, the whole record of the Congress is before
you. The Congress has never stood in the way of any reasonable concession requested by the Muslim community. If you want a separate Pakistan, or a ministry formed by the League, that too is possible through mutual talks. Those who believe in fighting are pushing the country towards political suicide.’

In the audience were Sharma-ji and Sodhi from the left wing of the Congress, and Hajara Singh, Pradyumna, Ibrahim and others from the Communist Party. They asked Asad and Narendra Singh to stay behind. Puri returned home.

On the morning of 4 March, there was again a ring of excitement in the cries of the newspaper vendors. The news headlines were sensational. The
Chhatrapati
daily newspaper read: Disappointment in League circles! The governor of Punjab refuses to allow the Khan of Mamdote, leader of the League in the Assembly, to form the new ministry without Hindu and Sikh members.

The
Siasat
daily said: The Congress and the Hindus refuse to recognize the democratic rights of the League. Master Tara Singh threatens to resolve the issue by the sword. The Congress and the Akalis insist on leaving the fate of Punjab in the hands of the governor.

Nearly every Hindu newspaper carried the news of street demonstrations in several cities of Punjab against the League ministry, and the news in the Muslim press described the mood of joy following the break-up of the Unionist ministry, and of marches in support of a League ministry. The papers also carried the news of processions planned and organized jointly by all parties of the Hindus and the Sikhs.

The people of Bhola Pandhe’s Gali were pleased with the governor’s decision. Babu Govindram said, ‘Khizr’s ministry had plenty of Muslims in it. Khizr is a little less sectarian than the rest of the pack. The League wants to have a tyrannical, anti-Hindu rule similar to Aurangzeb’s. The British won’t tolerate such injustice.’

Masterji gave his opinion, ‘If the League comes to power, Urdu will be made compulsory in all the schools just as the Koran, a compulsory textbook. Just watch.’

Puri tried to reason, ‘That can’t happen if there’s a joint League–Congress ministry. The Unionist ministry had a mix of Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. The League ministry will also have some Hindu members. The difference
is that the Unionists were pro-British, and the League Muslims are anti-British. Jinnah and other leaders of the League are political Muslims, not religious Muslims. They’re just power-hungry. There can’t be separate laws for Hindus and Muslims.’

Masterji stopped him, ‘Don’t you know that Hindus and Muslims have different laws relating to marriage and inheritance? Their holidays are different too. Under a League government, there would be no holiday for Diwali, and four holidays each for Id and Muharram, for what you know!’

Doctor Prabhu Dayal had returned late at night, and therefore came down to join the others a little later. He said in a conspiratorial voice, ‘Bhai, it’s all the fault of our Hindu and Congress leaders. Doctor sahib told us last evening what Khizr had been saying for the last two months: Just have a minor Hindu–Muslim riot at the time of a League procession, and I’ll straighten out these mischief-makers in no time. The Congress leaders were hoping for a rapprochement with the League. How long could the governor wait? He will himself deal with the leaders now. That’s why he told the Khan of Mamdote that the Cabinet must have some Hindu and Sikh representation, or he can’t form a ministry.’

Mahesh came to the office of
Pairokaar
around noon from Golbagh. Police had opened fire on the meeting of Hindu and Sikh students. He said, ‘The police began firing at the crowd without any warning. Some pedestrians going along Upper Mall Road outside Golbagh were also fired upon, and a student watching from the veranda of the boarding house of Government College beside the road was shot dead. The crowd at Golbagh has dispersed, but this matter won’t end there.’ Mahesh had also heard about clashes in Mazang and Neela Gumbad. A curfew was likely to be imposed soon; therefore he wanted to make the rounds of those areas too.

Puri suddenly remembered. He said to Indranath, ‘My sister had gone to the library of Dayal Singh College. If the disturbances spread or the curfew is imposed, it won’t be easy for her to return home. I’ll just go up to the library. If she’s left, I’ll come back at once, or take her home and come back immediately.’ He borrowed Indranath’s bicycle.

Tara was still at the library. There were about ten other students there, and Asad. Everyone was worried. A student of Dayal Singh College, Nihal Chand, had been wounded in the Golbagh shooting. At the library, Puri got the news of knife attacks at Delhi Gate and Mochi Gate.

Asad told Puri that Tara had been about to go home, but they asked her to wait when the news of the disturbances came. Bhardwaj, an MA student, was also at the library. He had his own motorcar. Bhardwaj agreed to drop Tara at her gali inside Shahalami bazaar.

Puri returned to the office. He gave Bhagat Ram and Indranath further news about the escalating conflict. Bhagat Ram was concerned, ‘Who knows where it might break out again?’ His house was in a Muslim area in Kila Gujjar Singh. ‘Who knows what will come out of the shenanigans of Master Tara Singh and Dr Bhargava?’ Puri and Indranath had similar views on the situation.