Recently Raghu, one my readers, had drawn my attention to an article (“Radioactive Rebels” in Outlook magazine, April 20, 2009) of an unrecognized revolt by some Signalmen in the Signals Training Centre, Jabalpur February 26, 1946, against the British Raj.
According to the article 120 men of the 'J' company of the Signals Training Centre (STC), Jabalpur, defied their British superiors a broke free from their barracks. Part of a radio signalling unit, they were angry at the abuse heaped on them by their British counterparts. They were also upset at the incarceration of two Indian National Army (INA) officers at Red Fort in Delhi. The ranks of the mutineers swelled to 1,700 men, armed with nothing more than Congress and Muslim League flags. The protest was peaceful till they were bayonet charged by the Somerset Light Infantry to break up the revolt. Eighty men were court-martialled and dismissed without pay and pension and 41 others were sent to prison.
According to the article, the British hushed up the whole incident and destroyed most of the records. However, Forty-one others were sent to prison. But the incident was quickly hushed up. The British officers stationed in Jabalpur were replaced by Indian officers and most of the records destroyed. This part of unwritten role of armed forces in Indian freedom would have remained so till Maj Gen VK Singh (retd.) chanced upon the information while collating material for the third volume of the official history of the Corps of Signals.
He has included the details of the Jabalpur mutiny his recent book “The Contribution of the Indian Armed Forces to the Freedom Movement.”
He chanced upon the few remaining records of the Jabalpur mutiny while working on the official history of the Corps of Signals. He has already published the second volume of the corps's history and is busy collating material for the third and final volume. According to Maj Gen VK Singh, the Jabalpur mutiny so soon after the Naval mutiny became a matter of grave concern to the British colonial rulers. .
Of course, the men who took part in the revolt for the cause of Indian freedom were forgotten after independence.
This was not the only mutiny during the last days of the Raj. Writing in the Mainstream, (Vol XLVI No 41 October 1, 2008), the author Ajeet Jawed says “between March 1942 and the beginning of 1946 there were 19 uprisings in the Royal Indian Navy alone.” The most important and tragic was the Royal Indian Naval revolt that started with a strike in Bombay by naval ratings of HMIS Talwar February 18, 1946, just a week earlier than the army mutiny at Jabalpur. Like the naval army men the naval ratings were also protesting against the racist behaviour of Royal Navy personnel towards Indian sailors and against the prosecution of two INA officers in Delhi. The mutiny evoked widespread public support and Bombay observed a general strike in sympathy on February 19. It was suppressed with British troops with casualties on both sides.
According to Ajeet Jawed, the naval ratings strike spread within 48 hours to “almost all the ships at anchor and on the sea and establishments ashore in India and abroad. Even the units at far-flung Aden and Bahrain did not remain unaffected. In all 74 ships, four flotillas and 20 shore establishments (including three major naval bases) joined the strike. The ratings pulled down the Union Jack and raised the tricolour (Congress), crescent (Muslim League) and hammer-sickle (Communist Party) flags on the mastheads of the rebel ships.”
The revolt in Bombay also triggered sympathetic vibrations in distant Karachi, Morvi and Manora as well. He says, about 1200 airmen of the Royal Indian Air Force also went on a procession in support of their strike on Februray 20. Indian officers of the RIAF refused to fly out troops, and the transport units refused to carry British troops to fight the naval ratings and the Indian officers refused to pilot planes to bomb the ships.
The mutiny was called off following after senior Congress leader Vallabh Bhai Patel met the strike committee leaders and requested them to end it. The Muslim League chief Mohammed Ali Jinnah also made similar call. Of course, politicians did not help the mutineers from being court-martialled and dismissed from service. And after independence in India and Pakistan they were never reinstated. They were either incarcerated or rendered jobless.
Their struggle was not recognized for a long time after independence. The Congress government of the time probably wanted to ignore this important chapter in India’s freedom struggle because there were many Communist sympathisers among the naval mutineers. However, they were later accorded the status of freedom fighters.
But all the army men who revolted in Jabalpur have not been accorded this recognition so far. According to the Outlook article Lance Naik Neelakantan Nair, one of the survivors of the mutiny appealed to the Kerala High Court seeking redress. Though the court directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Kerala government to look into the matter nothing came of it. The MHA in a letter dated February 14, 2003 (No 8/2/2003-FF-P), stated that the issue of granting freedom fighter status to the mutineers had been "considered and it has been decided at the level of the home minister that they cannot be treated as freedom fighters."
What is more important in the current political context when BJP has come out in strong support of the armed forces demands its election manifesto, is the then Home minister and BJP’s present prime ministerial aspirant L.K. Advani did not find “the mutiny and its impact adequate enough to club it with the freedom struggle.” However, thanks to the efforts of the Corps of Signals the signals corps 41, out of over 1,700 mutineers, were granted the freedom fighters meagre pension. The others were ignored since official records showed that they had been "discharged on administrative grounds," although the discharge certificates showed they were discharged for taking part in the "Jubalpore STC mutiny".
This simple incident of forgotten history of a few hundred soldiers point to two home truths: veterans must be cautious in putting too much faith in BJP politicians’ electoral promises becoming a reality. Firstly, politicians suffer from a peculiar ailment: post-election amnesia. Secondly, even if they want to do something, the roadblocks of Babudom have to be overcome.
I have first hand experience of the mysterious ways of “Babudom blocks.” this. After independence, my father was recognized as a freedom fighter because he was imprisoned for a year during the individual satyagraha. For nearly 30 years he enjoyed the nation’s recognition as a freedom fighter more than the small pension that went with the official stamp of approval. When he passed away, my mother as the spouse of the freedom fighter was eligible for a smaller pension. However, her application was rejected as the officials of MHA wanted a copy of my father’s original prison discharge certificate after 80 years - half a century of imprisonment and 30 years of receiving the pension! My efforts when I was posted in Army Headquarters on this count were in vain. I gave up the struggle in disgust as the watchdogs of government would not relent. My mother died without ever getting the pension that was her due.
The moral of the story: it is Babus who rule India. During the British rule it was British Babudom that held the sway. The only change after independence is the change in the colour of its skin. So veterans should be prepared for a long haul for OROP to come through even if the political heads nod in agreement, unless the mandarins of Babudom will it.
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