Just read this from a column by Yogesh Pawar in DNA today . So truly he has commented on the shenanigans of the dhongi baba.
Repeated invocations of Mahatma Gandhi at the recent mela at Ramlila grounds in Delhi causes one to compare these events with Gandhi’s satyagraha against the British salt tax in colonial India in may, 1930. A scene that particularly holds one in thrall is what transpired outside the Dharasana salt works, Gujarat. I was only in the 5th or 6th standard when Attenboroughs Gandhi was released and I had watched it with gusto . The scenes of the lathi blows on the hapless satyagrahis of the Dandi yatra is particularly rivetting. BTW this film had also given the first Oscar to an Indian – Bhanu Aththaiyya for costume designing — way b4 Amir Khan and his entourage were vying for one for his Lagaan
Following the conclusion of the salt march to Dandi, Gandhi decided to march to Dharasana next. The Mahatma, who never believed in subterfuge, wrote to then-Viceroy Lord Irwin on may 4, 1930, about his intention. He was promptly arrested and so were other leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabbhai Patel.The responsibility of leading the march fell on Sarojini Naidu. she warned satyagrahis of potential violence and told them not to retaliate or even ward-off blows. on may 21, as batch after batch of satyagrahis approached the salt pans, police charged and began clubbing them with steel tipped lathis.
American journalist Webb Miller of the United Press, an eyewitness to this British barbarism, wrote a moving description of how no marcher resisted. “they went down like ten-pins (sic). from where I stood, I heard the sickening whack of clubs on unprotected skulls. the waiting crowd groaned and sucked in their breaths in sympathetic pain at every blow. at times, the spectacle of unresisting men being methodically bashed into bloody pulp sickened me so much I had to turn away… I felt an indefinable sense of helpless rage and loathing, almost as much against the men who were submitting unresistingly to being beaten as against the police wielding the clubs…” he said in his report, and added, “bodies toppled over in threes and fours, bleeding from great gashes on their scalps. group after group walked forward, sat down, and submitted to being beaten into insensibility.
Finally, enraged by the non-resistance, the police commenced savagely kicking seated men in the abdomen and testicles. the injured men writhed and squealed in agony, which seemed to inflame the fury of the police who then began dragging them by the arms or feet, sometimes for a 100 yards, and throwing them into ditches.”
The ensuing publicity attracted world attention to the Indian Independence movement and brought into question the legitimacy of british rule in india like never before. how does this compare with the modern air-conditioned satyagraha in full view of as many as 50 television crews? Surely is this milking of gandhi and his signature protests even worth a comparison?
The dhongi baba’s escape in a salwar kameez is even more amusing. In fact, when the camera ( the TV crew assembled there ) panned to the restive crowd picking up bricks, stones and even fire extinguishers to use as missiles. fleeing, worrying about safety and then the retaliation by Shriman Ramdev calling to create armies of volunteers from each district of the country may be as easy as his stomach-pumping. but it requires a real brave-heart to face blows and shame the attacker into stopping.
nuff said
