Update:
After 11 a.m. Tushar Gandhi, great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Teesta Setalvad, activist, author and journalist visited August Kranti Maidan and offered their tributes. By this time the state government function at the venue was over, Both Tushar Gandhi and Teesta Setalvad spoke of the historic occasion, August 9, 2023 (81st anniversary of Quit India Day and Gandhi’s speech made on that day. The Mumbai police followed both activists to the venue.
On August 9. 1942, the call for the “Quit India Movement” was given, with the mantra of “do or die. Yusuf Meherally, a communist and labor unionist who also served as Mayor of Mumbai, coined the famous slogan and Aruna Asaf Ali unfurled the tricolour at August Kranti Maidan. Gandhi’s other slogan: “Do or Die”. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery”. The call mobilised the citizens to a huge Civil Disobedience movement as the British refused to grant independence till the World War II (1939 to 1945) was over.
————————————————————————————
“Quit India ke Din pe, Gandhiji ka Par-Pota Jail mai!!”
Today, on the 81st Anniversary of the historic QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT led by Mahatma Gandhi, we have witnessed a draconian crackdown by the BJP-led regime in Maharashtra. Our veteran Freedom Fighters have been commemorating this epic day of our freedom struggle ever since 1943 itself. Dr. G. G. Parikh who was a young student when he participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942, and who continues to lead this march even at the age of 99, is utterly distraught at this bizarre turn of events.
It’s actually for the first time that the BJP-led government is attempting to commemorate this day, a day that their ideological predecessors had opposed, even as the RSS & Hindu Mahasabha connived with the British Empire. The advertisement issued by the BJP-led government does not even mention the QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT. It’s once again clear that the BJP-RSS are trying their best, or rather their worst, to co-opt and distort our freedom struggle.
Currently, around 50 activists are being detained at the D. B. Marg Police station, and will be let off only after the official programme is over.
More worryingly, early in the morning itself, the police went to the residences of Tushar Gandhi & Teesta Setalvad, and they were clearly told that they would not be allowed to go to the August Kranti Maidan. Later, Tushar Gandhi was taken to the Santacruz Police station, whilst Teesta Setalvad was asked to stay indoors.
Every year, we, as the People’s Movement, commemorate the “Quit India Movement” by marching from the Tilak Statue at Girgaum Chowpatty to the August Kranti Maidan. But this year, we have been prevented by this communal fascist regime.
This unprecedented crackdown on this historic day of our independence movement has only strengthened our resolve to continue to resist this attack on our democratic and constitutional rights. On this day, we thus take an oath to live by the traditions of our freedom struggle and continue to defend our country and our people.
Madhu Mohite, Feroze Mithiborwala, Guddi S. L. Prabhakar Narkar, Vishwas Uthagi & Poonam Kanojiya.