Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This is the Congress Radio calling on 42.34 metres from somewhere in India, Usha Mehta's voice rang defiant and clear to the entire country on a ghost transmitter. These words would come to reverberate across the struggle for Indian independence.

It was August 1942. The Quit India Movement had just been launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi. Inspired by his rallying cry, the twenty-two-year-old student of Wilson College stumbled upon the idea to start an underground radio station to cut through the imperial din of the government's mouthpiece, the All India Radio. Risking it all for the country in the face of crackdown, Mehta and her intrepid co-conspirators filled Indian airwaves with the heady zeal of rebellion.

The clandestine station-Congress Radio- broadcast recorded messages from Gandhi and other prominent leaders to devoted followers of the freedom struggle. Moving from location to location to dodge authorities, reporting on events from Chittagong to Jamshedpur, the radio station fought the propaganda and disinformation of the colonial government for nearly three months-until their arrest and imprisonment in November of the same year.

In this riveting account, Usha Thakkar brings to life this high-voltage tale of derring-do, complete with stouthearted revolutionaries, thrilling escapes and a cruel betrayal, through the extraordinary story of Usha Mehta, the woman who briefly became, quite literally, the voice of the resistance.

USHA THAKKAR is President, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya, Mumbai. She retired as Professor and Head, Department of Political Science, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai. She has done her postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago on a Fulbright Fellowship; at Cornell University on a Senior Fulbright Fellowship; and at York University on a WID Fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. She was also a visiting fellow at Sheffield City Polytechnic, UK. The Asiatic Society of Mumbai has conferred an honorary fellowship on her. She has been vice-president, Asiatic Society of Mumbai, and also of Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan.

Her research areas include Gandhian Studies, Women's Studies, and Indian Politics. Her publications (authored/co-authored/co-edited) include Gandhi in Bombay: Towards Swaraj, Understanding Gandhi: Gandhians in Conversation with Fred J. Blum; William Erskine, Women in Indian Society, Zero Point Bombay: In and Around Horniman Circle, Culture and the Making of Identity in Contemporary India; Pushpanjali: Essays on Gandhian themes in honour of Dr. Usha Mehta; and Ghunghat Ka Pat Khol (a collection of short stories by women writers in Gujarati). She has contributed to many prestigious journals and has also presented papers at many national and international conferences.

The story of the underground Congress Radio is a fascinating but yet to be explored segment of history that demands attention because of the integral role it played in India's freedom struggle. It is the story of a zealous group of young patriots who operated the Congress Radio, passionately propagating the message of freedom and disseminating information about the struggle against the coercive rule of the British government. The account of their enterprise is both compelling and inspiring, for not only did they make history within a brief span of time, but they also transmitted reliable news to the people, generating confidence among them and unnerving the British. Equally impressive was the power of the Radio to kindle the flame of freedom in the hearts of its listeners and inspire them during those bleak and difficult times. At the same time, it communicated to the youth the immense value of ideals and dreams and how significant voluntary and arduous efforts were to make these seemingly impossible dreams a reality.

The contribution of the courageous and empathetic Professor Usha Mehta (Ushaben), the only woman in the group, is particularly important. Born on 25 March 1920 at Saras village in the Surat district of Gujarat, she grew up to be a bright student in Bombay (now Mumbai) and carved a niche for herself as a freedom fighter in India's history. Despite being awarded the prestigious Padma Vibhushan by the government of India and known as a scholar of eminence, she never lost touch with people at the grassroots level. She had imbibed Gandhian values early in her life: her friends and well-wishers were charmed by her simplicity, humility and warm-heartedness. Her contribution to the operation of the underground Congress Radio in 1942 was exceptional.

'The times of 1942 were exhilarating; those days were so wonderful! How do I describe them?' Ushaben said, her tiny frame erect, her hair neatly tied in a bun and her large shining eyes overwhelmed by memories of those electrifying days. Recapturing the quintessence of those times she murmured her favourite lines from William Wordsworth:

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive But to be young was very heaven.

**Contents and Sample Pages**