Note: The Quit India Movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942 demanding ‘an orderly British ‘withdrawal’ from India. Mass protests were organised by Indian National Congress across India in support of the demand. The following account of Suhasini Das, a Congress worker, gives a glimpse of the events that unfolded in Sylhet during that tumultuous period. – BoR Editor

Suhasini Das

The Quit India Movement of 1942 is still memorable to me. Preparations were underway to conduct the movement. A Sangram Parishad was formed under the leadership of veteran Congress leader Saralabala Devi. From August 11, 1942 our program began in full swing. Every day we used to hold meetings, processions and gherao (sieges) and the local police also responded with beating and torture. But no untoward incident happened.

As planned, we picketed in front of the court on 31st August, 1942. The sky was trembling at the sound of Vande Mataram. There were volunteers in front of the judge’s room so that he could not attend the court. When the judge came in front of the room, the girls got in the way. When he tried to push a girl aside, another girl threw sandals at him.

The security guards started to scuffle with the protesters. As the commotion began, two hundred volunteers stood up to face the bullets. And taking the opportunity, Snehalata Devi took control of the judge’s chair! What a remarkable thing to do! Defying the threats from the police, she remained seated there. Probably, there was a custom that no one could be dragged down while sitting on a judge’s chair.

Snehalata Devi was the wife of the freedom fighter Upendra Dev. Upendra Dev was in jail twice. Snehalata Devi also spent six months in jail during the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Swadeshi Movement. Following some argument between the satyagrahis and the police in the judge’s room, the post office and telephone office were later attacked. As the mid-day wore on, Snehalata was still sitting on the judge’s chair. A few satyagrahis took a car and parked it at some distance from the court. In the afternoon, Snehalata suddenly left her chair, got into the car and disappeared.

Arrests began soon in the city. Despite being in hiding, Snehalata was arrested and sentenced to one year in prison. On the same day I was arrested from the court. Along with me other arrestees were Sunitibala Devi, Prafullakumari Dutta, Jaminibala Das, Hiranbala Devi, Usharani Das, Uma Chakraborty, Lilabati Dutta, Sukhda Pal Chowdhury, Shobhana Devi, Nareshnandini Dutta and Charushila Devi. Our leader Saralabala Devi was arrested on September 9.

It was a new experience in prison. There were several women security prisoners. Those who were vegetarians did not have much of a problem as there was a separate kitchen. There was a sense of pride in going to jail since we were political prisoners fighting for the country. We spent time in jail sharing stories and singing patriotic songs. Purnendu Kishore Sengupta, Nikunjabihari Goswami and others were in the next cell. At that time they were strangers to me.

Among us, Leela was a light-hearted young activist from Forward Block. She used to cut satirical rhymes about our Congress workers. She always made us forget our pains. I remember one day she wrote a lot of things making fun of the congress supporters on a small piece of paper and grabbed a pigeon and tied it to its leg. The pigeon went to the male ward while roaming around. It made the political prisoners curious. They got hold of the pigeon and took the paper and burst into laughter reading it.

After nine months some of us got released from the jail. In 1943, after coming out of the prison, the first things that I noticed were the roaring trumpet of the Second World War and the footsteps of famine in Bengal.

Suhasini Das (1915 – 2009) was an anti-British activist, social worker and politician from Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Source: SuhasiniDas, Sekaler Sylhet, Sahitya Prakash, 2nd Edition ,2009,  pp. 34-35.

Translated by Bangladesh on Record Team