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BOOK
REVIEW
INDIAN
RED ARMY
-Dr.
Shreeniwas Khandewale
The
book under review is a Ph.D. thesis successfully completed
by the author Dr. Satyanarayan Sharma, a veteran journalist
and at present the convener of the Indian Red Army (i.e.
Hindustani Lal Sena). The task of constructing the history
of the establishment of the Sena, its organizational changes,
its ideological conflicts, decline, revival, the present
stagnant state, etc. has been very difficult in terms of
time, travel, effort, endurance, money, etc. because the
material has not readily available on the desk. The author
had to go various places in India and also had to visit
London and New York in search of original documents.
Taking
inspiration from the movement organized by Shahid Bhagat
Singh and his colleagues, young men from the then Central
Provinces and Berar converging and acting in Nagpur established
in 1933 an organization called Indian Red Army (Hindustani
Lal Sena). The model before them was the Chinese Red Army
as reported in the book by Edger Snow. The prominent young
men leading the organization were Meganlal Bagdi, Shayamnaran
Kashmiri, Acharya V.S. Dandekar, Bhupendranath Mukherjee,
A.B. Bardhan and many others.
The
Hindustani Lal Sena leaders had the objective of armed struggle
to achieve Independence and hence organized robberies to
get money, procured arms from else-where and also attacked
the centers of British power like police stations, railway
stations, collectorates, etc. In August 1942, after Gandhiji
gave a call to the freedom fighters to do or die, the network
of the Hindustani Lal Sena fought with the British power
with considerable intensity especially in the Nagpur district
and around. The Government had to arrange for additional
army for this region. These leaders had created sufficient
hatred for the British government among the masses with
the result that they could mobilize a substantial number
of workers to be counted as a real threat to the government.
After August 1942, most of these leaders were put in jails.
The activities of freedom fighters and therefore of the
Hindustani Lal Sena also, slackened.
Thus,
the Lal Sena has made, although small but, a distinctive
and positive contribution to the movement of freedom, was
sought which was being organized in all the regions of the
country. The Lal Sena was revived twice, in 1962 and in
1967. With all its limitations, the contribution of Hindustani
Lal Sena is singular, because it appears that there was
no other organization in this region which did even this
much for independence and its consolidations.
The
book is an essential reading for post-graduate students,
teachers and researchers in economics, political science,
history and sociology. The author deserves to be congratulated
for having undertaken this difficult task.
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