October in History

T.N. Kundra

2 October, 1869 : Birth of a messiah - apostle of peace, non-violence and truth - Father of Indian nation, Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi, whom world owns as it’s own.

2 October, 1904 : Birth of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, who shortly after winning war against Pakistan in 1965 died in Tashkent in pursuit of peace. He gave a new slogan to the nation, ‘Jai Jawan-Jai Kisan’.

2 October, 1911 : Gandhiji gave up European dress, wore only hand-spun Khadi and made milk, fruit and dried fruits as his diet.

17 October, 1913 : Gandhiji visited New Castle (South Africa) and urged indentured Indians to cease work till 3 pound tax (which every Indian was required to pay) was repealed.

23 October, 1943 : Formation of Provisional Government of Free India in exile (Arzee Hukumate Hind) at Singapore by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

24 October, 1913 : South African Indians under the command of Mahatma Gandhi begin Grand March to Transwal to court arrest on 28 October, 1913.

24 October, 1946 : Formation of United Nations by the victors of World War II at San Francisco to ward off wars.

31 October, 1878 : Birth of Iron Man of India - Sardar Patel - an able administrator and staunch Gandhite. He succeeded to get the accession of more than 650 Indian states to Indian Union.

Lord Mountbatten before leaving India wrote to Sardar Patel on June 19, 1948. "There is no doubt that the most important achievement in respect of states was the accession to the dominion of India. Had you failed in this, result would have had disastrous consequences that you avoided."

Gandhiji also shared this view. He said - "The task of dealing with Princes was truly formidable, but I am convinced that Sardar was the only person who could have coped with it."

31 October, 1984 : Murder of Bharat Ratna, Smt. Indira Gandhi, by her own bodyguards. She, in war with Pakistan in 1971, gave it a crushing defeat reducing its size to half, forcing its 90,000 soldiers to lay arms resulting in the birth of a new country, Bangladesh.

SOME MARTYRS IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER

7 October, 1915 : Shri Chit Priya Rai Chaudhary and his classfellow Shri Manoranjan Sen Gupta of Midnapore sentenced to death in Balasore on 7 October, 1915 and hanged on 22 November, 1915.

17 October, 1933 : Shalesh Chatterji under detention in Deoli Detention Camp died due to the negligence of medical officer.

25 October, 1934 : Ram Krishan Roy, who shot dead District Magistrate Bunga in Midnapore, was hanged in Midnapore jail.

26 October, 1934 : Anath Bandhu Panja, Nirmal Ghosh and Brij Kishore Chaudhary succeeded in the assault on the Magistrate Burga, who was seriously wounded. Anath Bandhu Panja was shot dead. Nirmal Ghosh and Brij Kishore were hanged.

Father of the Nation
The nation remembers Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary on 2nd October	The nation pays tribute to Sardar Vallabhai Patel on his 123rd birth anniversary on 31st October.
	Bharat Ratna
The nation pays tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 97th birth anniversary on 2nd October.	The nation pays homage to Smt. Indira Gandhi, who fell to the bullets of an assasin on 31st October 1984