One day, he made the greatest decision of his life. He waived off all the outstandings against his borrowers which he publicly announced. Zamidari was already in the process of abolition and income was receding day by day. He, therefore, opened a jewellery shop in the town and began an entirely new life. Honesty & integrity were ingrained in his character, which got him a good start in his trade. By and by, he charted a new graph of popularity around the township and nearby villages, which helped him in his business.
Very soon, he was attracted towards Gandhi Ji and Indian National Congress , as was usual, in those times. He studied Gandhi Ji’s literature and tried to follow his teachings. He stopped taking milk and ghee as Gandhi Ji preached that milk was meant for the calf only and man deprived the calf of his exclusive right over his mother’s milk. This proved very harmful for my grand father’s health, which was already in a bad shape.
On 13th July in the year 1930, an unimaginable catastrophe took place in the, otherwise, calm & peaceful atmosphere of the town. Those were turbulent times when the movement against the British was at its zenith in the country.
One, Shri. Shital Prasad Jain who belonged to our own clan was a staunch congressman. He used to deal in Khadi Cloth. There was already an adverse report against him in the police records. Our town was in the territory of Baleni police station. On the fateful day, the SHO Baleni descended in the town and tried to attach and auction the stocks of Khadi cloth in the shop of Shri. Shital Prasad Jain. Finding no buyers in the market, as usual, he got the stock loaded in a tanga and proceeded towards the Police Station which was a few kilometers away. Many people followed, shouting anti British Slogans.
After the tanga covered some distance, the crowd started pelting stones at the tonga. The Police inspector, sensing danger, fired at the crowd and the bullet hit one young man called ‘Sanwalia’ who died on the spot. The crowd ran helter skelter and the police inspector rushed to the Police Station, while the people in the town mourned the death of ‘Sanwalia’.
The police inspector was greatly perturbed over the incident and started making his report to the concerned authorities, sitting at the police station. Meanwhile, another inspector from some other police station came to see him. After hearing the details of the incident, he rebuked the inspector on writing such a mild report, warning him of the grave consequences of |
