Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was truly a progressive liberal person.
There was no place for communalism and narrow mindedness of any kind in the world of Vidyarthi. Caste, creed, religion or gender were of no consideration to him. He knew that the key to the success of India lay in all the Indians standing together as one person against the strong and wily alien enemy named British.
But the situation was not good. The country was suffering from repeated bouts of communal carnages mainly between Hindus and Muslims. The society was being torn apart. It was viciating the atmosphere. The air was full of rumours, hatred and suspicion.
The British were happy at this situation because it gave them a chance to tell the world how important it was for them to remain in India to prevent the bloodshed. This was proving ‘advantage British’. It was well known fact that many communal passion instigators were British agents.
‘Divide and rule’ was the British policy to perpetuate colonial rule. And for creating divisions communal disharmony was the best weapon.
Being a journalist Vidyarthi knew the nefarious game of the British. He did everything possible and within his means to bring harmony amongst different sections of the Indian society.
To reduce the tensions it was also essential to work out the means to bring social and economic parity between various groups.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi gave special attention to the rural upliftment plus welfare of the rural segment settled down in the cities. The poverty was mostly rooted in these sections, Even in the cities migrant rural population served at labourers, factory workers, washerman, cobblers, barbers, potters and ironsmiths. They needed to be uplifted first of all because the price rise hit them first as most of them lived hand to mouth. A slight market variation spelled doom for them.
Vidyarthi realised that the independence would not be won on the shoulders of the city folk taking part in anti-government movements. The rural sector also required to be included in the freedom effort.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi thought of setting up an organisation in Kanpur district for the same purpose. After a lot of thinking he chose Narval area because the rural folk there were brave and courageous. But they were wasting their energies in trivial matters and intercine fights. His organisation would come up at Narval, he had made up his mind.
Vidyarthi contacted prominent persons of Narval like Laxminarain and Ambika Prasad. They were working away from their own area.
He took them to their home village and on 20th February, 1929 set up ‘Narval Ashram’ in a small house. The idea perhaps was borrowed from Gandhiji’s social service ashrams. It was a great beginning. Laxminarian and Vanshidhar donated their gardens. Vishweshwara gave his 15 Biswa land to the ashram.
A small hut was raised on this land and ‘Naravl Sewa Ashram’ formally came into existence.
Later, the villagers joined this ashram and played a significant role in the freedom struggle.
But there was a failure as well here. This outfit could not come up with viable plans for the economic upliftment of the poor and the down trodden which was the basic aim of the idea.
It did not have the intensity and the clear focus that Gandhiji’s ashrams were credited with.
Vidyarthi was not satisfied with just Narval Ashram only. He wanted the true unity of the countrymen. The British conspiracy could only be defeated by the unity of all the sections of society.
The foremost on the agenda was Hindu-Muslim unity because it was creating the major division in the society. It was here that the British were playing real dirty tricks. There was no dirth of communal elements who would gladly play the British game for material gains or for dividing the country for their own selfish ends of creating a new country. Pakistan was the promised land.
Vidyarthi had a lot of nationalist Muslim friends. He called a meeting of his close friends and associates in the Pratap office. The meeting was attended by Khwaja Abduslam, Balkrishan Sharma Navin, Murtaza Hussain Abdi, Naval Kishore Bhartia, Mohammand Muzzafar etc.
The communal amity measures were discussed in detail. Finally it was felt that an organisation was needed to work for and to work out the strategies to maintain peace and communal harmony between the different sections of the society, especially the Hindus and the Muslims.
Consequently an organisation named “Akhil Bhartiya Hindustani Biradari” was unanimously set up for that purpose.
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was nominated as the Founder-Chairman of the society. Naval Kishore Bhartiya was appointed the first organiser.
In a short time the provisionary constitution was drawn up and the work started in earnest.
Vidyarthi thought that one of the simplest ways to bring the social groups together and harmonise the relations was to come together, live together, share lives and eat together. There could be no scope of untouchability and discrimination in any respect. Only a united and uniform society was the guarantee of real the unity.
In a regulation of Akhil Bhartiya Hindustani Biradari it was stipulated that in the meeting of the society Hindus and Muslims will eat something together. In eats it was suggested that Chana be an essential item as it was food of the poorest and was the cheapest. It was felt that any member holding the meeting in his home must not feel the burden of the cost of the food item required to be served.
Thus, every member of the society could call a meeting at his house without any hesitation.
The Biradari made steady progress. In a short time it branched out to Rampur, Varanasi, Itawa etc. Agenda was working nicely.
The people of all faiths Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians would get together on the occasions of Eid, Holi, Diwali, Christmas, Guru Parvas under the aegis of the society and together celebrate them in the spirit of the brotherhood. They even started giving one another feasts. On these occasions poetry sessions and other cultural programmes were also organised to add colour to the occasion.
Thus a novel experiment was on for the cause of the national solidarity and the social integration.
The ‘Biradari’ society severely condemned the attempts to spread communalism, hatred, bitternsess and antagonism by issuing fiery statements. On one occasion in the meeting organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Hindustani Biradari Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi analysed the religion in a very poignant manner.
He spoke, ‘At this hour in our country there is much talk of religions. Blood is being shed in the name of religion. The destruction is being wrought in the name of faith and belief. Bias is being flaunted in the same name. Ramua Passi and Buddhu Mian may not have any idea about the religion but in the same name they don’t fail to rage in fury and pounce at each other to kill like maddened beasts.
What a pity!
That is the story of every city. The ordinary man just loses his head without really knowing why. His fault is that he understands nothing and can think nothing on his own. He acts and does mindlessly whatever the evil forces tell him to. These cunning evil forces do so because it easily makes them leaders and the masters of the communal forces through the power of the others. It is the wickedest way to the notoriety
The ordinary man has this belief etched in his mind that sacrificing life for one’s faith is the noblest deed in the world. He is too ignorant to debate and analyse matters himself.
What does a poor common man know of the element of the religion?
For him the religion is to keep following the bloody beaten track. The cunning ones take advantage of his simpleton mind.
In the western countries the high rise buildings of the rich mock at the hutments of the poor. To keep themselves comfortably settled in luxurious apartments the rich always try the keep the poor trapped in those hutments for ever. They thrive on sucking the blood of the poor.
It is a very dangerous situation. It is what produced the communism. So far our country is not the bastion of capitalists. We only have small time traders. But here the psychological exploitation is being carried on by the merchants of communalism who suck the power of the masses.
The exploitation of poor by the rich is not so horrendous as the macabre game of the communal agents of blood shed. What a horrendous manipulation of the minds! Sometimes it looks terrible. How can an intelligent creature like a human become so pigheaded to act worse than an animal!
In the west money is flaunted to entice millions and then they are yoked into the machine to turn it and produce more money for the rich exploiter.
Here millions are made to kill one another in the name of God and faith by first brain washing them. The ignorant fools cry the names of their respected Gods and cut one another’s throats in the stupid belief that they have earned a place in the heaven for their dastardly act.
By doing so they empower the merchants of the faith and push them up a notch higher every time.
That is the sad game we see.
We should not watch all this macabre play in a resigned mood. An united effort by the people of wisdom of both sides must be made with firmness and courage to end the communal carnage. Until we don’t do so these communal fratricides will go on to the delight of the British.
There should be no hurdle in practising the faith. Each one must do it according to one’s belief. The religion and faith should be treated as one’s private affair concerning his God and soul. It should be for one’s spiritual upliftment. In no way should it become the excuse to interfere in another’s faith to take it away or for its destruction.
What faith your heart accepts practise it. Give the others also the same right. There should be no reason for two different communities to clash with each other. If a community tries to force its will on the other community it should be taken as an act of treachery against the freedom of the country which we are trying to achieve.”
Vidyarthi was a true secular by heart. He added, “In the freedom battle of India it was the darkest moment perhaps when the rabidly partial religious elements like Mullas, Maulvis, Pundits and religious gurus were given a sole to mobilise the masses. That was the greatest mistake our leaders committed.
Such mumbo-jumbo people should have been kept away from the mass politics.
In this way we started our freedom struggle from a backfoot or on wrong note. Today we are paying the price for that grave mistake. It was the freedom movement which brought people like Maulana Abdul Vasi and Shankaracharya on the centre stage and introduced them as freedom leaders. That increased their stature and image several times bigger. The result is that today they are hurting us and gnawing away at the roots of our freedom struggle besides bringing untold miseries to the millions of people. We should have known that these religion people are too narrow-minded and sectarian to understand the ethoes of a modern nation we are striving for.
They can only dream of communal hell to rule over the minds of the ignorant. Such forces are letting loose fanaticism, madness, canards and rumours to create anarchy.
Mahatma Gandhi gives importance to the religion everywhere. He was not ready to move a step without religion. But don’t jump to the conclusion. Everyone must first understand what his religion is.
By dharma or religion Gandhiji only means lofty ideals and sublime values of life. His religion is simple truths. No one can question genuineness of his beliefs. His faith is not blowing conchshells or ringing bells or answering to Azan call for namaz or speeches of hatred against other religious.
His religion is upliftment of poor, eradication of untouchability, political freedom for India and sticking to the truth. Pious conduct is his dharma.
On the other hand you worship deity for two hours or offer namaz five times and then presume that those acts give you the power to go berserk killing others, hurt others or practising dishonesty all day long. Does that make sense?
If that is religion than such religions will be destroyed by the time.
The truth is that a person will be judged in the end by his deeds and conduct. You must follow the goodness or nobility. In the end only rozas, namaz, pooja, fasts or Gayatri mantra won’t be of any help.
Such people of devilish religious beliefs are far worse than atheists who care for others and don’t make others kill other human beings.
I beseech everyone to stop being animals in the name of the religion and be human beings for God’s sake.”
Vidyarthi was an idealist who spoke from his heart which went straight to the heart of the listeners.
