THE%20SINDH%20STORY

When Tilak visited Sindh in 1920, young men pulled his carriage; women for the
first time came out of their seclusion and offered arati to him. Tilak was
overwhelmed. He wrote in his paper Kesari: “If every province had men like Dr.
Choithram,we could break the chains of bondage in no time.”
When Tilak died on 1 August 1920, Jairamdas and other Sindhi leaders had their
heads shaved. They were afraid that the Freedom Movement would grind to a
halt. They were only too delighted to see “Karmaveer” Gandhi --- as the
Mahatma was then known --- carry the movement forward to new heights.
When Gandhiji gave the call to oppose the Rowlatt Act, Jethmal Parasram, an
ardent theosophist, invited people to a course of suffering and sacrifice ---
Kalalkay haat kusan jo kope wahay --- that earned him two years rigorous
imprisonment When the Amritsar session of the Congress was held, Sindh sent a
Jallianwala Special train with delegates. When the Prince of Wales visited
Karachi on 17 March 1922, not a single man from the public went to receive him;
and one could not get either a cigarette or a cup of tea anywhere in the city.
Karachi also made history when Bharati Krishna Tirth, the revolutionary
Shankaracharya of Puri, was put up for trial along with Maulana Mohammed Ali,
Maulana Shaukat Ali and Kitchlew, in the historic Karachi Conspiracy Case in
Khalikdina Hall --- from 26 September, 1921, to 4 November, 1922. Gandhiji
described it as “one of the most important of all modern trials”.
The administration was so flustered that it started to subsidize pro-government
mullahs. And when it could not get actual mullahs, it did not hesitate to invent
some. Ranjhe Khan Jamadar was asked to produce some Mullahs for the award
of “Peace Medals” Being at a loss as to what to do, he submitted fictitious names
of Pir Thagrial (Pir Rag-Tag) and Pir Thekrathoo (Pir Bogus). For these “services”
he was duly presented to Collector Bolus --- and promoted as subedar!
The administration also turned a blind eye to dacoities --- to harass the Hindus,
who were pro-Congress. When the people -protested, they were told to “Go to
Gandhi” --- and ask him to catch the dacoits.
The 1930-32 “Satyagraha” movement was a huge success in Sindh. In town after
town, people would go round, collecting foreign cloth, heaping it on donkeybacks,
and then making huge bonfire of it --- RS viewers impromptu tossed their
felt hats etc. into the raging fire. A penniless Muslim peasant in Jacobabad had
only his saunti (thick short wooden stick) to give. 1t was put to auction, and it
fetched 250 rupees.
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