Remembering Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi

Martyrs are born and seldom made Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was one of them. Born on October 26, (117 years ago) in 1890 in Allahabad, he passed the high school examination and joined the Kayastha Pathshala in Allahabad. In 1906-07 national leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Gopal Krishna Gokhale visited Allahabad and sought Vidyarthi’s support for national struggle.

Allahabad during this period was humming with both literary and political activities. It had periodicals like Hindi Pradeep, Swarajya, Karmayogi and Abhyudaya carrying articles on freedom of press, slavery, revolutionary upsurge and even cult of bomb and the students of Muir Central College, assumed an attitude of open defiance to the moderate leaders of U.P. Even Sunderlal and M.M. Malaviya were openly abused. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi as a student became more attracted towards political journalism and started working in the Swarajya office. But the Urdu weekly was warned in 1908 and its editor Shanti Narain Bhatnagar was convicted in July and sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment. Although four editors, Hotilal Verma, Ram Hari, Nand Gopal and Laddh Ram were sentenced each to 10 years transportation for preaching sedition

Within a year of its emergence, the Pratap brought out its special number in September 1914. It was entitled Rashtriya Ank with Bharatmata in the garb of Chandi, flanked by two lions as its special feature and photograph of Mahatma Gandhi as a satyagrahi on it. It was priced at four annas and had 60 pages. Amongst its contributors were Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Maithili Saran Gupta, Munshi Prem Chand, Vidyavati Seth B.A., Syed Haider Hussian, Badrinath Bhatt B.A., Srimati Balaji, Satayanarayana Kaviratna and Janardhan Bhatt B.A. Naturally such a number enabled the Pratap to establish its reputation in Hindi journalism. By November 1914, the editor had made his debut as self-appointed champion of the mill-workers, the coolie-emigrants and the exploited kisans of Champaran.

Having worked with the Swarajya, the Karmayogi and the Abhyudaya (Allahabad), Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was conscious of the tentacles of the Press Act. But his debut as a youthful and dynamic editor showed that he was heedless of the consequences of the action which could be taken against him. So he fearlessly continued his advocacy of the peasants working in Champaran indigo plantations, the coolie emigrants in overseas colonies and the mill-workers of Kanpur. On 23 April at 2.00 a.m. the Deputy Inspector-General of Police raided the houses of the editor, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, and the keeper of the Pratap press, Shiv Narain Misra.

According to an eye witness there were at that time only two chairs in the newspaper office, one was occupied by the D.I.G. and the other by the City Kotwal. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi took exception to it and asked the Kotwal, Baqar Ali, to vacate the chair, as he was on duty as editor. As soon as the chair was vacant, he occupied it and thereafter protested to the D.I.G. against his breaking open the almirahs.

Having built up the Pratap press and the paper by sheer personal valour and labour, sacrifice and exemplary courage, it was a proud day for Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi to declare it public property. So a trust was created and registered as such in March 1919. The trustees included Maithili Saran Gupta, Chirgaon, Dr. Jawahar Lal Rohtagi, Phoolchand, Shiv Narain Misra Vaidya Kapur, and Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi.

In the words of M.Chalapathi Rau, “Gandhi was probably the greatest journalist of all times and the weeklies he ran and edited were probably the greatest weeklies the world has known.” It was he who evolved the technique of the press acting as a weapon of Satyagraha. And the publication of the Satyagrahi on 7 April 1919 opened a new vista in the role of Press in the freedom struggle. Gandhiji issued detailed instructions as to how civil disobedience was to be offered by selling proscribed books and publishing unregistered newspaper.

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was always alert and resourceful. Maithali Saran Gupta related one interesting anecdote. When he was sitting in the Pratap office a person came and talked to the manager of the press. There after he demanded a printed cover (envelope) of the Pratap and then got the address of the then Viceroy written on that. As he was known as a writer on Indian states the matter went to Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi. The resourceful editor got scent of the whole matter and decided to get the envelope taken out of the letter box. It was revealed from the contents of the letter that vulgar and abusive matter was being sent to the Viceroy in Pratap envelope, relating to the then princely states so that action might be taken against the paper.

In the words of Banarsidas Chaturvedi, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi created good many literatures made writers and literary men into budding journalists. In this respect Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was a true disciple of his master, Acharya Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, editor of the Saraswati. His magazine was many sided in its interests and was widely read. The Saraswati was acknowledged to be the best produced journal of its times. During the eighteen years of his editorship. Dwivedi was identified with the propagation of Khari Boli as against Brij Bhasa. Amongst other journalists who were making a great contribution to Hindi journalism and enrichment of Hindi, were Balmukund Gupta of the Bhrat Mitra, Laxmi Narayn Garde, Baurao Vishnu Paradkar and the Malaviyas at Allahabad. With the emergence of the Pratap, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi came into prominence and then followed Banarsidas Chaturvedi, Brindaban Lal Varma, Krishna Dutt Paliwal, Bal Krishna Sharma ‘Navin’, Dshrath Prasad Dwivedi, Makahan Lal Chaturvedi and a host of others.

A number of events rocked India in early 1931. One of them took place at Allahabad on the morning of 27 February 1931, in which Chandra Shekhar Azad, leader of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, was shot dead in an encounter with the police. The other was execution of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Shivram Rajguru at Lahore on 23 March 1931, despite countrywide protests and appeal for clemency. A communal tension is reported to have caused Vidyarthi untimely demise. Two days later his dead body was found lying stuffed in a gunny bag in a hospital. Though his face had been badly disfigured, he could be identified due to his white khadi clothes. His identity was further confirmed by the three letters found in his pocket which he had scribbled on the fateful morning of 25 March.

Writing in young India in April 1931 Mahatma Gandhi said “I am grieved to have to inform you that. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi is reported to be missing or killed. Who would not be grieved over the death of such a genuine and earnest selfless comrade? Jawaharlal Nehru in his speech on 27 March 1931 paid equally handsome tribute to him, when he said, “It is reported that one of my dear friends, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, president of U.P. Provincial Congress Committee, has been killed in the course of rioting. Like the true brave Congressmen that he was he must have rushed to the point of danger and tried to pacify the people who were killing each other. If he has met the death in this manner, it is as a true Indian should meet it”.

* The author is a former press secretary to President R Venkatraman.

- Asian Tribune -