Usha Mehta Age, Death, Husband, Children, Family, Biography & More » StarsUnfolded
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Date of death: November 8, 2000
Age: 80
marital status: Single
Some Lesser Known Facts About Usha Mehta
- Usha Mehta is a Gandhian and Indian freedom fighter. She is remembered for setting up an underground radio station during Mahatma Gandhi’s “Quit India Movement” in 1942. The station was named “Secret Congress Radio” and was used to deliver secret messages from India’s great leaders to ordinary people and Indian prisoners. British rule. In 1998, she was awarded India’s second highest civilian award “Padma Vibhushan” by the Government of India.
- In 1925, Usha Mehta met Mahatma Gandhi when he was five years old. Then he visited his ashram in Ahmedabad. Little Usha also took part in the spinning wheel and listened carefully to Mahatma Gandhi’s speech when he visited her village to campaign. In 1928, at the age of eight, she took part in various protests led by Mahatma Gandhi and chanted “British Rule: Simon Back” against the Simon Council. Usha revealed her childhood memories in a conversation with a media company. she says,
Even when I was a kid, I was content to break the law and do something for the country. “
- Soon, Usha Mehta and other little girls from her village staged several protests in India against the British government. She also set up a picket line in front of the liquor store. In one protest, a girl carrying an Indian flag was pushed over by police and fell during a Lati charge. She, along with the other children, complained about it to their leaders. The leaders decided to provide three-color clothing for the upcoming protests. In the ensuing campaign against British rule, Usha and the children were seen protesting in tricolour (saffron, white and green) dresses. See the children shouting,
Police, you can wave your club and your baton, but you can’t lower our flag. “
- Initially, Usha Mehta’s father disapproved of her participation in freedom struggle movements and protests. In 1930, when her father retired as a judge, Usha’s family moved from Gujarat to Mumbai to take part in India’s struggle for freedom. Her father lifted restrictions on attending protests shortly after their shift. Usha began participating in the Quit India movement in 1932.
- Initially, when Usha joined the movement in 1932, she started selling packets of salt as part of Gandhi’s “Salt March” campaign. The Salt March was organized by Mahatma Gandhi to monopolize and regulate the Indian Salt Corporation in India. She also began distributing secret messages, bulletins and publications to Indian prisoners and their relatives.
- The Indian National Congress and Mahatma Gandhi announced their withdrawal from the Indian movement on August 8, 1942. Mahatma Gandhi delivered his anti-British speech on this day at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai (now Mumbai). However, Mahatma Gandhi and other key leaders were secretly arrested by the British before 8 August 1942 and were therefore unable to speak at mass gatherings.
- In 1942, Usha Mehta decided to continue studying law. However, she gave up her studies to join the “Quit India Movement” led by Mahatma Gandhi.
- On August 14, 1942, Usha and other freedom fighters established a secret Congressional radio station to broadcast secret messages from leaders of the Movement to Quit India to the public. The radio began airing on August 27, 1942. The first words Usha Mehta said on this secret radio station were,
This is what Congress Radio is calling for [a wavelength of] 42.34 meters from somewhere in India. ”
- Usha Mehta’s companions transmitting and providing radio equipment were Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, Babubhai Thakkar and Nanka Motwani. Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyutrao Patwardhan and Purushottam Trikamdas were the leaders who helped Usha Mehta set up the secret Congress Radio in 1942.
- Important announcements from Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent leaders are broadcast to the public on this secret Congressional broadcast. The organizers of the station change the location of the station every day to avoid arrest.
- Initially, the secret station started broadcasting messages twice a day. The languages used are Hindi and English. Soon, they only started broadcasting once between 7.30 and 8.30 pm.
- The secret station only broadcast the secret message three times. The first broadcast was related to Japanese airstrikes on British troops in what is now Chittagong in Bangladesh. The second broadcast was in February-March 1943, when she relayed the Jamshedpur strike. The radio station provided the information as workers went on strike for 13 days at Tata Steel. Workers went on strike in support of the Quit India movement as the mill was the largest steel mill in the British Empire. In January 1944, the third secret message aired for a week. This is related to the Ashti and Chimur riots where the police openly dismissed the people and several Congress leaders were arrested by them.
- Usha Mehta was responsible for leaking secret British government information to Indian agitators. In a conversation with a media company, Usha called it the “best moment” to be part of a secret radio station.
- In an interview with the media, Usha Mehta said that when no newspaper dared to do so, the secret radio dared to broadcast important information to the agitators in India in the “Quit India” movement. She revealed,
When newspapers were afraid to touch on these topics under the circumstances, only Congressional Radio could defy orders and tell people what actually happened. “
- An Indian technician disclosed information about the secret radio to the authorities. Usha Mehta and her companions were arrested by the police on November 12, 1942. She was later imprisoned for six months and interrogated by the Indian police and CID. She was held in solitary confinement and proposed by the British to study abroad as a betrayal of the Quit India movement.
- During her time in jail and in court, she chose to remain silent and not answer any questions in court. After the trial, she was sentenced to four years in prison at Yelavda Prison in Pune. At the same time, she was unwell for a period of time and was admitted to Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai, now Mumbai. Gradually, her health improved after being hospitalized, where guards kept watch over her. She was again sent to Yelavda Prison in Pune.
- In March 1946, she was released from prison on the orders of Morarji Desai, the then interim government interior minister. Usha was the first political prisoner to be released from a Mumbai prison.
- On April 20, 1946, a news article from the secret radio station was published in the Blitz newspaper along with a photo of Usha Mehta.
- In an interview with the BBC, she had previously revealed equipment seized by police from their underground station. she says,
They confiscated equipment and 22 boxes containing photos of Congress meetings and sound films. “
- When she was released from prison in 1946, she was not healthy enough to take part in any social and political work, not even the official event for Indian independence in 1947.
- Soon, she submitted a dissertation on Gandhi’s political and social thought, and went on to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Mumbai. After completing her PhD, she worked as an assistant professor, lecturer and professor at the University of Mumbai for 30 years. She was also appointed Head of the Department of Citizenship and Politics at the University of Mumbai. Usha Mehta retired from Mumbai University in 1980.
- In an interview with Rediff, Usha was asked about her expectations for an independent India as a freedom fighter. Then she replied,
Our expectations were not fulfilled. Overall, our dreams have not yet come true. Except in one or two directions, I don’t think we’re going the way Gandhi wanted us to. His dream India is the place with the lowest unemployment – where people can get some handicrafts to earn a living wage. There is no distinction on the basis of community, caste or religion.
- After India’s independence in 1947, Usha Mehta began writing books and articles in English and Gujarati based on her experiences in socio-political movements.The titles of several books she has written are – 1981’s 1977-80 Experiment, Women and Men Voters, 1991 Gandhi’s Contribution to Women’s Liberation, Vishv Ki Kaljayi Mahilaye, Antar Nirantar, 2000’s Mahatma Gandhi and Humanism, Dance South India and other places
- Usha Mehta is proud to lead the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi. The internal affairs of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan are also monitored by Usha Mehta. She has participated in various Independence Day celebrations organized by the Indian government on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of India’s freedom.
- In the last years of her life, she remained dissatisfied with the way India’s society, economy and politics were developing. In a conversation with India Today, Usha said,
Of course, this is not the freedom we fought for. Once people sit in positions of power, they rot. We had no idea that rot could get into trouble so quickly. “India survived as a democracy and even built a good industrial base. However, this is not the India of our dreams.”
- In 1998, she was awarded the second highest civilian award named Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.
- Ram Manohar Lohia, an activist for the Indian independence movement, wrote a note to Usha Mehta about her great passion and contribution to Gandhi’s ideas. Notes read,
I don’t know you personally, but I admire your courage and enthusiasm, and your desire to contribute to the fire of sacrifice ignited by Mahatma Gandhi. “
- Usha Mehta lives a simple and frugal life. She used to travel by bus instead of car. Clothes made by hand and cady are what she has worn all her life. At times, she managed to make a living on tea and bread. She used to get up at 4am and work late into the night.
- Usha Mehta is prompted to do or die. We either liberate India or die in what he called Mahatma Gandhi’s slogan…
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