Personalities in News: Usha Mehta

Context

“Ae Watan Mere Watan,” movie was released recently based on the  biography of Usha Mehta.

About Usha Mehta

• Usha Mehta was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and joined the Quit India Movement for contributing to the freedom struggle.
• Method of Struggle: 
  • She was instrumental in establishing Congress Radio, an underground radio station that operated during the Quit India Movement in 1942.

Setting Up An Underground Station

• Need: At the advent of the War in 1939, the British had suspended all amateur radio licenses across the Empire. 
  • Operators were supposed to turn in all equipment to the authorities, with severe punishment for those who failed to do so.
  • To spread the message of Independence: Launched as part of the Quit India Movement, Congress Radio was one of the earliest radio networks established in India. 
  • It was used by Gandhiji to spread the message of Independence.
• Organizers: Alongside Usha Mehta, Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, and Chandrakant Jhaveri Nariman Printer, etc. were key figures in organising Congress Radio.
• Congress Radio Case: The trial of the five accused in the Congress Radio case: Mehta, Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, and Nanak Gainchand Motwane (who sold key pieces of equipment to the team) generated a lot of excitement in Bombay. 
  • Acquitted: Vithalbhai and Motwane were acquitted, 
  • Punishments: Usha Mehta, Babubhai, and Chandrakant received stern sentences. 
• Released from Jail: Usha Mehta was released from Pune’s Yerawada Jail in March 1946, and hailed in the nationalist media as “Radio-ben”.
• Recognition: The Union Government conferred upon her the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, in 1998. 
• Death: She passed away after a brief illness in 2000.

Background of Quit India Movement: Do or Die

• Launched on:  August 8, 1942.
• Slogan of ‘Do or Die’: by Mahatma Gandhi at Bombay’s Gowalia Tank maidan. 
• Method of Struggle: Mass civil disobedience, massive public demonstrations calling for the end of British rule, acts of public sabotage, and even the setting up of parallel governments in certain regions.
• British Response: Britishers were already stretched due to World War II. 
  • They arrested many protestors in response. 
  • The Congress’ senior leadership, including Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vallabhai Patel, were put in prison by August 9 itself, and the party was banned.
• Result: A new crop of younger leaders took the lead, sustaining the QIM even amidst brutal repression by colonial authorities.