Bombay 9th August, 1942: Mahatma Gandhi gave a clarion call to British Government to quit India at the historic Gowalia Tank Maidan. The call had wide-ranging repercussions. As then there were no mobile, Twitter and social media, nation came to know about the Gandhiji’s call only the next day through newspapers. And that was enough for thousands of Congress workers far away from Bombay to converge at Delhi’s Connaught Place, then considered to be the bastion of whites. They started assembling there right from the morning carrying Congress flags.
Even after 75 years, the 94- year-old R.P. Puri, the grand old man of capital’s Connaught Place and owner of Central News Agency, still remembers the violent incidents that rocked the area on August 10, 1942. Following Gandhiji’s call a large number of people led by Congress workers, including women, virtually seized Connaught Place on the very next day.
By 12 the khadi clad crowd started shouting anti-British slogans vociferously. While the cops were there, they were outnumbered by those who were shouting slogans. Those were the days when Robert Tor Russel designed Connaught Place was considered the bastion of Delhi-based whites. They used to visit there for shopping, to watch movies and plays (held at Regal cinema). Several shops then had British and Irish owners. And some of them also lived above their shops.
Recalls Puri, who used to sell newspapers and magazines from the M-block pavement of Connaught Place, “The crowd started damaging the prestigious showrooms owned by whites like Rankling and Co., Army and Navy, Phillips and Company and Lawrence and Mayo. Army and Navy was a well-known show room for men’s clothing.” It was situated where the Khadi showroom now is in the Regal building. Lawrence and Mayo, continues to be where it was –– right opposite the Super Bazar building. Rankling and Co had a British name though it was owned by an Aggarwal family it was damaged by the protestors as it had an English name. It was bad luck for the owner as they had purchased it in early part of 1942. Now known as Mohan Lal and Sons, the then owners assured the protestors of its Indian ownership just avoiding complete damage. Later, many other Indian shop owners put up a board stating their shops were not owned by foreigners and this saved them. And interestingly enough, the angry protesters did not touch the showrooms owned by the Chinese. D. Minsen and Sons, Chinese Art Centre and John Brothers. These showrooms are still there. George Chiu, who owns shoe shop D.Minsen and Company, says, “Perhaps they would have thought that the owners of these shops were as loyal to the country’s interests as any other Indian.”
Recalls Puri, “I think that was perhaps for the first time when whites had faced such a hostile crowd in Delhi. Some of them were even beaten by the belligerent Congress workers. They were also carrying the Congress flag. When the protestors were on rampage, the cops disappeared. Perhaps they left the scene fearing violent attacks.”
Wengers, which was and still a very popular hangout for confectionery lovers in Connaught Place, remained closed on that particular day for some unknown reason. It was then owned by an Irish couple who left India after 1947.
Many years ago, Aruna Asaf Ali, also known as the heroine of the Quit India movement, told this journalist that top Congress leaders came to know about the Connaught Place incident only next day. She hoisted the Indian National Congress flag at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement. She foiled all the attempts of the police to arrest her.
Ace photographer Ashok Dilwali, the owner of the Kinsey Photo Studio, has heard stories of that day from his father. Says Dilwali, “There was a clear-cut difference between what had happened in 1942 and later in 1984 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Connaught Place. Post-Gandhi’s assassination, vagabonds and goons had looted shops in Connaught Place. On the other hand, the protestors didn’t loot shops in 1942 though they damaged the properties.” Kinsey, was a British photographer, used to take pictures of the maharajas. Incidentally, he also clicked the wedding pictures of writer Khushwant Singh. After 1947, Kinsey left India after giving ownership of his shop to Dilwali’s father.
As the nation is remembering the heroes of Quit India movement, will those who would visit Connaught Place area spare a thought for them as well?
