Sri Dev Suman -A Forgotten Freedom Fighter 

 

Sri Dev Suman was born on 25 May ,1916 ,in Village Jaul in Tehri Garwal to affluent parents. The normal practise was for the family to get educated and work for the King . Inspired by Gandhi Ji ,

 He declined to work for the king and started teaching village children. He went to Dehradun to complete his higher studies and started teaching in Hindu national school. He joined the freedom movement and was arrested in 1942. In 1943 , he was declared a rebel by the Tehri king and arrested on 30 December 1943. After 209 days in prison and after 84 days of fast,where he was tortured and force fed, he attained Martyrdom on 25 July 1944 . His body was thrown into the Bhilganga river and his wife came to know about his death via newspapers after 7 days.

 

Legacy of Sri Dev Suman through his influence on Sunder Lal Bahuguna 

 

Sri Sunder Lal Bahuguna was deeply influenced by Gandhian values and credit for that must go to Sri Dev Suman, who Sunderlal Ji met when he was only 13 years of age. Sunderlal Ji recounts his encounter with Sri Dev Suman,  “I could know about Gandhi when I was a High School student at the age of 13. My inquisitiveness to know about a strangely dressed young man, who was dressed neither like the officers of the state nor like the poor subjects with loin cloth, but was putting on white Khadi cap, Kurta, Jacket, dhoti and chappal, inspired me to chase him….He had a small box in one hand and a bag in another hand. I guessed he must be somebody like an archer, who had demonstrated his feats in archery and we were so much impressed that we left going to the school for some days and followed him. The idea came to my mind that his small box must contain something of our interest. I along with a few friends asked, what are you carrying in your small box’ He very gently replied, ‘come I will show you’. He sat under a banyan tree, opened the box and demonstrated his feat. He was spinning yarn. looking at this new wonder, we said, ‘It may take you a year to produce yarn sufficient for a shirt’, He promptly replied, “whether I get enough yarn for my shirt or not, Gandhi  says that we can end the British rule and become independent, if every Indian starts spinning.”

Sunderlal Ji asked ‘What else does Gandhi say? How can a spinning wheel bring freedom’. Suman said, “if you want to know more, you can buy these small booklets.” Bahuguna spent the whole amount of six annas,  which his   mother had given for a week’s breakfast on three small booklets. One was by ‘Gandhi – How to achieve Swaraj’,Other was of national songs and the ‘A Word to Young Men’by Prince Kroptkin.

Suman Ji was 25 then. He had become Gandhi’s follower at the age of 15. Bahugunaji was inspired by him to become a Gandhian. “Our small group could manage to get a spinning wheel, Gandhi’s autobiography and some other books. We were cautious not to be detected, so we practised spinning and study of Gandhi’s autobiography in the cemetery,” remembers Bahuguna.

At 13 years Sunderlal Ji decided to work for the people and not the princely state,inspired by Sri Dev Suman. Sunderlal Ji was sent to Mussoorie but was arrested for leaking out the statement of Sri Dev Suman. He was put in a police lock up where he was hospitalised and later released. During his lock up Sri Dev Suman had attained Martyrdom.Sunderlal Ji went to Lahore after his release and topped the university . The Tehri police caught up with him and he escaped to Lyallpur for one year. After independence Sunderlal Ji carried out his first Satyagraha at the age of 20, undertaking a 7 day fast to protest his ban into entering Tehri. After 7 days this ban was lifted. The access to forests remained a burning issue and gave impetus to anti imperialist revolts, aimed at securing independence from the King of Tehri. Princely state of Tehri acceded to Independent India on 1 August 1949 and became a part of the State of Uttar Pradesh .

The legacy of Sri Dev Suman lived on . He became more powerful After his death and inspired the Freedom Movement in Tehri Garhwal . 

 

 

Chaos and clutter in BJP SM

 Pre 2014 , roughly from the time of IAC , an organic force was born on Twitter . Indians , disgusted with Congress corruption joined IAC . Many became friends online , started writing on the web, posted links and emerged as a force . Post IAC disillusionment , majority supported Modi led BJP. Civilisational issues came on forefront , Fake narratives were countered after research by Modi supporters . Many black sheep emerged , many so called celebs were exposed and bit the dust . Post 2014 and win of Modiji , for some time it remained a powerful tool which gave on ground feedback to BJP high command . 

Then slowly, Coteries emerged . A few Twitter handles became famous , got access to Ministers , got posts , got projects . Some became assets , some began opposing the government . The wars of narratives was intense , BJP was attacked on a fake narrative of burning churches as soon as it took over . The narrative was very intense , with online lynch mobs not letting any truth come out . RSS ,Dr Mohan Bhagwat were attacked ,blamed for rapes of Nuns . Many of so called RW were exposed then. True supporters kept on countering the fake narratives ,finally , Truth emerged and narratives died a death .

The Dadri narrative came next ,along with the narrative of Mohan Bhagwat Ji  rumoured abolishing of reservations . Many so called supporters were exposed ,esp after Delhi & Bihar were assembly elections were lost . Still , True supporters kept their faith . Then this cycle of outrage started . Some media news , mostly half truth , would be splashed , Targeting Modi Ji . An unreasonable ,illogical mob would drown out voices  of reason and name call those countering as andh Bhakts . This irrational outrage would be termed constructive criticism and independent thinking . Most of these fake outrages , along with the free thinkers are forgotten & buried .

Another narrative started - targeting of Ministers at the behest of Subramanyam Swamy  , who emerged as a crusader against corruption by the Gandhi family . Arun Jaitely Ji was targetted mindlessly and viciously . Every Budget or policy would be outraged against . Slowly , real supporters realised the plan behind it ,and a push back started . It was a very vicious campaign by Swamy and his supporters ,remnants of which still exist on SM.

The most unfortunate outrages were by supporters against PM Modi and his ministers . Any terror / naxal attack ,and the most vicious response would be from groups of so called supporters . It was vicious and toxic , with any statement being mocked by ‘kadi ninda’. The true supporters countered it , but always were called names . Yet , supporters continued to support and actions by the Modi government put the outrages to shame . Regrettably , this particular vicious mocking ,targeting of ministers continues still. 

New SM celebrities are created by coteries , the true supporters who call them out are Targetted . Majority of these celebs secure some post and then become quiet , praising the very leaders they were outraging against . The supporters who are emotional are used by these celebrities , who often articulate what supporters are posting online , thus satisfying the confirmation Bias of the supporters .

Election 2024 saw these celebs very active ,supporting 400 plus call of Modiji . True supporters were cautious , calling out certain obvious strategical mistakes , warning supporters not to take opinion polls seriously and get complacent . Many supporters from seats that seemed doubtful expressed their opinion ,but were silenced and called names . Many called out candidature of Kripa Shanker , many opposed inclusion of Ajit Pawar - these voices were called agenda ridden. 2024 results showed that the cautionary voices were right . Most of these celeb handles had guided the supporters wrongly .

Some questions have to be asked . These celeb handles were supposed to be on ground ,were supposedly getting ground feed back , so how could the teams not sense mood on ground . The teams mocked Rahul Gandhi 8500 rs scheme , constitution will be changed , caste census , wealth redistribution ,but these issues gained traction on ground .how was this missed ?

Post elections , supporters posted about zero campaign on ground ,missing karyakartas , booth workers In large parts of india , this was reported . BJP always had a very robust feedback system . Grass roots issues reached higher ups and were listened to and resolved . Over the last few years, this system was destroyed by the Coterie culture that took root .

When we became SM volunteers , we were invited to SM meets . I remember being told not to post anything which could not be verified . There should be no countering fake narratives unless we had well documented proof . Anything fake would cast aspersions on the party and undo the 99% of the true narratives . This seems to be thrown to the wind ,with celeb handles posting unverified accusations and getting slapped with F.I.R s . These non issues become the narratives while real issues are forgotten. 

True supporters and their ecosystem still exists . We all need to get back to our 2014 ,2019 spirit . Counter fake narratives , write about ills of Congress ecosystem and rule , highlight positive work of Modi government in states and centre . Let us stay focused on upcoming Bypolls & state elections and let us stop getting sucked into mindless ,illogical ,agenda ridden outrages .

Let us #TrustModiRemainCalm