Contribution of Bihar in Quit India Movement

With the beginning of the Second World War, new polarizations started forming in the world. The threat of war had reached the doorstep of India. In December of 1941, the effect of Japanese invasion was clearly felt in India.

• How to protect India from the danger of war became the foremost concern of the national leadership of India. Anugrah Narayan planned to organize a Seva Dal,
• In the Bombay session of the All India Congress, the resolution of the Quit India Movement was passed at Gawalia Tank Maidan, in which the slogan of Do or Die was given by Gandhiji.
• This proposal was accepted by the All India Congress Committee on August 8, 1942. But even before the resolution was passed, prominent leaders like Narayan Singh and Sukhlal Singh, who played an active role in this movement, were arrested in Hazaribagh,
• Prominent leaders of Bihar like Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Babu, Shrikrishna Singh, Mathura Babu etc. were arrested on August 9, 1942,
• In protest against the oppressive policy of the government, a wave of unrest spread among the public. First, the students took out a protest march. A protest procession was taken out in Patna against the arrest of Rajendra Prasad, which was presided over by Mr. Surajdev.
• On August 10, 1942, Amar Kishore Singh, Publicity Officer of Sadaqat Ashram, District Provincial Congress Committee, was arrested by the Police.
• On August 11, 1942, a procession of students who were rousing slogans like ‘Angrezo Bharat Chhodo’, ‘Jhanda Uncha Rahe Hamara’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Hum Sachivalay Pe Jhanda Phehrayenge’ started hoisting the National Flag at the East Gate of the Secretariat building in Patna.
• Due to this, the then British District Magistrate W.G.Archer (Collector) began firing indiscriminately on the unarmed students, in which seven young students holding the flag were martyred one by one, but the eighth student Ramkrishna Singh (student-Patna College, resident of Mokama) succeeded in hoisting the Indian flag (Tricolor) by taking down the British flag (Union Jack).
• While trying to hoist the flag at Dumraon, Gaya, Siwan and Katihar police stations, Kapilmuni, Shyambihari Lal, Phulena Prasad Srivastava and Dhruv Kumar were shot by the police respectively.
• Gaya, Bhagalpur, Saran, Purnea, Shahabad, Muzaffarpur and Champaran were the main centers of spontaneous mass rebellion in Bihar in Quit India Movement.
• On August 9, Rajendra Prasad was arrested in Patna and taken to Bankipur Jail. On the same day, Phoolan Prasad Verma and Mathura Prasad were arrested in Patna.
• On the morning of August 10, Dr. Shrikrishna Singh was arrested as soon as he came to Patna from his village More.
• On August 11, Anugrah Narayan Singh was also arrested. Both were kept in Bankipur Jail.
• Shri Baldev Sahal resigned from the post of Advocate General in protest against the government policy.
• There was a complete hartal in Patna on August 12 to protest against the secretariat firing. On the same day, Mahamaya Prasad Sinha, President of the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee, was arrested at the Patna railway station.
• On the day of the Secretariat shootout, a resolution was passed in the meeting held under the chairmanship of Jagat Narayan Lal at Congress Maidan to stop the communication facilities and to halt the government works.

• The women took out a procession and organized a meeting under the chairmanship of Bhagwati Devi (Rajendra Prasad’s sister) at the Congress Maidan, and in this meeting Sundari Devi (wife of Shambhusharan Verma) and Rampyari Devi (wife of Jagat Narayan Lal) urged the lawyers to leave the practice.
• Naulakh Singh of Vikram was also arrested on the night of 10 August.
• On the evening of August 13, a meeting was held in Kadamkuan under the chairmanship of Mr. Jagatnarayan Lal, in which proposals regarding destruction of railway lines, telegraph and telephone wires were cut, communication system were accepted. According to these programs, spontaneous actions started on a large scale across the province.
• The Fatuha mob dragged two officers of the Royal Air Force from a train to death and carried them around the city in a Tanga. This type of behavior of public towards Europeans was seen for the first time after 1857.
• Similarly, on August 18 and August 30, 1942, the personnel of the Royal Air Force who crashed in Pasraha and Ruihar of Munger district were murdered.
• Kapil Muni, Mr. Ramdas Vishwakarma, Mr. Gopal Kahar, Mr. Sukhari Kahar, Mr. Sughasharan Ahir, Mr. Baleshwar Dubey were martyred on August 16, 1942 near Dumraon police station in Old Shahabad (now Buxar) district by the bullet of Daroga Devnath Singh’s revolver.
• Phulena Prasad Srivastava was martyred while trying to hoist the flag at Maharajganj police station building. But his wife Tara Rani succeeded in hoisting the flag and was late arrested.
• In Champaran (Motihari) on August 9, 1942 Sarvashri Yaduraut, Shri Mahant Laxman Das, Shri Dwarka Kahar, Shri Harihar Thakur, Shri Ramavtar Sah, Shri Kumel Rai were martyred after being shot by the police.
• Akshay Kumar, a teacher of the local high school in Hajipur resigned from his post and was leading the students. People attacked Hajipur’s railway station, warehouse and jail. 79 prisoners were released from jail. Dr. Gulzar Prasad, Mr. Rajeshwar Patel Prabhriti were among those released from jail.
• In Katihar, on 13 August 1942, people surrounded the police station and burnt the registry office. The government officials got angry and opened fire in which Mr. Dhruv Kumar Kundu, Mr. Ramashish Singh, Mr. Bihari Sah, Mr. Ramghar Singh, Mr. Damodar Singh, Mr. Munshi Sah, Mr. Kalanand Mandal were martyred. Dr. Kishori Lal Kundu (Dhruv Kumar Kundu’s father) was arrested at Rautara station the next day.
• The youth of Katihar were shocked to hear the news of the martyrdom of Dhruv and the arrest of Dr. Kundu. ‘Dhruv Dal’ was established to oppose the British Raj in India, whose commander was Jayaprakash Narayan. Naval Kishore Neeraj was its secretary and Shri Chunchun Singh, Ajab Lal Bhagat, Vishwanath Dutt, Bhola Jha, Tarni Prasad Shah, Shatrughan Prasad Singh, Shanti Vagchi and Kamalkrishna Bose were its members.
• Yogendra Narayan Singh, Mr. Parameshwar Das, Mr. Sheikh Idhak, Mr. Moti Mandal, Mr. Shukdev Bhagat, Mr. Kutai Shahu were martyred on August 27, 1942 while trying to hoist the flag at Purnea Collectorate and leading the procession.
• In Govindganj police station of Champaran, people’s rule remained for almost a month under the ‘Rishi Dal. Shri Ramashray Dubey had a major hand in its formation.
• In the movement of 1942, Darbhanga Maharaj not only refused to provide the services of his armed men to the government but also helped the arrested people.
• In December, 1942, a document titled ‘Swatantrata Sangram Morcha was brought out by the Congress socialists, in which emphasis was laid on organizing the front as an overall force to carry forward the revolution.
• During the Quit India Movement, ‘Searchlight’, ‘Indian Nation’ and ‘Rashtravani’ published from Patna were not published.
• On August 12, D.L. Nand Keolier had resigned from the post of secretary of Patna Buddha Samiti in protest against the government policy.
• On August 12, D.L. Nand Keolier had resigned from the post of secretary of Patna Buddha Samiti in protest against the government policy.
• In Patna’s Fatehpur (Malsalami Police Station), 65 persons ran parallel administration for a few days. The headquarters of the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee temporarily functioned from here.
• On August 30, 1942, Jagat Narayan Lal organized a meeting here and named its workers as ‘Shaheed Sangh’.
• Shri Dwarika Prasad Arya of Fatuha police station Khusrupur in Patna district organized a defense force and resisted with success for some time.
• The activities of a secret organization called ‘Siyaram Dal’ continued till 1943-44 with the aim of paralyzing the administration in Bihar.
• Only the news bulletin named ‘Patna Daily News’ promoted by the government was published from Bihar during that time.
• Copies of an Urdu paper called ‘Sada-e-Aam were bought by the government and distributed among the Mufassils.
• A weekly called ‘Munger Samachar’ was being published from Munger.
• The main publication of Kisan Sabha ‘Hunkar’ used to show the reports of its correspondents and editorials to the government.
• Patna’s Saraswati Press was closed by government order under the
• Defense of India Act.
• On December 16, 1942, the police seized the Srikrishna Press in Muzaffarpur by raiding it.

Effect of August Revolution on Different Areas of Bihar

• The spark of the August Revolution of 1942 broke out in the whole of Bihar. Jaglal Chowdhary burnt the police station in Saran district.
• Rishiji, Mahadev Prasad, Jaganath Prasad and Brahmanand Tiwari formed a ‘parallel government’ at Govindpur police station in Champaran district and used to punish informers. The Thanedar of Minapur in Muzaffarpur district was burnt alive by the people.
• Firing took place at Belsand police station, in which Jaymangal Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Bhupan Singh, Naujad Singh, Banshi Tatma, Sarsat Shah, Sundar Mahara, Chhathu Shah, Baldev Suhri and Sukhu Lohar were killed.
• Saran district was declared as a notoriously criminal district by the government officials due to massive revolt of the farmers during the
• Quit India Movement
• The August Revolution in Bhagalpur was led by the students. Here Shivdhari Singh, Sukhdev Chaudhary, Kailash Bihari Lal were arrested.
• The Tumul movement was launched in the rural areas of Bhagalpur- Munger under the leadership of Agarjit Paswan.
• On August 13, Saraswati Devi of Hazaribagh and another female prisoner were being taken to Bhagalpur Central Jail. They were rescued by a mob in Nathnagar. Saraswati Devi made a revolutionary speech at Lajpat Park.
• Kulanand Vaidik in Darbhanga and Karpoori Thakur in Sanghwara worked to stop the communication system.

Underground Organizations in Bihar

• Secret revolutionary activities were also carried out in Bihar during the Quit India Movement.
• On 29 October, police found bomb-making materialat a dispensary in
• On November 14, 1942, Narsingh Narayan Azad, a prominent absconding socialist, was captured in Gaya.
• During the Quit India Movement, arrested Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan managed to escape from Hazaribagh Jail on November 9, 1942 along with Ramnandan Singh, Yogendra Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, Gulab Chandra Gupta (Gulbi) and Shaligram Singh.
• Ram Narayan Singh, Krishna Vallabh Sahai and Sukhlal Singh were arrested and sent to Bhagalpur Jail on suspicion of being involved in the jailbreak incident.
• Yogendra Shukla, who escaped from Hazaribagh Jail, was later arrested in Muzaffarpur on December 4, 1942 along with Balgovind Singh of Karnauti.
• Yogendra Shukla was brought to Patna on 7th December and was sent to Buxar Jail. After escaping from jail, Jayaprakash Narayan along with Ramnandan Mishra and Shaligram Singh went to Calcutta along with Achyut Patwardhan’s sister Vijaya.
• From there he set up a camp with Suraj Narayan Singh and Vijaya in the forests of Nepal Terai to train people in guerrilla warfare.

Azad Dasta

• In March 1943, the All India Center and Bihar Provincial Office of Azad Dasta was formed in Nepal by Jayaprakash Narayan.
• Azad Dasta was operated from a place called the island of Dalkaro in Kosi river in Nepal.
• By this time, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia had also reached Nepal along with Shyamanandan Singh.
• Lohia used to direct the communication and publicity department The chief instructorof Azad Dasta was Sardar Nityanand Singh while for Bihar an independent council was established under Mr. Surajnarayan Singh.
• In May, 1943, Jaiprakash Narayan, Dr. Lohia, Shyamanandan Singh, Kartik Prasad Singh, Brajkishore Singh, Shyamsundar and Baidyanath Jha were arrested by the Government of Nepal and kept in Hanuman Nagar Jail.
• A group of revolutionaries led by Sardar Nityanand Singh and Suraj Narayan freed Jayaprakash Narayan and some other prisoners from Hanuman Nagar Jail.
• Sardar Nityanand Singh was martyred by police bullets in Sonbarsa.
• On December 18, 1943, Jayaprakash Narayan was again arrested in Mughalpura.
• Azad Dasta remained active till the end of 1943 AD, but this effort failed after the arrest of the main leaders of this movement.
• Kripalani was arrested on April 28, 1944 in Patna, On June 15, 1945, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was released from Bankipur Jail,
• In February, 1946, Jaiprakash Day’ was celebrated with the aim of pressurizing the government for release of Jaiprakash Narayan.
• In the Legislative Assembly elections held in March, 1946, out of 152 seats, 68 members of the Congress and 34 members of the Muslim League were elected.
• On March 24, 1946, the Cabinet Mission comprising of three members of the British cabinet, Pathick Lawrence, Stafford Cripps and B.Alexander, recommended the framing of a new constitution and the formation of an interim government.
• The Congress accepted the Cabinet Mission Plan but the Muslim League opposed the plan of the Interim Government.
• On March 30, 1946, the second Congress cabinet was formed in Bihar under the leadership of Shri Krishna Singh,
• In the Constituent Assembly elections held in June 1946, the Congress won 111 out of 296 seats,
• After this victory of the Congress, the Muslim League celebrated the day of August 16, 1946 as ‘Direct Action Day’ across the country to press for a new nation of Pakistan.
• Fierce communal riots broke out in Calcutta the same day which tragically ended with mass killings and looting of Hindus in Dacca, Noakhali and Tripura districts in East Bengal.
• The reaction of East Bengal was felt in Bihar as well. In late 1946, communal riots broke out in many places of the province. It riot had a widespread effect on the cities of Chhapra, Patna, Biharsharif, Jehanabad, Banka
• In March 1947, Gandhiji came to Bihar after the communal riots with the aim of spreading the message of peace and harmony.
• On December 9, 1946, the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly for the formation of the constitution of independent India was held under the chairmanship of Sachchidanand Sinha of Bihar, Later Rajendra Prasad became the permanent President of the Constituent Assembly.
• After India got independence on 15th August, 1947, the first Independence Day was celebrated in Bihar with great enthusiasm.
• After India got independence on 15th August, 1947, the first Independence Day was celebrated in Bihar with great enthusiasm.
• Jairam Daulatram took charge as the first Governor of Bihar and Shrikrishna Singh as the first Chief Minister of Bihmar on 15th August.
• On the same day, the Governor laid the foundation stone of the Martyr’s Memorial to be built in Patna in the memory of the students who were martyred in the Patna Secretariat firing incident in the revolution of 1942.