The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom P. Sainath penguin books Rs.499 Pages 256 A valiant attempt to tell the stories of 15 unsung freedom fighters of exceptional courage who have been almost expunged from the narrative of the freedom struggle As India commemorates 75 years of independence, Sainath’s Last Heroes cuts to the heart of the chase. Where are the images, ideas, lives and stories of ordinary women, men and children who participated in the freedom struggle represented in magnum opus celebrations? The Last Heroes’ raison d’etre is a valiant attempt to undo this seven-decade long erasure. To tell the stories of those who have been almost expunged from the retelling and memory creation of the freedom struggle. As 15 freedom fighters share their stories, we are introduced to lives of exceptional courage reflected in word, deed and being, in a vocabulary marked by such simplicity and humility that it almost appears surreal in today’s India of hagiographic representations and muscular politics. Sainath skillfully weaves in the history, socio-economic and political context allowing the reader to tease out the connections as he zooms in and out from the personal narratives, traversing time and space. We learn of extraordinary women. For example, Demati de Sabar Salihan who fearlessly took on a gun-toting British policeman with a lathi, inspiring, 40 other young women to join her. Today she lives in degrading poverty, her maana patra, a certificate of honour, a eulogy to her father, presenting her as a supporting actor. Mallu Swarajyam of the women’s armed squads who fought for bhumi, bhakti and vimukti (land, livelihood and liberation) in the anti-Nizam struggle, spends a lifetime fighting injustice, patriarchy and slavery of all forms. Hausabai of the Toofani Sena, a member of the daring team of revolutionaries that attacked trains, looted police armouries and participated in underground action in Portuguese-ruled Goa. Till the last she had fire in her belly, championing the cause of farmers’ rights at the age of 93. Laxmi Panda, who at 13 years was one of the youngest members of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army, but because she ‘never went to jail, trained with a rifle but never fired a bullet’, spent six decades without getting due recognition as a freedom fighter. We learn of unsung men drawn from rural India. Shobharam Ghevar who participated as a child in the decoy games of escorting the likes of Chadrashekhar Azad to crude bomb making factories, and at 96 years is guardian of the Swatantra Senaani Bhawan, a meeting place for freedom fighters in Ajmer, fast fading into insignificance. Captain Bhau, one of the leaders of the Toofani Sena or the armed wing of the provisional government in Satara which declared independence from the British in 1943. The self-effacing Comrade RNK who played a pivotal role in integrating the peasant struggles and anti-colonial movement, and continues to struggle for the cause at the age of 97. Baji Mohammad, a Gandhian freedom fighter from Orissa who offered satyagraha countless…
