Rohit Kashyap, Mungeli. In the freedom struggle of the country, countrymen from every corner of the country participated and also went to jail, where they had to face many kinds of torture. Even after this, when the passion for patriotism and liberating the country did not end, they had to go to jail again but their feet did not waver, that is why it is said that India did not get independence just like that. Countless countrymen have sacrificed their lives for this. Those who fought for India’s independence were called by different names, one of which is the name of freedom fighters. Whenever freedom fighters are mentioned, there is definitely a mention of Deori village of Bilaspur district in undivided Madhya Pradesh, which currently falls in Mungeli district.
Even today, the name of Deori village is recorded in golden letters in the records of freedom fighters of Madhya Pradesh rule, because this village had not one or two but 22 freedom fighters who fought for independence and played an important role in getting the country independence. They participated in movements like Quit India Movement, Civil Disobedience, Foreign Goods Boycott, Non-Cooperation Movement, Jungle Satyagraha and also went to jail in 1930 and 1932.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was forced to walk on foot
The position of Mungeli region on the map of India may be equal to the tip of a needle. Despite this, the contribution of the people of Mungeli who participated in the freedom struggle of India without caring about their lives is worth being proud of. At that time, Gajadhar Sao, a resident of Deori in Mungeli, was called the fiery leader of Chhattisgarh. Freedom fighter Gajadhar Sao was one of the great sons of Mungeli region. Malguzar Sao of Deori, a small village near Mungeli, joined the freedom movement in 1905 at the Congress session in Banaras. During the Home Rule Movement in 1917, he was the main representative of the Bilaspur branch. In 1921, he played a leading role in the boycott of foreign goods and the promotion of Swadeshi.
Sao reached the Karachi session of Congress on 25 March 1931 with about 2 dozen companions from the village. During the session, the then president Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was so impressed with Sao’s working style that he addressed him from the stage as ‘Chhattisgarh’s dynamic leader’. In January 1932, the British government had sentenced him to 3 months’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 125 for ‘picketing’ a shop selling foreign goods in Mungeli. Sao was also very conscious about social reform. Once Mahatma Gandhi said on the madness of freedom that ‘Sao ji, I am mad and you are even more mad than me. In such a situation, the country will be free. Sao disliked the distance of big leaders from the common people due to their pomp and show. On 16 December 1936, when the Congress chief Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru came to Mungeli, Sav insisted that he enter the city on foot from the Agar river bridge, but his request was not accepted, due to which he got angry and sat on a dharna on the bridge. Efforts were made to persuade him but he did not agree, on this Pandit Nehru got irritated and said that if Sav does not get up, then drive the car over him. Even after this aggressive attitude of Pandit Nehru, Sav did not give up his stubbornness and finally Pandit Nehru had to get down from the car and walk for some distance.
He went to jail after registering his protest through a weekly newspaper
Pandit Kalicharan Shukla, who was known as the Gandhi of Mungeli for his simplicity and straightforwardness, always raised his voice against the British through his weekly newspaper. Due to this, he always had to pay fines and many times his press was confiscated, but Pandit Shukla, who was passionate about his passion, would arrange the money, pay the fine and then start raising his voice against the British rule. Babulal Kesharwani, who was at the forefront of opposing foreign clothes, was also a determined freedom fighter. In 1932, at the age of 20, he was caught while agitating with his friends for the boycott of foreign clothes in front of Ghevarchand Surajmal’s cloth shop in Golbazar Mungeli. In 1942, during picketing, he was arrested along with Pandit Shukla, Siddhgopal Trivedi, Hiralal Dubey, Kanhaiyalal Soni and many others and was first sent to Bilaspur and then to Amravati jail.
22 freedom fighters were born in Deori village
Deori is the village that gave 22 freedom fighters to the country. It is not possible to talk about independence and not mention Deori village of Mungeli. Yes, Deori village had not one or two but 22 freedom fighters who participated in the freedom struggle. These fighters participated in the Quit India Movement, Civil Disobedience, Foreign Goods Boycott, Non-Cooperation Movement, Jungle Satyagraha movements and also went to jail. Although not even one of these freedom fighters is physically present, they are still alive in the hearts of not only Deori village but the entire Mungeli residents. Their families never get tired of remembering the spirit of those freedom fighters even today.
The families of freedom fighters are in pain due to lack of attention
The family members of the freedom fighters of Deori say that there were 22 freedom fighters in the village. Despite this, there is not even a memorial or a plaque with their names in the village. At the same time, their family members and the villagers have placed the demand before the local administration and public representatives to build an entrance gate in the memory of the freedom fighters with their names or pictures mentioned on it and to upgrade the high school to a higher secondary school in the village, but this demand is still pending. There has been no proper development in Deori village in terms of water, electricity and roads. The family members of the freedom fighters also say that the family members of the freedom fighters should be given special priority for recruitment to government jobs and teaching in schools and colleges. At the same time, the most troubled family members of the freedom fighters are about the condition in which their family members are living after the freedom fighters left this world. Forget about asking this, the responsible people do not even ask them on the occasion of national festivals, this thing is very painful for the family members.
Know the names of freedom fighters
The team of Lalluram.com went to this historic village Deori of Mungeli village and met the family members of the freedom fighters and enquired about their well-being. During this the family members also enumerated many problems related to everyday life. Even today, the family members were not only shown pictures of the occasions when the then Prime Minister of the country and the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh honored the freedom fighters several decades ago, but also those copper plates and certificates were also shown which were given to the freedom fighters for their proud work of fighting for independence.
On the occasion of the completion of 25 years of the country’s independence, a stone inscription has been installed near the old bus stand to keep the memory of the martyrs and fighters of the area intact in 1972-73, in which the memory of freedom fighters Bandu alias Bandar, Sadashiv Satnami, Kalicharan Shukla, Ramdayal Brahmin, Narayan Rao, Raghupatrao Brahmin, Hiralal Dubey, Sadanand Lal Brahmin, Avadharam, Dadna Sonar, Kanhaiyalal, Mathura Prasad Sonar, Ganga Prasad, Hariram, Udayashankar, Rambujhas Brahmin, Narayan Rao, Bhikha ji Brahmin, Baldev Singh Adli, Bisahu, Ramcharan, Babulal Kesharwani, Dwarika Prasad Kesharwani, Chhotelal, Sarju Prasad, Devdutt Bhatt, Videshi, Shivlal, Kanhaiya, Bhairam Sengwa, Bhavani Shankar, Raghubar Prasad, Shyamlal, Ghanaram, Shri Siddhgopal, Ayodhya Prasad, Jhadaram, Mulluram Tamer, The names of Ram Gopal, Banshidhar Tiwari, Ganpatlal, Bhagwat Prasad Kshatriya, Gajanand, Ramchandra Sao are registered. Some names are missing, about whom there is no one to tell.
The names of many freedom fighters are not included in this stone inscription because no freedom fighter is alive among us today to tell this story. The list engraved in this stone is probably according to the names included in the government documents. However, the contribution of those whose names are not included in it in the struggle for independence is not diminished by this fact.
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