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“Beehad mein baaghi hote hain, dakait milte hain parliament mein (The ravines have rebels; the bandits are in parliament).”
This dialogue by Irrfan Khan in the film Paan Singh Tomar – portraying the life and times of the homonymous athlete-turned-dacoit – was ostensibly a reference to the fugitives who tried to escape the clutches of law in the ravines of Chambal in post-Independence India. But the valley, which runs through Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, has also nurtured revolutionaries who fought for India’s freedom.
Be it the 1857 Mutiny or the 1942 Quit India Movement, many freedom fighters used the rugged terrain to sustain their struggle against the British Raj. These included several Dalit heroes whose tales of valour wafted through the Panchanand valley – a confluence of five rivers in the Chambal region. But many gradually slipped into oblivion.
Junglee and Manglee Valmiki: The brothers dreaded by Britishers
Junglee and Manglee Valmiki were shooters in the army of Raja Niranjan Singh Judeo, who ruled over the Chakar Nagar state.
Devendra Singh Chauhan, an octogenarian advocate and historian who belongs to a family of freedom fighters, had in his book – 1857 Panchanand Ghati ke ranbankuray (the warriors of Panchanand valley) – referenced bureaucrat-turned-Congress founder A O Hume’s accounts of the brothers’ actions. Hume, as the then Etawah DM, had sent a detailed report to the British government.
“On April 15, 1858, British forces attacked the Gohani area near Yamuna in Chakkarpur block of Etawah district in which many British soldiers suffered casualties and many revolutionaries also attained martyrdom. Hume mentions that the perfect aiming by Junglee and Manglee had killed and injured many British soldiers,” Chauhan told Newslaundry.
“The British forces attacked Gohani again on August 28, 1858, when the brothers injured the right shoulder of a British army officer and killed 22 soldiers around eight kilometers from Gohani,” he said. Next month, they managed to smuggle out artillery despite heavy deployment of British forces, days before they were killed at Shahson in Etawah.
Jeeta Chamar: Fugitive until death
His native village Bansuri bears no plaque, no memory of the fighter; the villagers say his family has migrated.
Treated as an untouchable in pre-Independence India, Jeeta was part of the Bhareh princely state, where villagers had helped wage battles like Nimri against the British. These villagers’ resistance compelled the colonial forces to attack Jeeta Chamar’s village in October 1858, according to Shah Alam Rana, director-general of the Chambal Museum – an outfit trying to restore the legacy of freedom icons linked to the region.
Jeeta remained at large even though the British tried to lure him by offering rewards and amnesty.
The Chambal Museum has been trying to restore his legacy – be it by mentioning his name at events like the Chambal Sansad, a platform to discuss issues from the region, or naming the man of the series trophy at the Chambal Cricket League in May this year.
Ganga Ram Dhanuk: Lal Sena role
Ganga Ram Dhanuk had met Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and briefly served in the All India Scheduled Caste Federation founded by the latter. He was also part of the Lal Sena, founded by revolutionaries from the region, including Arjun Singh Bhadauria, and modelled on the lines of the Azad Hind Fauj.
The Lal Sena Smarak – a memorial dedicated to the force – at Lohia village of Basrehar block in Etawah honours Dhanukh and other members of the Lal Sena.
During a visit to the memorial, Newslaundry learnt that Dhanuk was from the Chakwa Bujurg village in Basrehar block – a nurturing ground from revolutionaries aided by locals. Dhanuk was sentenced to life imprisonment, including time at the dreaded Fatehgarh Central Jail of Farrukhabad, infamous as Kaala Pani of the north..
Dhanuk’s grandnephew Shiv Ratan Singh Katheria claimed that Mahatma Gandhi used to write letters to Dhanukh, and that these are still preserved in the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow.
Villagers claimed Dhanuk remained politically active after Independence, was a close aide of Congress heavyweight Jagjivan Ram, and made efforts to ensure the rights of the marginalised sections. In 1953, he went on a 23-day hunger strike to secure the rights of sanitation workers, and the state government yielded to his demands. He died on January 3, 1972.
Rangi Lal: Jailed at the age of 11
Rangi Lal was Dhanuk’s brother.
Showing Rangi Lal’s freedom fighter certificate, his daughter Swaraj Kumari said he first went to jail for the first time at the age of 11. “I am the only one to survive of the 12 children he had. He lost 11 children due to poverty and frequent jail sentences,” said Kumari, a retired principal of the GGIC College in Etawah, who now lives in Etawah city.
Rangi Lal had attacked the British office of ‘Peeli Kothi’ in Basrehar, and had served in the Socialist Party. He refused the offer of a government job and remained committed to society until his death in 2000, she said.
The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav strived to celebrate the memory of many lost icons of the freedom struggle, but it’s a long way to go before the list turns exhaustive, and subaltern narratives are fully embraced.
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