Shafaque Alam for TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: As India prepares to celebrate its 67th Independence day and pays tribute to the freedom fighters whose struggle set India free from the British rule, little thought is paid to their descendants, many of whom are shockingly living in abject poverty.
Shivnath Jha, a journalist after working with the mainstream media resolved to locate the descendants of freedom fighters. His wife Neena is also part of his mission.
In January 2009, Shivnath was horrified to discover that Sultana Begum, the great grand daughter-in-law of India’s last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, was living in a slum of Howrah in West Bengal.
Sultana Begum selling tea in West Bengal (File Photo).
Shivnath met the 56-year-old Sultana who ran a tea-stall and was living in a 8ft X 8ft dwelling. In 2007, Shivnath identified Vinayak Rao Tope (54), the third generation descendant of Tantya Tope, the braveheart martyr of 1857 mutiny.
Vinayak Tope, his wife Saraswati Devi and three children, Pragati, Tripti and Ashutosh, were living in penury in Bithooor, about 20 km from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. He was running a small grocery shop to make both ends meet.
In 2011 Shivnath and Neena also discovered Jeet Singh, grandson of Udham Singh, who was working as a labourer at a construction site in Punjab. Shivnath said his experience of meeting the descendents encouraged him to compile it in a book, “1857-1947 Forgotten Heroes & Martyrs of India’s Freedom Movement” which is the fifth in the series of Aandolan Ek Pustak Se.
Jeet Singh descendant of Udham Singh (File Photo)
The 200-page book has pictorial details of as many as 200 forgotten heroes and martyrs of India’s independence movement who were hanged, shot dead or died within the four walls of various jails in the country as well as their descendents.
The book attempts to bring to light the miserable conditions of such families and bring some dignity to their lives. Shivnath said the royalty generated from the book is given to the family of the freedom fighters.
Recently Rs 2 lakh was released for the marriage of Priyanka, the granddaughter of revolutionary poet, Ram Prasad Bismil. Priyanka lives in Madhya Pradesh.
Shivnath said his effort is to attract the government’s attention to these families and ensure that they are given some financial assistance and jobs for a dignified livelihood.