It was August 1942 when Gandhiji's words "karenge ya marenge" led to pan-Indian unrest and the British resorted to `censorship' and mass arrests. It was at that time that Usha Mehta and others gave the Quit India movement a voice through the Congress Secret Broadcast, operated from Bombay from August 27 to November 12. And now, in the revolutionary month August Usha Mehta quit the world, on the 11th. Only to be reduced to a small news item that she was a freedom fighter of the Quit India movement.In 1988 I discovered a voluminous file in the National Archives of India titled "Illegal Congress Radio of 1942". It had day-to-day reports on "Congress Broadcasting", which was led by Ram Manohar Lohia and other Congress socialists who went underground to inform the people about various nuances of `news' in the context of the Quit India movement.Archival records of the British Indian Home Department say: "Miss Usha Mehta is a Gujarati, aged about 22 years and a native of Surat. She passed matriculation in 1935, BA in 1939, (law) in 1941 and, prior to her arrest, was reading for MA. She has also passed the `Kovid Exam' in Hindi. She was the lieutenant of Vitaldas Khakar throughout the Congress Radio enterprise. She made several of the records used in broadcasts, repeating speeches written by Ram Manohar Lohia. She also operated the transmitter and did the necessary announcing through the microphone. She is obviously an ardent Congress woman but had not come to notice before in this connection."The All India Congress Committee had met at Bombay on August 5-8, 1942, and a public announcement was to be made. But the British resorted to pre-emptive arrests of practically the entire Congress leadership, including Gandhiji. News censorship was also imposed. At this point Ram Manohar Lohia, Vitaldas Madhavji Khakar, Usha Mehta and others stepped in to put together a portable wireless transmitting instrument. Thus the `secret' Congress Radio took up the challenge to disseminate news and information to keep chipping away at British imperialism.The Congress broadcasting station mainly operated form Bombay and Nasik, but was often shifted to evade police detection. It started broadcasting from Sea View Building at Chowpatty. Thereafter the transmitters were shifted to Ratan Malha, at Walkeshwar Road. Furthermore, the Congress Radio went on air from Ajit Vila, Laburnum Road, Laxmi Bhavan, Parekh Walki Building and Paradise Bungalow near Mahalaxmi Temple until it was detected November 12.On October 8, the special branch of the CID began monitoring the Congress broadcasts and police stenographers started recording them. Those records which have been left behind for posterity project our national commitment to secularism, internationalism and concern for the rural people.Usha Mehta on October 28, 1942, went on air to inform the people about mass rape, which was a bold step in radio journalism. For instance, she quoted one victim: "While I was going to my grandmother's house an English soldier stopped me; I then went to a house nearby where he followed me. There was an old man in the house in whose presence the soldier dragged me and outraged me." In this manner she made a host of stories public and gave advice on "how can we prevent mass rapes of our women by soldiers?" Said she in one of the broadcasts: "Without hesitation we answer: do all that you can. You should, of course, try to prevent acts of rape as any other by non-violent resistance; but if you are free and still alive, then kill or get killed. Rape is outside politics. It is the most bestial thing any Indian can imagine."Finally the police detected the Congress Radio on November 12, 1942. Usha Mehta was singing "Vande Mataram" when the police finally closed in and arrested the Congress workers.
