Who was Usha Mehta, inspiration for Sara Ali Khan's Ae Watan Mere Watan? 22-year-old who defied British Raj, saved...

Sara Ali Khan has come up with her new biographical film Ae Watan Mere Watan, which is based on pre-Independence India and the life of Usha Mehta. Kannan Iyer's directorial revolves around Usha, the freedom fighter who founded Congress Radio which was instrumental during the Quit India movement in 1942. Let us know more about Usha Mehta. 

When 8-year-old Usha Mehta shouted Simon Go Back 

Born on March 25, 1920, in Saras, Gujarat, to Gheliben Mehta, a homemaker and Hariprasad Mehta, a district-level judge under the British Raj, Usha and her family were active in fighting for India's independence. In 1928, 8-year-old Usha participated in a protest march against the Simon Commission and shouted her first words of protest against the British Raj: "Simon Go Back." 

According to BBC News, while giving an interview for Naveen Joshi’s book, Freedom Fighters Remembered (1997), Usha said, "The first slogan I shouted against the British was ‘Simon Go Back." Usha's father was a judge in British Raj, thus he didn't encourage her to participate in the freedom struggle until he retired in 1930. At the age of 12, she moved to Bombay,  making it possible for her to participate more actively in the freedom movement. 

Usha's biggest inspiration in her fight for India's independence was? 

Mahatma Gandhi. At 5, Usha saw Mahatma Gandhi for the first time while on a visit to his ashram in Ahmedabad. At an early age, Usha decided to remain celibate for life and took up the Gandhian lifestyle, wearing only Khādī clothes and keeping away from luxuries of all types. 

Usha's underground radio that helped to unite India

Reportedly when "the press is gagged and news is banned", Usha decided to set up an underground radio that will provide vital information about the freedom struggle to the people. In a 1969 interview, Usha said, "A transmitter helps a good deal in acquainting the public with the events that occur." At that time, the British suspended amateur radio licenses across the country. As the New York Times reported, Mehta, with the help of other activists like Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, and Chandrakant Jhaveri secured a ghost transmitter. 

As per BBC, the team Congress Radio broadcasts twice, in Hindi and English, only to reduce it later to just once in the evening between 7.30 and 8.30 pm. Soon Congress Radio became successful in channelling the freedom movement and became a credible source of information. Mehta and her associates had to strive hard to keep the radio functioning, and escape Britsihers. She even got arrested with her associates and after a 5-week trial, Usha was jailed until March 1946 in Pune’s Yerawada Jail. The formation of Congress Radio and the struggle to protect it from Britishers is the plot of Sara Ali Khan-starrer. 

Usha Mehta's life after independence 

After India got freedom on August 15, 1947, Usha stepped away from active politics but remained a Gandhian till the very end. Usha has penned the script for a documentary on Gandhi produced by her colleague at the radio station. She has also earned a PhD in Gandhian at the University of Bombay. In the same university, she taught political science and ran the politics department. Mehta also taught at Wilson College for 30 years and was also the president of the Gandhi Peace Foundation. In 1998, Usha was awarded India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Vibhushan. Reportedly she remained unmarried and did not have children. Usha Mehta passed away on August 11, 2000, at the age of 80.