Freedom fighter, 91, says: India has gone to dogs, crooks have taken over

As I enter Manibhai Sunderji Doshi’s spacious home, a framed black and white photograph perched on the wall catches my eye. Manibhai’s daughter Darshana gently takes it off and holds it before me for a better view.

“This is the only picture we have of my father’s freedom fighting days. That’s him in Japan with Subhash Chandra Bose,” she says, pointing towards a well-built young man staring confidently at the camera.

Born in the princely state of Kathiawad in the year Mahatma Gandhi spearheaded the non-violence movement against the colonial rule -- 1920 -- Manibhai experienced the atrocities of the British government very early in life.

At the age of 10, Manibhai was detained by the lathi-wielding policemen for singing patriotic songs with other kids of the Vanar Sena.

“At the chowki, they abused us,” he reminisces, adding, “A mere mention of Gandhiji’s name or Vande Mataram would fetch us beatings.”

No wonder then, that he found himself to be irrevocably drawn to the struggle for freedom as a young adult.

Manibhai arrived in Bombay as a teenager in 1935, and looked after his family’s silk business. When Japan came calling in 1937, Manibhai was just 17-years-old. He took over the exports branch, shipping out georgette, satin and chiffon to Shanghai and Singapore while the government was busy exchanging gunfire with China during the Sino-Japanese war.

It was in Japan that Manibhai was introduced to the “extraordinarily brilliant” Subhash Chandra Bose.

“I’d never met a man more dedicated to his motherland than Netaji,” he says. Netaji’s awe-inspiring words remain etched out in Manibhai’s memory.

“He’d said, ‘if the British can enlist the support of the Africans and Australians, why can’t India seek Japan’s help? An enemy’s enemy is a friend, after all,'” Manibhai vividly remembers.

Inspired by Netaji’s fiery speeches, Manibhai joined his Provisional Govt of Free India in the early 1940s as the Minister for Manpower.

“My job was to mobilise support for the Indian National Army. My military rank was that of a Major and as a civilian, I took the garb of a minister.”

When Japan surrendered to the Allied forces in 1945, 20,000 troops including Manibhai were taken in by the British as prisoners of wars in Rangoon. And it was at Gandhiji’s intervention, that Britain allowed them to be repatriated.

Back in his homeland in 1946, Manibhai was not disillusioned or discouraged. When the Nawab of Junagadh acceded to Pakistan against the wishes of his people, Manibhai started the Junagadh Arzi Hukumat, a movement to bring the province back in India’s fold which proved to be successful.

He remembers the jubilance in the country as August 15, 1947, dawned upon the people of Free India. “Overnight, people thought everything will be alright. But amidst the celebration, they forgot that a whole nation had to be built,” he says.

Terming the partition of India as sabotage of independence, he says, “The divide, followed by Gandhi’s assassination and Jinnah’s death left both the just-born countries leaderless and the balance of power hanging in mid-air.”

Manibhai grew up influenced by Karl Marx’s socialist philosophies, and as an adult, found himself motivated more by Netaji’s dynamic activism than Gandhiji’s non-violent satyagraha.

“True, Gandhi was a mass leader and removed the fear of the British from Indian minds. But Netaji fought for India’s freedom like a warrior. When the then Prime Minister of Japan met him in the 40s, he was so highly impressed that he called Netaji the ‘real Indian samurai’,” he says adoringly.

For a nation known to be openly hostile and racist towards brown-skinned Indians, I ask him if he remembers being subjected to such a treatment by the colonialists.

He nods his head, “The British were always discriminatory towards Indians. When I was exporting goods to India from Japan, the British govt invariably turned down requests for certification of goods for Indians. We had to work under Parsi aliases because they were English-speaking and a slightly more ‘civilised’ class.”

The nonagenarian is well-rooted in the current domestic and international affairs. He firmly believes that cordial Indo-Pak relations will soon see the light of the day.

“Pakistan demanded separate statehood in 1947, tricked us into the Shimla pact in 1973, even the Kargil War was a stab in the back by Musharraf in 1999. Its ISI is funding terrorists infiltrating into India, but their days are numbered. Reconciliation will take place,” he says.

Ask him if, on India’s 65th Independence Day, he feels he has seen the India of his dreams. He’s quick to declare,

“No! Today, everyone is selfish and profit-minded beyond reasonable thinking. When basic amenities like houses, good food and education are missing, how can it be the India of my dreams?”

So what does he think about the Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption? “The Lokpal Bill is not enough,” he says, continuing, “As long as we elect rapists, criminals and bootleggers to power, we will keep breeding corrupt MPs. The country has gone to dogs; the govt is ruled by treacherous crooks who are willing to sell themselves for money.”

But even at 91, his optimism still rules the roost when he says, “I see a bright future for India. May be not in my lifetime, but soon enough.”