Nirad C Chaudhri lived during the time of India’s freedom struggle and recorded his experiences in the book: Thy Hand Great Anarch. He was a refined man who supported the British regime and was highly critical of the fight for freedom.

He begins his memoir by recording his life as an employee. Having failed his master’s degree, he was unable to get another job. He criticizes the Non-Cooperation Movement stating that he was a massive brainwashing of the people. The non-cooperation movement was a civil disobedience movement started by Mahatma Gandhi to drive the British out of India. The non-cooperation movement included the removal of indigenous people from work areas and civil protest. The aim of the non-cooperation movement was to paralyze the British government. The rioting masses were illiterate and Chaudhri records a case where he was physically harassed by uncooperative rioters.

After the Non-Cooperation Movement came the Chauri Cahuri incident when an angry mob torched a police station and burned British policemen alive. So Gandhi withdrew the non-cooperation movement. This was followed by the massacre at the Jalian Wallah Bagh incident, where peaceful protesters gathered and were shot dead on the orders of Colonel Dyer. This brutal murder was met with a storm of protests in the country.

Then came the Simon Commission to locate the Indians and offer partial autonomy to India. The Simon Commission was met with hostile resistance. People waved banners reading ‘Simon go back’ and burned effigies. After the Simon Commission, Gandhi adopted the Salt Satyagraha at Dandi, where people marched to the seashores to make salt. This was done in protest against the harsh taxes imposed by the British on basic products. For Chaudhri: Gandhi was not an apostle of peace and indulged in moral and psychological violence.

The times leading up to independence were severe for India. There was a lot of causality. The British were fed up with ruling India so they decided to leave. Lord Mount Batten was appointed British representative in India. Along with India, the Muslims of Pakistan wanted a separate nation. Jinnah was vociferous in the creation of Pakistan. Gandhi was very disturbed. Independent India was beset by many problems. They were unemployment, poverty, death and hunger. Nehru decided to make India a socialist country.

Chaudhri’s struggle is so movingly portrayed in pristine language. For the average India, life was dizzying. The British exploited India’s economy by taking its resources and bringing in finished goods. Cottage and cottage industries, the backbone of the Indian economy, were severely in a ditch. A positive development of British rule in India was the spread of the vernacular press and the development of railways. The railways united the country. Post-independence India was one of the quarrelsome princely states. It was the iron man of India Sardar Vallabhai Patel who united India and made it one country. The press played an important role in spreading the gospel of freedom. The partition of India and the creation of Pakistan created many problems. There was a mass exodus of refugees from Pakistan to India and from India to Pakistan.

Chaudhri’s work is highly philosophical and literary and encapsulates India and its turmoil in a political catharsis. Nehru commented in his keynote speech that we have made an appointment with destiny. When the world sleeps, India will wake up to freedom. Chaudhri’s wonderful interpretation of India’s political and cultural landscape is essential reading.