Mee S M: An autobiography of a authentic hero of contemporary Indian History written in Marathi

Mee S M: An autobiography of a authentic hero of contemporary Indian History written in Marathi

At the time of reading the history of socialist movement in India, I again started reading the books written by socialist leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayprakash Narayan, Madhu Limaye, Nanasaheb Gorey and S M Joshi. I finished reading S M Joshi’s autobiography MEE  S M in Marathi language and found that he was one of the authentic heroes of contemporary history of India who made great acts of courage.  Through this book, S M Joshi has given the account of his struggle in his public life to get communal harmony, social equality, freedom struggle of India, movement of 1942, Maharashtra Movement, working  as trade union leader, working for causes of Dalits, his dynamic role in revolutionary campaign launched by Jayprakash Narayan,  his roles during emergency and above all his contributions as a Chairman of Rashtra Seva Dal for spreading socialist activities throughout  the country. This book is nothing but the creation of works done by S M Joshi in five decades and will definitely help to draw much inspiration for many generations to come.

Shreedhar Mahadev Joshi popularly known as S M was born on 12th November 1904 in Junnar, Pune. He is from Golap, Ratnagiri. He was an excellent student in school and college. He did his schooling from New Modern English School Pune and went to Fergusson College. During his college days, he entered the independent movement in 1924 but completed his graduation in economics from Pune University in 1928. In his autobiography,  he mentioned that there was a great impact of political, social and economic activities on him from the period 1918 to 1928. He said that he was inspired by the freedom calls from Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi; but real changes came to his life when he met Yusuf Meharali, a socialist leader in Pune in 1927. Therefore, he dedicated his book to the memories of Yusuf Meharali.

S M Joshi had started taking  part in Satyagraha from 1929 onwards. His first participation was in Satyagraha for the Parvathy Temple entry in Pune for Schedule caste. In 1930, he participated in a non-cooperation movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi and was jailed for one year. After the release, he was arrested again for giving a controversial speech on “Roy Day” in 1932. After his release from jail in 1934, he made notable contributions to the socialist movement including formation of Congress socialist Party in 1934. He played a dynamic role as a Chairman of Rashtra Seva Dal. In RSD, he created dedicated cadres even after he found himself at odds with the exuberant young socialist. In 1937-38, Congress conducted the elections and won as per the 1935 act of the Constitution of British India. During this time, S M was secretary of the State Socialist Party. He organised the peasants ‘demonstration after the formation of the Congress ministry in Bombay state. He demanded Tax relief for farmers for drought affected areas, guarantee for the Tenants, decreased the load of loans on the peasants, to make policy to sanction loan from Credit Cooperative Society etc.  Due to this, he received respect not only from traditional congressmen and Gandhians but also from members of leftist parties and  common masses including schedule casts.

SM used to conduct the study circle during his tenure in Congress on Karl Marx, Fredrick Engles and on Economics. In 1940, he was arrested again for giving anti-War speeches and released from Jail in 1941. From 1941 till 9^th August 1942, S M was fully involved in the activities of Rashtra Seva Dal.  Because of his guidance, young persons from Seva Dal became useful in the struggle of August revolution. On 9^th August 1942, all national leaders were arrested by the British. Therefore, all socialist leaders decided to continue the movement by remaining underground. SM took the responsibility to coordinate with underground leaders. He changed his attire and grew his beard. He became “Imamsaheb”. His transformation was so perfect that police could not recognize him. With this changing attire, SM tried hard in those days to keep the flame of resistance burning for 14 months till he had been arrested with all his comrades at HADAL house in Nal Bazar, Mumbai.

In 1946, all leaders were released. Socialist party was reorganized. Under the chairmanship of S M, functions of RSD had been spread throughout Maharashtra; He started concentrating more on constructive activities rather than party politics. For Party politics, he has given the chance to young activists to take responsibilities according to their abilities and merits.

After leaving the congress, SM started taking interest in Trade Union activities. He started united workers in Khadki area, Pune where so many projects of the Defence ministry were going on. He successfully formed the federation of All India Defense workers and worked as office bearer for many years. He fought many battles and worked as a Trade union leader as a duty-conscious. He did not demand for unwanted things and never ran after cheap popularity. In his autobiography, he said that workers should always protect democracy.

In 1946, Congress decided to reorganize Indian states on linguistic basis as per the dream of Mahatma Gandhi. The resolution was passed in the conference of Socialist Party.  In the case of Maharashtra, the question of Including Mumbai City and other parts of borders between Maharashtra and Karnataka became controversial.  Jayprakash Narayan supported the Maharashtra Movement and included Mumbai in Maharashtra. This issue exploded in 1955 after a report of the state organised committee was published. Samyukta Maharashtra Committee was formed  and people asked SM to become their guiding spirit.  Though Acharya Atre provided motivation to sustain the struggle through his brilliant writing and speeches and S.A. Dange gave the ideological venner, it was SM who led skillfully the movement of Samyukta Maharashtra. He played the key role of bringing all parties together. No other leaders could have performed this difficult task. All members of parties trusted him because of his sincerity, impartiality and selflessness.  He had been criticized by his party members for keeping them together. He just ignored this for achieving the goal of Samyukta Maharashtra.  After forming the state, every member of each party started taking credit for it but real credit goes to S M Joshi. This is a historical fact, no one can change.  It is true that the Samyukta Maharashtra movement has given more popularity to SM. In his autobiography, he mentioned,” I have to admit that the whole Samyukta Maharashtra movement made me a celebrity “. He further says” When People of any country and state agitated for any reason, in such a situation it is possible to secure the lesser demands on the strength of the principle cause of their agitation.  George Fernandes was aware of this , and so he put the  Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti in fix by organizing strikes of Municipal and BEST workers and secured for them several benefits”.  He also described the way he saved the life of police commissioner Mr. Advani when he stopped  the huge mass procession in 1956 at Dadar.

History of Socialist movement will have an important place for S M Joshi for his contributions in socialist movements in India. He played a crucial role in uniting the socialist in 1964 after the great split in 1953 and became Chairman of the United Samyukta Socialist Party.  He always liked to work with Dr. Rammanohar Lohia and always appreciated his policies. He has conducted election only two times, one in 1967 for Parliament and in 1958 in Maharashtra Assembly. After that, he did not contest the election. In 1962, as a MLA in Maharashtra assembly, he became a strong opposition. He provided the complaints of the people with deep study and put the Government under pressure. He joined the Bihar student’s movement with Jayprakash Narayan and started educating the young generations about the wrong things of emergency. He also visited to Nagaland to bring peaceful settlement of Naga’s insurgency

It is an autobiography of such a person who has found fulfillment in life. He has mentioned very little about his family life, about his parents, his wife Tarabai and his two sons.  His real life is public life. He is always happy and has the mental strength to face any calamity. He never compromised with his principles.  He had full faith in the principles of democracy, secular state, Social and economic justice. S M Joshi died on 1^st April 1989. His life was full of sacrifice which is the inspiration to the many generations to come. It is like the quiet flame of a lamp in a temple.

Mumbai

05/07/2020