Who was Usha Mehta, the inspiration behind Sara Ali Khan’s 'Ae Watan Mere Watan'?

The Sara Ali Khan starrer Ae Watan Mere Watan was released on Amazon Prime on Thursday, 21 March.

The historical biographical drama follows the life of Usha Mehta and Congress Radio – an underground radio station that operated during the Quit India Movement in 1942.

Here’s all we know about her.

A student activist with a powerful voice

Usha Mehta was born on 25 March 1920, in Gujarat’s Saras, to Gheliben Mehta, a homemaker and Hariprasad Mehta, a district-level judge under the British Raj, according to The New York Times.

Since childhood, she had witnessed her family fighting for India’s independence.

According to The Quint, gaining inspiration from her family, at eight, Mehta took part in her first protest against an Englishmen committee that was led by Sir John Simon to recommend reforms in India.

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In an interview in Naveen Joshi’s book, Freedom Fighters Remembered (1997), she recalled, according to BBC News, “The first slogan I shouted against the British was ‘Simon Go Back.”

In her teenage years, she took part in civil disobedience movements – from picketing to spinning cotton to reject British goods. She responded to Gandhi’s call to defy the salt tax.

“I had the satisfaction of breaking the law and doing something for the nation even as a young child,” she said in an interview later.

Joining Quit India Movement

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Mehta’s family relocated to Bombay (now Mumbai) after her father retired in 1930.

According to The Indian Express, the Quit India Movement was launched on 8 August 1942. “Do or Die. We shall either free India or die trying,” Mahatma Gandhi said in his famous address at Bombay’s Gowalia Tank maidan.

The movement witnessed mass civil disobedience, public demonstrations against British rule, and even the setting up of parallel governments in certain regions, leading to the arrest of tens of thousands of protesters, the newspaper said.

All India Congress’ senior leadership – Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vallabhai Patel – was also arrested the next day. The party, too, was banned.

It was at this time when younger leaders led the movement amidst brutal repression by colonial authorities.

Mehta was a 22-year-old law student in Bombay and yearned to be part of India’s freedom struggle. She left her studies to dedicate herself to the movement.

“We were drawn to the movement,” Mehta later told Usha Thakkar (as the latter quoted in her book Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942).

Setting up underground radio station

Unlike many, Mehta did not believe in public demonstrations at a time when “the press is gagged and news is banned.”

“A transmitter helps a good deal in acquainting the public with the events that occur,” Mehta recalled in a 1969 interview.

However, setting up a radio station wasn’t easy, especially at a time when the British had suspended all amateur radio licenses across the country. According to Indian Express, operators were supposed to turn in all equipment to the authorities or face severe punishment.

With the help of other activists like Babubhai Khakar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri, and Chandrakant Jhaveri, Mehta secured a ghost transmitter, as per NYT.

Procuring funds for the enterprise, getting technical help and equipment was their biggest challenge. Coming to rescue was Nariman Printer, who held an amateur transmitting license prior to the War. He provided part of his ghost transmitter despite the ban.

However, his reputation was somewhat doubtful. With no ideological affinity to the national movement or the party, Printer helped the Congress Radio team for purely financial reasons, as per Indian Express.

Even so, a working radio transmitter was put together in August on the top floor of Chowpatty’s Sea View Apartment. In the evening, Mehta went live for the first time, saying, “This is the Congress Radio calling on (a wavelength) 42.34 metres, from somewhere in India.”

According to BBC, initially, the team broadcast twice a day, in Hindi and English, only to reduce it later to just once in the evening between 7.30 and 8.30 pm.

Congress Radio was an instant hit and went on to become the most preferred news source for Indians.

Mehta recounted to Thakkar’s Congress Radio, “We were the first to give the news of the Chittagong bomb raid, of the Jamshedpur strike and of the happenings in Ballia. We broadcast the full description of the atrocities in Ashti and Chimur. The newspapers dared not touch these subjects under the prevailing conditions; only the Congress Radio could defy the orders and tell the people what was really happening.”

Going beyond the news, the secret radio station also broadcasted political speeches, passed along information from the All India Congress Committee and delivered messages from across the country, as per NYT.

The struggle to keep it going

Mehta and her teammates took extreme steps to evade detection. They altered the location of their transmissions on a daily basis.

According to NYT, a police van would frequently pursue them, so they had to move around to mask their whereabouts. They operated a recording station apart from the broadcast station and broadcast messages using two transmitters for a while in order to reduce danger.

The Congress Radio team continuously attempted to respond after the official All India Radio (AIR), which other activists referred to as “Anti-India Radio,” interrupted their transmissions.

However, on 12 November 1942, the operation was busted after Printer was apprehended and, in exchange for his immunity, revealed the location, as per Indian Express.

Mehta recalled the “memorable day,” as per the newspaper, “When I was putting on the ‘Vande Mataram’ record, I heard hard knocks on the door… I saw a big battalion of policemen headed by the deputy commissioner of police entering the room with triumphant smiles… the police chief said… (to) stop the record… mustering all the courage at my command, (I) firmly replied, ‘The record will not stop. This is our national song. So all of you stand at attention.’”

The arrest

More than 50 officers had stormed through the three bolted doors on what would be the final day of Congress Radio’s broadcasting. Mehta and another activist were arrested; two others were caught in the following days.

After a long investigation and confinement, a five-week trial, Mehta was jailed until March 1946 in Pune’s Yerawada Jail.

“I came back from jail a happy and, to an extent, a proud person, because I had the satisfaction of carrying out Bapu’s (Gandhi) message, ‘Do or die’ and of having contributed my humble might to the cause of freedom,” she said.

She was hailed in the nationalist media as “Radio-ben.”

Independence, PhD, & Padma Vibhushan

When India finally achieved independence in 1947, the British had divided the country into two parts – India and Pakistan, sending the region into chaos. The divide results in massive bloodshed with more than 10 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs seeking to find their home. It was the history’s largest migration.

Mehta was torn. “In a way I was very happy, but sad at the same time because of partition. It was an independent India but a divided India,” she was quoted as saying in the book Freedom Fighters Remembered.

She was away from active politics in independent India due to her ill health but continued to remain a staunch Gandhian till the very end.

According to The New York Times, she penned the script for a documentary on Gandhi produced by her colleague at the radio station, earned a PhD in Gandhian thought at the University of Bombay. She taught political science and ran the politics department at the university. She also taught at Wilson College for 30 years. Mehta was also the president of the Gandhi Peace Foundation.

In 1998, she was awarded India’s highest civilian honours, the Padma Vibhushan.

She lived a simple life, riding the bus and donning khadis, a handwoven garment that became a symbol of defiance in Gandhi’s time, as per the report. She never married or had children.

She died on 11 August 2000 at the age of 80.

With inputs from agencies