"The much-despised peasants are our true bread-givers [annadata], not those who consider themselves special and look down upon the people who live in toil and poverty as lowly beings" ~ thus roared Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi's pen in 1915 (1/n)
A year later, he met Gandhiji and plunged headlong into the nationalist movement. Gandhiji's first Satyagraha in Champaran, 1917 begun after Vidyarthi started reporting on the plight of the indigo peasants in that area (2/n)
By then a full time INC member, Vidyarthi led the 1st textile workers' strike in Kanpur in 1917/18 and was jailed shortly after for championing the cause of the farm community of Rae Bareilly (3/n)
Despite being an INC member, Vidyarthi became close to Bhagat Singh & other revolutionaries. Singh regularly contributed articles to Vidyarthi's daily "Pratap." Vidyarthi also helped Ashfaqullah Khan financially when he was on the run after Kakori (4/n)
Vidyarthi met Singh & Batukeswar Dutt in prison and reported extensively on the 63-day hunger strike in Lahore jail. Like Bhagat Singh, he held the values of communal harmony very dear and was harsh on proponents of communal divide (5/n)
Just three days after the hanging of Bhagat Singh and his associates, riots had broken out in Kanpur. Unmindful of his own safety, Vidyarthi was out on the streets, trying to prevent mobs from slaughtering each other. He went missing (6/n)
His badly knifed body was found in a garbage heap few days later. Writing in "Young India", Gandhiji said, "The death of (Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi) was one to be envied by us all. His blood is the cement that will ultimately bind the two communities..(7/n)
...No pact will bind our hearts. But heroism such as Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi showed is bound in the end to melt the stoniest hearts, melt them into one....." Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was born #OTD in 1890 (8/n)

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Paperclip

The Paperclip Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Paperclip_In

27 Oct
117th birth anniversary of Jatindra Nath Das. At the age of 17, Jatin Das participated in Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. He would join Anushilan Samity shortly after & become proficient in making bombs (1/n) Image
He was 1st arrested in 1925 and imprisoned in Mymensingh jail where he went on hunger strike for 20 days to protest ill treatment of political prisoners. He only broke the fast after the jail super apologized (2/n)
In 1929, he was arrested again and named co-accused in the Lahore Conspiracy. On 13th July, 1929, Jatin Das began fasting in Lahore jail in protest of the inhuman living conditions provided to Indian prisoners. His fast went on for 63 days (3/n)
Read 7 tweets
27 Oct
The tragedy of Sewsunker "Papwa'' Sewgolum: This is Sewsunker "Papwa'' Sewgolum accepting the Natal Open golf trophy in 1965 at the club parking lot. This was because as a man of color, Papwa was not allowed entry inside the club (1/n) Image
This image is one of the most powerful images of the apartheid era and caused much embarrassment to the then SAF govt. Papwa Sewgolum was born to poor Indian parents around 1928. His childhood was spent in foraging fields & forests in search of food (2/n)
It was while on such a search that he walked onto a golf club & fell in love with the sport instantly. He would go onto become a caddy when he was spotted by Graham Wulff, the founder of Olay & an amateur golfer (3/n)
Read 7 tweets
27 Oct
Many Hollywood movies have depicted a world destroyed by a global thermonuclear war. #OTD in 1962, the world came to the brink of that happening in real life. This is the story of one man who effectively prevented global annihilation (1/n) Image
Deep in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis, 11 USN destroyers & the air force carrier USS Randolph spotted the Soviet nuclear powered submarine B59 in the Caribbean. The American ships started dropping depth charges to force the sub to surface (2/n)
B59 had not been in contact with Moscow for several days. Moving at great depth, it had also stopped picking civilian radio 'chatter'. With the Americans dropping depth charges in international waters, the captain argued that war must have begun (3/n)
Read 10 tweets
26 Oct
"The Black Power Salute" at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games. US athletes Tommy Smith & John Carlos, winner of Gold & Bronze medal respectively in the 200 m race, raised a black gloved fist as the US anthem played (1/n)
The 3rd athlete in the picture, Australian Peter Norman, although not raising his fist, did play a very important role. In solidarity with his fellow medalists, Norman also wore the badge for Olympic Project for Human Rights (2/n)
After the final, Smith & Carlos approached Norman and told them their plan. He decided to join them. The original plan was for Smith to wear the gloves. Norman suggested they both do it (3/n)
Read 9 tweets
22 Oct
A lovely video of Ustad Bismillah Khan talking about pretty much the idea of India. A thread on some interesting facts about this amazing musical talent (1/n)
He was named Qamruddin at birth. However, his grandfather who was also a shehnai player, exclaimed "Bismillah" (in the name of Allah) on seeing the infant for the 1st time, thus giving him his new name (2/n)
A young Bismillah was mentored in shehnai playing by his maternal uncle Ali Bux "Vilaytu" Khan, who was a shehnai player on the staff of Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi (3/n)
Read 6 tweets
22 Oct
#KnowOurLand Pābūjī ki Phad (the Epic of Pābūjī) -

The story of Pābūjī Rathore emerges in 14th century from the desert heartland of the Indian Subcontinent. He was a Rathore Rajput and believed to be an heir to the throne of Marwar (Jodhpur) (1/n)
Pābūjī’s life and that of his four companions revolved around resolving local feuds, saving livestock, and performing many an act of bravery (2/n)
Because of his many heroic deeds, Pābūjī is today worshipped as a demigod by the nomadic Rabari people in parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Sindh & Kutch regions (3/n)
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(