Prison as Transforming Space - Santosh Gupta Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was imprisoned on various occasions, both in South Africa and India, in his struggle for civil rights, freedom and equality. He wrote a code of conduct for his companions struggling with him in those movements, advising them to court imprisonment as a 'sacred' act of suffering in 'the cause of the motherland, in defense of one's honour and one's religion'.1 He termed the movement in South Africa a quest for truth - 'Satyagraha', based on the principles of non-violence and civil disobedience, and urged upon all those struggling with him to "consider the prison as His majesty's hotels, the suffering consequent upon disobeying the Black Act as perfect bliss and the sacrifice of one's all and of life itself in resisting it as supreme enjoyment' (Gandhi 138). He and all the Satyagrahis (as the volunteers were called) had 'decided as Satyagrahis voluntarily to obey all jail regulations so long as they were not inconsistent with our self-respect or with our religious convictions' (138). He called the Yervada prison as 'Yervada Mandir' (a temple) in the same spirit, recognizing the importance of suffering a prison tenure in the noble cause for which he was working.2 Naming the prison 'temple' was and important strategy of reversal in renaming the prison , Gandhi tried to recreate the image of prison by cleansing it of prevalent evil and degrading association. He along with other prisoners wanted to see it as a place where the colonial subject was not rendered totally helpless or cut off from his own social and political territory. Reclaiming prison space for active political and social purposes was an important strategy so that their activities within that space became a process of recreating a new respectability for the boundaried area meant to 'punish'.

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many of the prisoner wrote in different genres – literature of a high academic and reflective quality, such as autobiographies, historical accounts, political tracts and poetry. Some continued their debates with the Raj authorities like Bhagat Singh; Gandhi, Nelson Mandela managed their movements from within. Some, like myanmar's Aung San Sui Kyi maintained a silence that spoke volumes. Resistance to the Imperial authority amongst colonized states led the rulers to increasingly resort to imprisoning these freedom fighters. Imprisonment became a necessary part of the struggle. In the long drawn struggles several leading political leaders used their forced seclusion and inactivity within prison to turn to reading, writing and reflection, as was the case with J.L. Nehru, Nelson Mandela and V.D. Savarkar. The change of attitude towards political prisoners and their imprisonment occurred gradually, where the prison experience itself played a catalytic role. In the changing of the image of prison Gandhi's efforts were matched by another group of prisoners who dramatically used the prison as a location of continued struggle – for human rights of the prisoners, as they asked for civil rights of the citizens of the colonized country. A group of about 30-prisoners who were members of different revolutionary organizations formed in the first few years of the twentieth century, were treated with great harshness, barbaric physical torture and mental agony. Their prison experiences were closer to those of the common criminals, and the so called 'civilized' white man did not have any qualms of conscience in reverting to the physical torture which M. Foucault in his well-known study of prisons considers the European Penal System to have discarded, in favour of milder and refined forms of punishment3. Some of the

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young revolutionaries, such as Bhagat Singh, Jatin Das, Ram Prasad Bismill and Bijoy Kumar Sinha, and others protested in prisons. Their experiences of protest and questioning of the entire legal system has been a milestone in India's nationalist movement, in drawing attention to the black, invisible underground world of colonial India's prisons and the untold misery of those confined in them. A radical change can be seen in the common perception of revolutionaries in India after their imprisonment. In the 1920s a debate about the use of violent measures to free India was initiated by Gandhi, as he strongly disapproved of violence used by the revolutionaries. Gandhi's views created a disapproval in some sections of Indian public, although a large number was also attracted towards the idea of radical revolutionary changes in the Indian social, political and economic system. The young men who used pistol and bomb, were thus under pressure to explain their ideals and vision and justify their actions. In this struggle the prison experiences of Bhagat Singh, Ram Prasad Bismill, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, V.D. Savarkar helped them in living out their sincere dedication to the national cause. Their deaths, trials and other tragic ends worked upon the public imagination, going a long way in transforming them, their public image and the image of the prison itself. These brave men have become national heroes, legends have been woven round their acts of bravery, their selfless sacrifices, in a number of films, songs, and literary texts that have emerged in the last half a century. The emergence of the revolutionary groups like Hindustan Republican Association, Naujawan Bharat Sabha (in Punjab) Subhash Chandra's Bose's Azad Hind Sena in the 1930s were in fact an expression of the seething dissatisfaction among

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many Indians with the slow moving and moderate, liberal politics of the Indian National Congress, then the largest political party in India. Young men came together, seeking to destabilize the machinery of the Imperial government through repeated incidents of violence against police, treasury and other government officials. In this context one finds the actions of Bhagat Singh and his group as expressing a suppressed anger and restlessness. Rather than submit more petitions and appeals the Hindustan Republican Association planned to disrupt the government's functioning, by attacking its policemen and looting the treasury. Some incidents of this nature took place, 4 On 8th April 1929 Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutta threw bombs in the Legislative Assembly, as a protest against the Colonial Government's efforts to pass two bills : 'Trade Disputes Bill', and 'Public Safety Bill' Both these bills were means to arm the government with 'legal powers' to oppress the workers of different industrial units who were asking for better wages and better conditions of work. Bhagat Singh and his party knew that the approval of Indian representatives in the Assembly was meant to be a 'stage-show' of democratic method, while the real intent was to strengthen the governments existing heavily autocratic way of functioning5. As Bhagat Singh volunteered himself to throw bomb in the Assembly he knew very well the outcome of this action. He and Dutta faced imprisonment and severe punishment, perhaps ending with to death sentence. He was prepared to take the risk, for he wanted to use his life to further the freedom struggle. He and Dutta were arrested in the Assembly where they did not offer any resistance. After a few months' stay in the Delhi jail, they were taken to Mianwali jail, in Lahore, where another batch of co revolution aries were also kept. The two trials in which Bhagat Singh was tried went on

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till November 1930 Rajguru, Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev met their death soon, as they were hanged on March 23, 1931. Bhagat Singh's Jail Notebook (Prison Diaries) and several essays, letters reflect his keen intellectual abilities. He read voraciously in prison, asking for books on different subjects in political ideas, histories of revolutions and literature also. He believed firmly that 'the sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting stone of ideas' (Pal 255). From within the prison he maintained his intellectual quest in full swing, reading writing and discussing ideas through his letters, messages and Petitions. In his essays 'Why I am an Atheist' and 'The Philosophy of Bomb', his letters to Editor of Modern Review (23 December, 1929) he explained his ideas about revolution and the duties of a revolutionary in fighting for the country. Bipin Pal considers him to be an 'intellectual giant' among the Indian Leftists/ communists, and other politicians (Pal 250), who constantly used the rational and materialist approach in analysis. He realised the great need to mobilise young men and women, to draw them out of their cloistered, complacent and cowardly seclusion and self absorption, and addressed them repeatedly through different messages from the prison. Once arrested in the Assembly Bomb Case the case was used by Bhagat Singh to draw the public attention towards some important is ideas and problems. In the statement he read before the Magistrate in the 'Assembly Bomb Case' he explained clearly why he representing his party, had resorted to throw bombs in the Assembly although theirs was not 'a cult of bomb and pistol'. The idea of throwing the bomb in a way that didn't hurt anyone was deliberate because they only wanted to cause a loud noise, to make the 'deaf' listen to them. Having seen all the appeals and petitions ending

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up in the 'waste paper basket' the Indians have become tired, 'The bomb was necessary' the statement says, 'to awaken England from her dreams' quoting the 'Late S.R. Das, who was once Law Member of the Governor – General's Executive Council' (Waraich & Sidhu 48). This incident was a 'warning Signal' to all, the British rulers and the Indians who supported the 'show' of democratic working of an autocratic and insensitive government. An important question that the statement addresses is 'What is Revolution?'. He says clearly that 'By Revolution we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must change' (Waraich and Sidhu 50). These detailed explanations were aimed as much at the magistrate and the Colonial Government, as at the Indians who were interested in their country's political stagnation. By discussing the concern about social and economic exploitation of the multitudes of lower level social groups Bhagat Singh showed how their struggle was for the upliftment of the masses, not for the upper classes only. In 1930 as the Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial began the under trials adopted hunger strike as one of the methods of pressing their demands. In different places like the Andaman island, Hazaribagh and Bhagalpur about 30 prisoners started their protest against ill-treatment, poor food and unhygienic living conditions. It disturbed the sequence in which the accused were to be presented before the magistrate, and soon the government armed itself with the powers to try a person without being present in court (Singh 110-18). These strategies of the government to work through laws, and regulations were meant to support the English men's claim that their rule was the 'rule of law' and their

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treatment of the prisoners was just. The prisoners who refused to remain helpless victims, which they were to a large extent, could wrest some kind of power from the authorities, and influence the situation. This tussle was in itself a conflict between the authorities and the prisoners, who now had only their existential freedom to assert their presence. Through their continue conflict the prison which was meant to silence and isolate them from the rest of the country rather became a vital location of colonial resistance. The prolonged hunger strike became a battle of wills between the colonial government and the prisoners. While medical help was solicited to force feed, them which the government claimed was necessary to 'protect' the prisoner's life, the prisoners resisted such acts with all their might.7 Hunger strike had been used by other prisoners in the part also and the government dealt with such prisoners all the more harshly. But when Jatinnath, and a few other prisoners died of starvation after these cases of hunger strike in 1930, the public reaction turned entirely against the cruel governmental practices and neglect of their demands. The deaths due to hunger strike evoked widespread criticism of the colonial government. The extreme sacrifices of these young prisoners caused pain to millions of Indians and others outside India. The transformation of the prison into a battlefield by these prisoners eventually also transformed them from young passionate freedom fighter into mature political activists, negotiating with the powerful British Government, are pursuing their ideals and demands, and, being accepted by their countrymen as national heroes. Bhagat Singh made the prison a place for intellectual development and interaction. His letters to different persons, parties and officials reflect his fast growth as a thinker and

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political leader of the youth. In his letter to the Magistrate trying his case, on 11 Feb., 1930, he explained the rationale behind the hunger strike; it was not carried out for any personal needs but was meant to ask for human rights and dignity of the prisoner, even if she/he belongs to a colonized state (Sindhu 53-54). The confidence and courage that these prisoners of the twentieth century had is not found in those resisting the British imperial power in the 19th century. The tribals and rural populace that fought against the colonial acquisition of their land, forests and cultivation could not match the machinery of rules and regulations that the invader concocted and applied ruthlessly. An instance from these uprisings of the tribals is used by the Bengali novelist, Mahasweta Devi, in her novel Aranyer Adhikaar (1977, The Claimants of the Forests). She depicts Birsa Munda, the leader of the Munda tribe in the Chhotanagpur district of Bangal, captured in the armed conflict against the "outriders" invading their forests. He was caught and imprisoned in February 1900, and kept in humiliating, dirty conditions. When he died in June 1900, a large number of tribals collected outside the prison, suspecting foul play.8 Mahasweta Devi effectively depicts the helplessness of the brave Birsa once he is inside the prison. There were several prison protests in the colonial prisons in the nineteenth century, as recent sociological research has amply demonstrates (Arnold 143). But these protests were made in isolation and for needs about food preparation etc. As the revolutionary groups became more organized, had well educated and highly dedicated leaders like Chandra Shekhar Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, J.L. Nehru and Bhagat Singh, they used the prison as an important location – for protest against ill treatment, for creating knowledge by writing polemical, autobiographical or historical

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books which have now become important to the independent new nation's knowledge system. The prison experiences of these individuals transformed them personally and as groups becoming more mature political thinkers, writers and fighters. The prison became a highly charged site, a part of the quest for truth, justice and human rights. Endnotes 1. M.K. Gandhi's Letter dated 17 March 1922 to C.F. Andrews as he was an undertrial he called imprisonment a 'Sacred' act; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi – Vol.XXIII, p.99. In his note titled 'My Second Experience in Goal – V' Gandhi discussed his own experience in prison and urged upon his readers that they must resolve to seek voluntary imprisonment for the cause of their country's freedom. Indian Opinion, 30 January, 1909. Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.IX, p.182. 2. He titled the collection of essays he wrote in Yervada Prison as 'From Yervada Mandir'. 3. David Arnold had questioned Foucault's analysis of European penal developments which do not reflect the reality of colonial states prisons. 4. Two of the main events were a train robbery which was known as the Kakori Train Dacoity case, the murder of Head Constable Mr. Saunders. In the FIR lodged in the Lahore Conspiracy case other attempts at bank and train robbery and killing of another English Police men are mentioned. See Waraich and Sidhu. The Hanging of Bhagat Singh, 72-73.

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5. Bipin Chandra et al. India's Struggle For Independence Penguin 1989 discuss their strategies briefly in chapter titled Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen and the Revolutionary Terrorists' (pp.247-259). A large number of other books have now been published which deal with Bhagat Singh's political Career, his writings and contribution to the Indian Nationalist Movement. 6. Bhagat Singh's letters written from prison are available in Hindi in Virendra Sindhu (ed.) Bhagat Singh : Patra Aur Dastavez (Letters and Documents of Bhagat Singh) 2001. Rajpal and Sons, Delhi. the essays are included in Bhagat Singh Ke Sampoorna Dastavej (Ed.) Chaman Lal 2004. Adhar Prakashan Panchkula (Haryana). 7. See Ujjawal Kumar Singh, Political Prisoners in India for details about the different cases of hunger strike by political prisoners, the government's handling. 8. For a brief history of this uprising along with others in the nineteenth century see Bipin Chandra et al. India's Struggle For Freedom (pp.41-50).

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References Arnold, David. 'The Colonial Prison: Power, Knowledge and Penology'. A Subaltern Studies Reader 1986-1945. Ed. Ranajit Guha. 1997. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, pbk; pp. 140-178. Chandra, Bipin et al. India's Struggle For Independence 1987. Penguin Books, India. 1989. Devi, Mahasweta. Aranyer Adhikaar. 1977 Kolkata, Karma Prakashani. Gandhi, M.K. Satyagraha in South Africa translated from Gujarati by Walji Govindji Desai. 1928. Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, India, 2006 ed. Gandhi, M.K. Letter to C.F. Andrew, 17 March, 1922. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) Vol. XXIII, 99. Gandhi, M.K. ' My Second Experience in Goal –V' Indian Opinion, in CWMG Vol. IX p. 182) Sindhu, Virendra ed. Sardar Bhagat Singh: Patra Aur Dastavej (Letters and Documents of Bhagat Singh) 2001. Rajpal & Sons, New Delhi. Singh, Bhagat. Statement made in Assembly Bomb case in The Hanging of Bhagat Singh, Ed. Waraich, Malwinderjit, and Gurudev S. Sidhu 2005. Unistar Publication, Chandigarh. Singh, Ujjawal Kumar. Political Prisoners in India. 1998, 2001. Oxford Univ. Press, New Delhi pbk. 2001. Waraich, Malwinderjit, and Gurudev S. Sidhu Ed. The Hanging of Bhagat Singh, 2005. Unistar Publication, Chandigarh.

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