Dr Ayesha Siddiqa interviewed the author Pramod Kapoor about his book for Naya Daur TV. This interview is about a lesser known episode in our history. Here is the transcript, edited for length and clarity:
Ayesha Siddiqa: Pramod Kapoor has recently published a book about the 1946 Naval Mutiny, which we don’t hear much about. It would’ve taken India-Pakistan relations in a very different direction if it had blossomed. The brutality by the British was not even comparable to what had happened at Jalianwala Bagh. What happened in 1946?
Pramod Kapoor: In 1939 when the British were mobilizing forces for World War II, they mobilized in India through large-scale advertising that if they join, they will become officers. The youngsters soon realized that the promises were false. Living conditions were terrible and racial discrimination was rampant. They suffered all this because some had even run away from home to join the forces. Then the “Quit India Movement” began. Gandhi said he would compromise with non-violence. On 9th August 1942 the senior leaders were arrested and the young leaders went underground. When the senior leaders resurfaced in 1945 they united with the naval ratings and an atmosphere of rebellion was created. They started meeting in Bombay and started gearing towards a rebellion and were relatively more violent than their seniors.
On 1st December 1945 these young navy ratings wrote some seditious slogans on the walls of Talwar Signal School, like “Quit India” and “Down with the British”. This was the day when the Navy had invited the top brass of the army for celebrating the Navy Day. This was repeated after a month and some of them were caught at Talwar Signal School. The unpalatable food became a reason for 15-16 young navy ratings to rebel and some were arrested. It started from Bombay but the maximum casualties happened in Karachi (the strike was in Bombay but the aggressive battle was in Karachi). The SS Hindustan was anchored in Karachi. All the sailors rebelled and asked the British officers to leave the ship. The British fired from the shore at the SS Hindustan then and it was an intense fight. The boys would’ve prevailed but the ship went down in the low tide and the British fired from the top.
Siddiqa: Why don’t we hear more about this? What inspired you to write this book?
Kapoor: I read a hundred volumes of collected works of Gandhi. In volume 89 and 90, I came across some letters exchanged between Sardar Patel and Gandhi in which Patel writes that I have asked Jawahar (Nehru) not to come to Bombay to talk to these young navy ratings but yet he is coming. This intrigued me because there was so much more in the archives. It was stifled in history because the political leaders saw independence as imminent and did not want anything contrary to their movement (non-violent movement) to be jeopardized by anything violent.
Siddiqa: To quote from your book, Sardar Patel wrote that the ship of freedom was coming to the shores of India – people should not go out and sink it. That is in reference to this mutiny.
Kapoor: Yes. And when Jinnah was in Calcutta at the time and some of the ratings in Calcutta went and saw him, he was also unhappy with the rebellion. He wanted discipline in the Independent-Pakistan Navy as well. All political leaders were not in favor of this mutiny. They also did not want communists who were spearheading rebellions and supporting these ratings.
Siddiqa: If this mutiny had caught the leaders, how would the history of India have changed?
Kapoor: I think partition would’ve been less bloody. These young ratings had no racial or religious discrimination amongst themselves – they all ate and lived together.
Siddiqa: If it had happened, our militaries then would’ve been more powerful and much more difficult to discipline perhaps.
Kapoor: This was more of a freedom fight. At the beginning these boys wanted it to be peaceful. They said we will give the Royal Indian Navy to our leaders on a platter. They were not ambitious at all.
Siddiqa: In writing this book how much cooperation did you get from Pakistan?
Kapoor: Because of the conditions prevailing at the time, I could not cross the border and access any archival material in Pakistan, and I doubt there is much in the Pakistani archives about it. In India I could get to their descendents easily.
Siddiqa: One of the things I picked up in your book was a comparative consciousness (Muslims League versus Congress) about defence matters. For example the British made a Defence Consultative Committee. Muslim League was less interested (it had just 2 members in that).
Kapoor: Strangely, in context of this naval mutiny, the British, Congress, and Muslim League were all on the same page. All 3 wanted this mutiny to finish. Other than Nehru because he was on both sides (he was more leftist-minded, but at the same time he knew what Gandhi and Patel wanted. He was divided between the two).
Siddiqa: Have the efforts of these naval ratings been recognized in India?
Kapoor: Up until 1997 this was completely wiped out. A communist filmmaker Utpal Dutt staged a play in Calcutta called “Kallol” (in Bengali) based on the mutiny. Congress tried its best to block it, yet huge crowds saw it. He was eventually arrested for this play. In 1997 there were 2 ships that were named after 2 naval ratings from the mutiny. There was also a Mutiny Memorial made in Bombay but people don’t know much about it. This year on 26th January Public Day Parade, a tableau was dedicated to the naval mutiny. It has finally been recognized.
Siddiqa: Has Pakistan Navy recognized the Muslim ratings in it?
Kapoor: There was a clear direction from Jinnah that they will not be taken back into the services. In India after independence they were told that they would not be reinstated and some of the more violent participants were not even eligible for the civil service. This is quite baffling.
Siddiqa: When you spoke to the families of these naval ratings in Bombay, was there any interest to make connection with families of Muslim ratings across the border?
Kapoor: Hugely. One family asked me about M.S Khan (Mohammad Shoaib Khan). The families would’ve met back then. One rating from Karachi, Mr Brohi, fascinated me. In the inquiry commission he gave a stunning account. His articulation was beyond his young age. My publisher in Pakistan put me in touch with Nazish Brohi.
Siddiqa: This is indeed a very important part of our history.
(Neighbours Talking which is a programme about South Asian history, politics and culture and is aired every Sunday evening.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwozraQaVxk&t=234s