When 1.25L mill workers brought Ahmedabad to a standstill

‘Even as the mills stood still, the long-winding yarn of Independence was spun that day’ Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to find factory workers and labourers calling for a strike or bandh to demand their rights. But on this historic day in 1942, over a lakh mill workers in the city had gone on a three-and-a-half month long strike with a demand of gargantuan proportions — for the British to Quit India.

Each year, August 9 is commemorated as Quit India day.
More than 1.25 lakh mill workers under the Majoor Mahajan Sangh (Textile Labour Association — TLA) in Ahmedabad had gone on strike on August 9, 1942, suggest historical records. This was in reaction to the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru among many other freedom fighters on the same day.

A day earlier, August 8, the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) session in what was then Bombay (Mumbai) had ratified the Quit India resolution, calling on the country to either ‘Do or Die’. Bapu’s words had resounded in the form of protests and strikes across the country.

The strike in Ahmedabad had left the then Manchester of the East crippled for months, and the workers penniless.

Despite this, each of them had donated a day’s salary to the cause of Bapu, the embodiment of the Quit India movement, says city-based architect and historian Yatin Pandya.

Most of these mill workers were dalits and felt indebted to the Mahatma for his active role in settling their demands and earning them rights from the mill owners, through TLA, a unique union Gandhi had set up in 1920. A key contributor to workers’ cause was Ansuyaben Sarabhai, whose brother Sheth Ambalal Sarabhai was an eminent mill owner.

“However, despite their differing stands on labour issues, what bound the Sarabhai siblings was their mutual respect for each other as also their solidarity with the Mahatma. I believe, this may have ensured that even as mill owners were faced with losses, they let them strike for the greater good (Independence),” Pandya said.

The strike was no walk in the park for the workers either, who were forced into an exodus from Ahmedabad.

81-year-old retiree Dahya Chauhan said, “I was 10 years old then and only understood the gravity of the situation later.

My brother and father — then employed at Laxmi Cotton Mill here — had told me that we were moving back to Mehsana, along with most of the striking workers. I was upset as I had to leave behind my studies. As there were barely any employment opportunities, everyone had to do odd-jobs for sustenance.”

“Three months later, officials of the sangh (TLA) came a-calling, and informed us to return to Ahmedabad as the mills had to be re-started,” recalled Chauhan.