By Garvita Gahlot
Andrew Carnegie, a renowned philanthropist one said and quoted "no man will make a great leader who wants to do it all by himself or get all the great for doing it.”
In the long history of our freedom struggle which resulted in the creation of the world's largest economy- India. The history books that we read in our schools acquainted us with many leaders who were integral to the freedom movement. However, those books did skip to mention some of these heroes whom we refer to as ‘unsung heroes.’ One such person was Dr. Usha Mehta who was a freedom fighter and a prominent proponent of Gandhian thought and philosophy. She played a considerably important role in the Quit India movement.
Dr. Usha Mehta was born in Saras village near Surat in Gujarat on 25 March 1920. She did her schooling in Kheda and later in Bombay. From a very young age, she is known to be inspired by the Gandhian school of thought. She took part in the protest against Simon commission when she was only eight years old. She was truly inspired by her father who was a judge and therefore she started her studies in law but left it in mid-way to participate in the freedom movement. The decision proved to be a turning point for her life and career. In 1942, soon after the announcement of the Quit India movement, the British officials arrested the major leaders including Gandhi to nip the uprising in a bud. However, the movement couldn’t be stopped since the task to carry on the movement was entrusted to a group of junior leaders and workers. These junior leaders were successful hoisting the national flag on 9th August 1942 at Gawalia tank ground in Mumbai renamed as August Kranti Maidan marking the commencement of the movement. She was determined to spread the word about the movement and mobilize more and more people to participate in the same. To fulfill this task, she launched to advocate and spread Gandhi's call and to light a spark by using the slogan "to do or die" for complete independence from British tyranny. She was even imprisoned for 4 years on the account of not disclosing any information about the movement. Even though the radio functioned only for three months, it was a great aid to disseminate information about the movement and to mobilize the people, hence one can say it was a major step that she took for the success of this movement.
Even after the independence of the country, she continued to advocate Gandhian philosophy and thought. She continued to actively participate in the political events and especially the ones related to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, She was also awarded the second-highest civilian award of India Padma Vibhushan in 1998. Later, due to her deteriorating health, she was not able to participate fully and hence she decided to continue her studies. She was awarded a Ph.D. after successfully writing a dissertation on political and social thought of Gandhi from the University of Bombay where she served as a professor and later the head of the department.
She presents herself as an epitome of sheer dedication and patriotism. She subordinated her individual interest over the country by leaving her education midway and taking an active part in the freedom struggle. Her life also shows that she never craved recognition or fame but her country’s freedom from British dominance. She, thus, comes up as a noble person with a high sense of generosity and magnanimity.
