A do-or-die situation

Updated On: 06 October, 2021 08:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Shunashir Sen

Listen to a talk about a fascinating radio station that played its own part in our country gaining independence

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Usha Mehta before a bust of Mahatma Gandhi

It was like a game of hide and seek, except that it wasn’t a game at all. The short-lived Congress Radio was established in 1942 to create awareness about India’s Independence movement instead. Its story is filled with mystery, intrigue and the eventual arrest of the team behind it. What happened is that a bunch of youngsters in their 20s, enthused by Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘karenge yaa marenge’ speech in 1942, decided to take matters into their own hands. They set up a ham radio station named after the Congress, to counter the colonial agenda being disseminated by All India Radio, which was run by the British back then.

Dr Usha Thakkar