Riad saloojee biography of mahatma

Organised jointly by the Saloojee family, which was involved in the struggle for four generations, and the ‘Buzme Adab of Benoni’, an organisation that promotes Urdu, the event featured recitals by a number of local and international poets.

“Urdu was born in India, but it doesn’t belong only to the Indians. It is the official language of Pakistan, and doesn’t belong to the Pakistanis only either,” said Shireen Saloojee, one of the organisers.

“In South African anti-apartheid campaigns, the voice of Urdu poetry was always present on the agenda and we are celebrating this today,” she said.

Saloojee explained how the patriotic song ‘par na jhanda yeh neeche jhukana’ (never lower the flag), which is believed to have been an anthem among the freedom fighters in India in the 1920s, had already achieved cult status during meetings of the Indian Congress movement in South Africa.

“During the freedom struggle in South Africa, this song was on every patriot’s lips and became the revolutionary anthem that inspired many people to heroic deeds,” Saloojee said.

Researcher Rashid Seedat said he and others were working on a project to preserve the legacy of some of the South African Urdu poets.

“In the anti-apartheid campaigns led by the late Dr Yusuf Dadoo, particularly in the resistance campaign of 1946, one of the biggest campaigns within the Indian community after Mahatma Gandhi left South Africa, a number of Urdu poets gathered to write these poems,” he said.

“In 1981, during the resistance actions against the South African Indian Council, a puppet body of the apartheid government, the song was revived and found new life among a new generation of activists like myself,” he added.

Seedat said it was very difficult to do justice by translating the poems into English, so the project w

From the book: Passive Resistance 1946 - A Selection of Documents compiled by E.S. Reddy & Fatima Meer

1946

NIC Meeting, Curries Fountain, Durban

There was a large gathering at the Curries Fountain Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon when the Natal Indian Congress held its mass meeting to explain to the Indian people the implications of the proposed legislation to "control" Indians in Natal and the Transvaal.

The pavilion was packed and a large number of people occupied the large grass verge. Dr Naicker said, "lam the descendent of indentured labourers and I have the right to live wherever I want to." (Cheers)

George Singh said, "The proposed measure would strangulate the Indian economically. It sounded the economic death-knell of every Indian — and whether rich or poor. The Pegging Act affected everybody."

Dr Goonam, commenting on the non-attendance of women, hoped that the time would soon come when Indian women in South Africa would join with the men in the struggle for the Indian people. General Smuts had introduced this legislation to strangle the Indian people even while he claimed to be an international statesman. The Indian people were, however, determined to come to no undignified terms with the Government.

If the Government failed to stay the Bill and convene a Round Table Conference, the NIC would send its delegation on to India, said Mr. E.I. Moolla. In the meantime, the Indian in South Africa should make it clear in no unambiguous terms that they would struggle tooth and nail against the measure.

Mr. A.I. Meer pointed out that General Smuts had said that urban would remain a white man's city. "Today, after three years, has boldly stated that not only Durban, but also the whole of Natal, must be for Europeans only. He has been able to do so because the Indian people lacked efficient organisation against

1946 Passive Resistance Campaign

Introduction ↵

An acute labour shortage forced White settlers in Natal to plead to the Indian Government to send its citizens to work in their cane fields. After protracted negotiations between the Natal Government and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Natal Coolie Law, Law 14 of 1859 was passed. On securing the reluctant agreement of the Indian Government (under British rule) the wheels of immigration were set in motion.

This law made it possible for the Colony to introduce immigration of Indians as indentured labourers in the Natal sugar cane fields, with the option to return to India at the end of the five year period in which case a free passage would be provided. The system also provided for the labourers to re-indenture for a further five year period which would make them eligible to settle permanently in the colony. The indentured Indian labourers were also entitled to a gift of crown land and full citizenship rights.

The first batch of 342 indentured labourers arrived in Durban, Natal on 16 November 1860.   From their arrival Indian workers were forced to endure the harshest working and inhuman living conditions. A slew of racist legislation was employed to advance and protect the interests of the plantation owners rather than the new arrivals.

Deprived of the franchise, segregated into overcrowded areas and uninhabitable housing, prohibited from walking on pavements or travelling from one province to another, the newly arrived Indians were treated nothing less than serfs. Their lot was aggravated by a lack of legislation to protect them. 

Notwithstanding the unrelenting vitriol of a largely rabid White racist community, through sheer sacrifice and perseverance, they overcame the humiliation of being relegated to and treated as second class citizens in their newly adopted country.

Discriminatory laws directed at the Indian comm