Interview number: 205

Interviewer: Shanker, Uma

Interview date: 1972-04-28

Condition notes: Noisy microphone; slow delivery and long pauses in some early parts.

F. Chand, journalist, tells how he was drawn into the Freedom Movement, describes, at length, Lala Lajpat Rai’s premonitions of secession/partition, and details the Saunders/Bhagat Singh episode.

[It is known that many of Uma Shanker’s interviews were not completed in one session, or even in one day – sometimes, sections were recorded over a considerable period of time. ‘Date of Recording’ is the date of the last recording session.]

[L.F. Chand died, suddenly, before the final session of this interview could be recorded.]

Coverage notes: Lala Lajpat Rai; ‘Bande Mataram’, ‘Bombay Chronicle’, ‘The People’, ‘Tribune’, ‘Times of India’, ‘Hindustan Times’, ‘Civil and Military Gazette’; Samachar Bharati; Achhut Uddhar; Lahore; Chakwaal, Jhelum; Arya Samaj; D.A.V. College, Foreman Christian College; Khilafat; Dusehra; Kabul Congress; Gujranwala; Naa-milvartan Ashram; Servants of the People Society; Ulemas, Divines; Kafirs; Gurdwara; Waliullah; secession/partition/holocaust; Lajja Vati; Kirpan, Khalsa; Scott, Saunders; Simon, black flags; Ahrar, Akali; ‘High Command’; Peshawar; Rawalpindi; Bhagat Singh, Sandhu Jat; martyrdom, ‘sar faroshi ki tammanna’; secret society; Dwarakas library; Abdul Aziz, Shahi Qila; ‘Tommies’; Vohra, ‘approver’; baksheesh; ‘Inqilab Zinda Baad’; Nav Jewan Bharat Sabha; Kooka revolt; Kisan schools; Sikh, Muslim, Hindu; 1907-1947