Stage I. When a Group Defies Authority and is Repressed

In the first instance of this stage (November 21, 1945), a student procession comprising some Forward Bloc sympathisers, Student Federation of India (SFI) activists and Islamia College students, who had joined up with the League and the Congress, tied flags as a symbol of anti-imperialist unity, marched to Dalhousie Square—the seat of government in Calcutta. These protestors refused to disperse and were lathicharged. They retaliated by throwing stones and brickbats. The police resorted to firing in which two persons died.

In the next step (February 11, 1946), the protest was led by Muslim League students in which some Congress and communist students’ organisations joined. Some arrests provoked the students to defy Section 144. There were more arrests and the agitating students were lathicharged.

Rebellion by Naval Ratings On February 18, 1946 some 1100 Royal Indian Navy (RIN) ratings of HMIS Talwar went on a strike to protest against

* racial discrimination (demanding equal pay for Indian and white soldiers)

* unpalatable food

* abuse by superior officers

* arrest of a rating for scrawling ‘Quit India’ on HMIS Talwar

* INA trials

* use of Indian troops in Indonesia, demanding their withdrawal.

The rebellious ratings hoisted the tricolour, crescent, and the hammer and sickle flags on the mast of the rebel fleet. Other ratings soon joined and they went around Bombay in lorries holding Congress flags threatening Europeans and policemen. Crowds brought food to the ratings and shop- keepers invited them to take whatever they needed.