JOIN USMahavir Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt and Gaya Prasad were among those who were prosecuted in the II Lahore Conspiracy Case (1928-1931) along with Bhagat Singh and other members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. These revolutionaries were incarcerated at the Bellary Central Jail, before they were sent to the Andaman Cellular Jail.
But the imprisonment couldn’t hold back their strong spirits. They led several protests in the jail, demanding separate treatment for political prisoners. These heroes inspired local people to start a centre to supplement the freedom struggle and this led to the birth of Mallasajjana Vyayama Shala in the city. Most of the founder members of the Vyayama Shala had participated in the freedom movement either directly or indirectly.
Gandhian Bindu Madhav, who spent two years and eleven months imprisoned in Vellore Jail was instrumental in establishing the Vyayama Shala. The school, which trained the youth flourished under the patronage of Tekur Subramanyam, Burli Seshanna, Amarappa Gadag and B G Avadhani who were the jailmates of Mahavir Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt and Gaya Prasad.
Mahavir Singh’s letter to his father from Port Blair, after two years of imprisonment in Bellary Jail, indicates that he was shifted from Bellary Jail on January 19, 1933 and reached Andaman on January 23, 1933. He went on a hunger strike in the Andaman Cellular Jail to fight for the rights of political prisoners. Sadly, he died on May 17, 1933, when the milk fed forcefully to him, went through his windpipe.
The three jails, Central Jail, Allipur open-air Jail and T B Sanatorium, built by the British in the city speak volumes of sacrifices of the people during freedom movement. Many freedom fighters like C Rajagopalachari, Kamaraj Nadar, Potti Sriramulu and Tekur Subramanyam were imprisoned in these jails. The Central Jail was closed in 1958 and the campus houses a medical college today.
With an objective to preserve the heritage, the State Government is establishing a national museum, called ‘Swatantra Samara Soudha’, where the stark memories of the freedom movement will be on display.