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Moulvi Liakat Hussein Khan was a true Bharateeya patriot.
He was outspoken in his conviction to oust the illegitimate, oppressive
British regime from India, to have Akhand Bharat as a sovereign democracy. He
had given up all his affluence and he suffered happily all the hardships and
insults that came his way, with his eyes constantly on his lofty goal.
Whenever he went, he would sing in his melodious voice, “Jago, Jago, Bharat
Santaan” (Wake up, Wake up, O children of Mother Bharat), an intense,
stirring Bangla patriotic song. Small wonder then, that Moulvi Sahib was one
of the closest friends of P.P.Doctorjee in his days at Kolkatta.
Around 1911, the British Royal family was to visit Kolkatta. A grand
function, complete with a military parade, had been arranged in their honor.
Security was extraordinarily tight. VIPs were issued special entrance
tickets, and there was a separate seating arrangement for them near the dais.
To satisfy P.P.Doctorjee’s desire to see the function, Moulvi Sahib and a
group of his youthful followers accompanied P.P.Doctorjee to the function
area. To hoodwink the security guards, they even shouted slogans like “Rajar
Jai, Raneer Jai” (“Victory to the King! Victory to the Queen!”). Several
times, Moulvi Sahib was stopped and the guards demanded to see his entrance
ticket. He would confidently assert that he had it and he would put his hand
to his coat pocket to pull it out. Awed by his confidence and personality,
most security guards did not actually see the entrance ticket; they simply
allowed him through.
In the meantime, the crowd was simply stupefied to hear the unthinkable
“Rajar Jai, Raneer jai” from Moulvi Sahib. People knew him too well. They
were dumb founded to hear these words coming from Moulvi Sahib, who normally
gave fiery speeches condemning the foreign oppressors.
One senior British police officer however, was not fooled. He knew Moulvi
Sahib too well to fall for his dramatics of that day. When Moulvi Sahib,
along with P.P.Doctorjee was about to occupy the VIP seats, he approached
them and demanded to see their entrance tickets. Unlike others, he stood
until Moulvi Sahib pulled out his ticket, which was just the ordinary chit
given to public at large.
“This does not cut it. Please produce your VIP ticket, or get out of this
area”, said the policeman.
“OK, so we go”, said Moulvi Sahib and began to walk slowly out, followed by
his followers. Upon his signal, they all began to sing loudly “Jago Jago
Bharat Santaan!”
It was at that moment, that Moulvi Sahib’s real plan became clear. He had
simply used a play to get very near to the exalted dais and from that vantage
point, he wanted to broadcast his real message “Jago Jago Bharat Santaan!”
The crowds loudly cheered and joined in the song. The Britishers were red
faced with total embarrassment!
Moulvi Sahib led his procession to another public area nearby and conducted
his own public meeting there condemning the oppressive foreign rule in
Bharat. This drew a large group of people, which in turn, thinned out the
crowds for the British show. This added to the embarrassment of the
Britishers.
In the end, Moulvi Sahib distributed sweets to all of his followers and
concluded his function with a thunderous “Vande Mataram” (Salutations to
Mother Bharat). All went home happily (except the Britishers). Even though
all this caused P.P.Doctorjee to miss the British show, he did not mind it at
all! Moulvi Sahib and P.P.Doctorjee remained very close friends for their
lifetimes.
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