SOLAPUR, Aug 15: Even as the entire nation was caught up in the frenzy of THE freedom struggle, the people of Solapur in Maharashtra had actually forced the Britishers to ``quit'' their city for a period of four days from May 9 to May 12, 1930 -- much before the famous 1942 Quit India Movement.

In an incident resembling the famous biblical story of David and Goliath, the mighty British were forced to flee the city after an incensed mob set fire to the government buildings.

Narrating the incidents, Tulshidas Jadhan, the then general secretary of the city Congress said thousands of people had responded to Gandhiji's clarion call to break the Salt Act in 1930 by staging salt satyagrahas all over the country.

However, the news of Gandhiji's arrest, soon after he had broken the Salt Act, spread like wildfire to all parts of the country and traders in the city decided to observe a 15-day bandh to register their protest against the Act, he added. It was during this period that some youths decided to defy the British in their own way by felling shindi trees. The British police retaliated by opening fire and killing a youth in the process.

The killing sparked off a mini riot in the area, with the angry mob holding the police responsible for the death of the youth. The British immediately clamped the Solapur Martial Law, 1930 in the area to control the situation.

The irate mob decided to teach the British a lesson by setting several court buildings on fire. The foreign rulers immediately took to their heels by quitting Solapur, granting this small hitherto unknown city its independence, albeit a shortlived one.

Recalling the trying moments during the freedom struggle, Jadhav said that he and the then city Congress president, Ramkrishna Jaju had been sentenced to 10 and seven years' imprisonment respectively only because they had refused to take off their Gandhi caps.

He said the city could boast of four freedom fighters Mallapa Dhanashetti, Kurban Hussein, Jagannath Shinde and Shrikisan Sarada, all hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune in 1931.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.