572 PART II BOMBAY PRESIDENCY POLICE ABSTRACTS OF INTELLIGENCE In this Part of the Volume is incorporated the source material culled from the Bombay Presidency Police Secret. Abstracts of Intelligence. In the nature of things these Abstracts of Intelligence are yet secret and not accessible to students of History or research scholars. They are, probably, the most authentic documents which were originally got prepared for helping the framing of policy and execution of measures for maiatainins law and order by the alien British Government. It can by no sttetch of imagination be said that everything that is mentioned in these Abstracts is true. As a matter of fact, in the course of vetting the material this Editor found that several observations made and assessment of the events done by the Police authorities in these Abstracts are not borne out by facts and truth about the events. It has, therefore, been incumbent upon the Editor to record his own observations in the Notes and Footnotes. It should, however, be acknowledged that these documents are quite trustworthy for studying the history of freedom struggle. The Police reports mention the names and activities of innumerable local leaders and activists, who participated in the freedom struggle. It has been necessary that very brief notes about their role in the national struggle should be furnished. Such an effort has been done in footnotes, within the constraints of available space. The users of this Volumn, il is believed, will find the footnotes very useful. It may be noted that the Bombay Presidency Police Abstracts of Intelligence give the reports for all the districts then in the Presidency. The material pertaining to the districts presently included in Maharashtra has been culled from the same. These districts include: (1) Bombay Suburban District, (2) Thana, (3) Kolaba, (4) Ratnagiri, (5) Poona, (6) Satara, (7) Sholapur, (8) Ahmednagar, (9) Nasik, (10) East Khandesh (now Jalgaon), and (11) West Khandesh (now Dhulia). Roughly speaking these districts, alongwith Kolhapur and Sangli which were constituted later, are said to constitute Western Maharashtra of present day. The reports pertaining to Bombay City have not been included as the Daily Reports of the Police Commissioner of Bombay have been separately available and are, hence given in Part I of this Volume. These eleven districts were included in three administrative Divisions as under- — Central Division —Nasik. Ahmednagar, East and West Khandesh. Poona. Satara and Sholapur. Northern Division :—Thana and Bombay Suburban District Southern Division:—Ratnagiri and Kolaba. 573 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE MOVEMENT IN WESTERN MAHARASHTRA. Gandhiji picked up a handful of salt at Dandi seashore on the morning of 6th April 1930 and this marked the inauguration of the Civil Disobedience Movement all over India. In Maharashtra, the movement was simultdne' ously inaugurated at Vile Parle, now a suburb of Bombay, but then a town in Bombay Suburban District. Gandhiji had nominated Jamaalal Bajaj as the first " dictator ". A grand camp (chhawani) was established at Vile Parle, and elaborate arrangements were made. Besides Bajaj and the eminent leaders of Bombay, all eminent Maharashtra leaders participated in the Salt Satyagraha at Vile Park. They included Shankarrao Dattatraya Deo, S. D. Javadekar, G. V. Ketkar (son-in-law of Lokmanya Tilak). Vasudeo Vithal Dastane, Dr. V. V. Athalye and Anant Vasudeo Sahasrabuddhe. Kasturba Gandhi and Janakidevi Bajaj were also camping in the Vile Parle Chhavani. Several batehes of volunteers had gone to Vile Parle, many of them on foot from Poona, Nasik, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar and Satara. It was a grand spectacle, young men and women bringing sea water from the Juhu Sea and boiling it in large pans so as to prepare edible salt. The Salt Satyagraha was launched almost all over Maharashtra simultaneously. An elaborate organisation had already been established. At the appex there was the Maharashtra Civil Disobedience Commtitee, whereas there were committees in all districts, talukas and active villages There was a hierachy of " Dictator's" and " War Councils" which had defined functions to perform. G. V. Ketkar was the President of the Maharashtra Civil Disobedience Committee, while Shankarrao Deo was its Secretary. It may be pertinent here to quote from an authoritative book to enable the readers to understand the nature of the movement in Maharashtra, "With prior consultation with Gandhiji, the Maharashtrian leaders established the Maharashtra Civil Disobedience Committee for directing the movement in Western Maharashtra, excluding Bombay. Shankarrao Deo and S. D. Jawadekar were the souls of this organisation. They inducted hundreds of local leaders and volunteers in practically every district. The first war council for Western Maharashtra was appointed, in consultation with Gandhiji, on 13 March 1930 at Pune. Besides Deo and Jawadekar, the other members of the War Council comprised G. V. Ketkar of Pune, Dr. V. V. Athalye of Satara, S. P. Patwardhan of Ratnagiri and V. V. Dastane of Bhusawal. All of them rallied public opinion all over Maharashtra and encouraged formation of war councils and satyagraha committees in all districts and many tahsil places. A network of camps, called chhavanis, were formed with the assistance of local leaders. The Civil Disobedience Movement in all its phases, such as salt satyagraha, forest satyagraha, picketing and boycott of foreign cloth shops and wine shops and mass rallies, was launched through the nooks and corners of Western Maharashtra. The emphasis on salt satyagraha lasted till the end of May 1930 after which the strategy was 574 changed to forest satyagraha. All these programmes were formulated with the concurrence of Mahatma Gandhi. " Besides the members of the War Council, the activities of the Maharashtra Civil Disobedience Committee were directed and executed by many devoted leaders, a few names of whom are mentioned below : "Gangadharrao Deshpande, Krishnaji Prabhakar Khaditkar, T. R. Deogirikar, Narhar Vishnu Gadgil, Prof. Dharmanand Kosambi, Gajanan Narayan Kanitkar, Achyutrao Sitaram Patwardhan, Appasaheb Patwardhan, Achyut Balwant Kolaatkar, J. M. Mehta, Lalji Penase, R. N. Mandlik, L. B. Bhopatkar, Damodar Vishwanaih Gonnale, Dattatraya Nalhoba Wandrekar, Popatlal Shah, shripad Shankar Navare, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, Prof. R. V. Rabade, Shrinivas Ganesh Sardesai, Vithal Vasudeo Gokhale, Ramkrishnadas Buwa, Waman Pandurang Kabadi, Govindrao Dharmaji Vartak, Hamumant Ramchandra Mahajan, M. R. Gosavi, Vasudeo Govind Kulkarni, Annasaheb Phulambrikar, Kundanmal Sobhachand Firodiya, K. R. Sumant, Dr. Krishnarao Antrolikar, Pandit Shivprasad Sharma, S. M. Joshi, Nanasaheb Gore, Dattatraya Balkrishaa Kalelkar, Narayan Sitaram Phadke, Pandurang Sadashiv Sane, G. V. Ketkar (Tilak's son-in-law), H. V. Tulpule, Dr. A. K. Bhagwat, Senapati Bapat, N. C. Kelkar, J. S. Karandikar, Keshavraa Marotrao Jedhe, Aanasaheb Shinde, P. K. Shiralkar, G. S. Palsule, D. V. Divekar, Baburao Bhide, S. G. Ranade, Appasaheb Apte, Haribhau M. Joshi, Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi, Sakhavalkar, Vinoba Bhave, Veer Wamanrao Joshi, Dr. Narayan Bhaskar Khare, Moreshwar Vasudeo Abhyankar, Nilkanth Ramrao Deshmukh, Purushottam Balwant Gole, R. S. Ruikar, Brijlal Biyani, Poonamchand Ranka, Pandit Sunderlal, Pandit Bhagwandin, M. S. Aney, Mrs. Durgabai Joshi, Dr. Balkrishna Shivaram Munje, Keshavrao Baliram Hedgewar, Purushottam Yeshwant Deshpande, Ramrao Madhavrao Deshmukh, Anasuyabai Kate, Dattatraya Ganesh Kale, Hari Vinayak Pataskar, Dhanaji Nana Chaudhari, Deokinandan Narayan, Ziprubuwa, Shankar Motiram Kabra, Sitaram Bhaujt Chaudhari, R. D. Bhoge, Appasaheb Ranadive, Anant Vasudev Sahastrabuddhe, V. B. Karnik, D. B. Karnik, etc. "Pune had its own war council on the pattern of Bombay. Balukaka Kanitkar, Deo, Deogirikar, Khadilkar, Jawadekar and Gadgil were the backbone of the council. The collaboration of non- Brahmin leaders like Keshavrao Jedhe and Annasaheb Shinde fortified the strength of the movement. The leaders of the Responsive Co-operation Party such as N. C. Ketkar, Bhopatkar, D. V. Gokhale, P. K. Shiralkar, G. S. Palsule, D. V. Divekar, Aney, Munje and many others relinquished office, if any, and supported the forest satyagraha and other aspects of Civil Disobedience. Many of the Pune leaders contributed to the satyagraha outside Pune. The Maharashtra Satyagraha Patrika, a counterpart of the Congress Bulletin, was widely circulated from Pune. "The coastal districts gave an excellent account during the salt satyagraha. The hitherto politically backward district of Ratnagiri was thoroughly galvanized. Satyagraha camps were opened at Shiroda, Vengurla, Ratnagiri, Malvan, Mithbav, Arvali and Redi in the district. From the 575 beginning Gangadharrao Deshpande and Appasaheb Patwardhan had stirred the mass mind. They were shortty joined by Deoginar, Dasiane, S. G. Ranade, Appasaheb Apte, Sakhavatkar and Mir Shukrulla, Consequently the camps in the district received excellent local support, The war councils of Bombay, Pune and Maharashra sent sizeable reinforce-ments, in men and money, to these camps. "The battle front in Raigad district was activated by R. N. Mandlik, Ketkar and Haribhau Joshi. The movement in Panvel tahsil began from April and ultimately culminated into the famous Chirner forest satyagraha. Pen was the centre of Civil Disobedience in the district. Demonstrations and large public meetings were held almost daily,. Thane district was placed under general command