Dr. G.G. Parikh: Centenarian Doctor taking part in Quit India movement

After 82 years of the Quit India movement, we need to revisit the freedom fighters taking part in it. It was the first time police used tear gas when Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the tricolour in Mumbai. Since the inception of this August, I have exchanged the views with one of its still surviving heroes Dr. G.G. Parikh on how to deal with dementia in the ripe age?

He shared how they had covered their faces with a handkerchief on that rainy day in the Gowalia Tank Maidan aka August Kranti Maidan, next to Fashion Street. A new phrase, the 42 Augusters came to be a part of modern history due to these freedom fighters.

Last year, the Mumbai Press Club invited him to the Red Ink awards ceremony, where he delivered an excellent address sharing certain experiences from days of freedom struggle. One evening he repeated about himself as the product of the circumstances and elaborated it to some extent.

In fact, the 42 Augusters are the imprisoned freedom fighters of Quit India Movement. Today, they are the rarest of the rare gems among public figures. The centenarian doctor is one of them with the fine memory.

His commitment to the social causes had remained unwavering throughout the last many decades. Dr. GG Parikh recollected that the leadership of the independent India had betrayed the Mahatma.

He said, “We were told that after independence, the rulers would be the servants of the public. But they started imitating the British, and that was the first betrayal. It’s not that we turned anti-Nehru, but we felt bad that Gandhi was forgotten so soon.”

Dr. Gunvantrai Ganpatlal Parikh is better known as G.G. He was born on the bank of Bhogavo River, one of tributaries of the Sabarmati in Wadhwan, only 3 kms. Apart from the district headquarters of Surendranagar in Gujarat on 30th December 1924.

He graduated in medical science from the G.S. Medical College, Parel (Mumbai) in 1950 and started practice to continue the tradition of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. On every working day, he has continued to attend patients as a duty or a ritual of the clinic. Almost 75 years of practice is enough to make him one of the oldest practitioners of the medical science in the 21st century.

Before earning the doctor’s degree, he was the founding member of All India Students Congress (AISC) known today as NSUI (National Students Union of India). He used to be fully active between 1943 and 1947.

During the Quit India days, since most of Congress leaders were in jail, and the Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) went into coma, the AISC played like a mature political party, and GG offered services in its activities including collection of funds and to support the Royal Indian Navy mutiny. He used to be the president of the Bombay unit of the Student’s Congress in 1947. And further contributed to trade union movement and promotion of the consumer cooperatives.

GG recollected how he ran away to the Prarthana Samaj before moving into the safe zone of his hostel on 9 August 1942. He was arrested on Churchgate Station during another incident of picketing with a group of student volunteers, and was sent to the Worli Temporary Prison (WTP). The best lessons in protests were his fondest memory from the ten months long first imprisonment before the end of his teenage.

The arresting was repeated during the Emergency on 23rd October 1975 with George Fernandes. As such, he is one of those rare individuals to be at the receiving end of the two extreme acts of authoritarianism in Indian history. Last year, G.G. was making news during the annual ritual of the Quit India march to Chaupati beach and August Kranti Maidan.

Dr. Parikh had joined Congress Socialist Party along with the members of the 42 Augusters club. He never tried to gain the political powers and remained all focused on the values and creative works that Gandhi ji tried hard to promote in the previous century.

He believed the real social reform cannot be achieved through political power, it can only come through the moral authority, the kind that Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King possessed. Here he refers to the moral authority that arises out of the action on ground. His own long life is an embodiment of the Gandhian lifestyle.

Yusuf Meharalli, his top source of inspiration, coined most powerful slogans of previous century i.e. Simon! Go Back, and Quit India. He used to be the most popular leader among students in Mumbai. GG is one of the founders of Yusuf Meharalli Centre that was started informally in 1961, and confirmed later with formal inauguration by Dr. Zakir Husain, the Vice-President of India in 1966.

GG represents the spirit of certain socialist leaders like Yusuf Meharalli, Acharya Narendra Dev, Ram Manohar Lohia, J.P., Ram Nandan Mishra, Usha Mehta, etc. His thoughts and works on pertaining to the questions on social harmony can remind the sacrifices of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi.

Defining the meaning of his name in life and works is one of virtues that he is known for. The three terms of Gunvantrai Ganpatlal Parikh are defined as the leader among the virtuous, son of the group’s leader, and an assayer or an examiner, respectively. At last, I want to say; Long live GG.