Ashti’s ‘Tiranga Kranti’ etched in history books
   Date :15-Aug-2022

Tiranga Kranti 
 
 
By Narendra Deshmukh
Ashti in Wardha district and its ‘Tiranga Kranti’ holds a special and important place in India’s freedom struggle. When Mahatma Gandhi announced the start of Quit India Movement, people of Ashti did not hold themselves back and joined the Movement and its brave sons even made the supreme sacrifice for their motherland.
After the events that took place in Bombay on August 9, 1942 and after the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders, its repercussions could be seen across the country. Here too, a plan was chalked out to hoist the tiranga on Ashti Police Station. It was a Sunday on August 16, 1942 and also Nagpanchami. Satyagrahis started arriving in Ashti. Rangrao Patil of Kinhala, Punjabrao Mankar, Janrao Tikhe of Parsoda, Motiram Lokhande, Tulshiram Pachghare, Namdev Kharkar, Gangadhar Gore, Ashti Pandurang Sawwalakhe, Rambhau Lohe, Motiram Lohe, Bhaurao Tambaskar, Dr Govindrao Malpe, Kolankar, Appaji Ganjiwale, Keshavrao Dhonge, Panchchi Gond, Udebhan Kubde, Zapuji Pote and others led their respective villages.
Under the leadership of Rambhau Lohe a group went to the police station at At 10.45 am. As they moved forward to hoist the flag in a non-violent manner, cops Ramnath Mishra, Lal Singh Solanki and Prasad Tiwari stopped them. Within a few minutes the guns had started firing and one after the other, they had claimed six brave sons of the soil.
The valour of Dr Govind Malpe, Panchi Gond, Keshao Dhonge, Udebhan Kubde, Rashid Khan Pathan and Hiralal Kahar was immortalised in the pages of history, says Virendra Kadu, who author of the book ‘Ukandya- 1942 Ashtichi Tiranga Kranti’.
The martyred heroes were cremated around 8 pm the same day in the presence of around 2,500 people.
The British Army arrived in the village the next afternoon and a series of torture and arrests followed. But amid this mayhem, the Tiranga fluttered on the police station and the sacrifice made by the martyrs became worthwhile. And Ashti is living up to its high ideals even today.
The village has not seen even one communal riot. In 1923, when a big Hindu-Muslim riot had broken out in Arvi nearby, Ashti carried on with its life in peace and sanity.