Sharma : Were you a delegate?
Chavan : I was not a delegate. I was not a member of the A.I.C.C. But I had gone just to watch the proceeding, the get the first-hand impressions of the session which was going to be a historic session.
Sharma : Did the arrest of the leaders come as a surprise?
Chavan : It dit. It did in the sense that they were not expecting that they would be arrested so soon, might be in a day or two. But that very night they promptly acted and arrested the leaders. People reacted spontaneousl and most sharply against repression.
Sharma : The arrests did not depress the people?
Chavan : The people were angry. There was no question of depression. They were in a fighting mood. They said : A challenge has been given and it must be taken. It was the beginning of the fight. That was how it was taken.
Sharma : After the arrest of the leaders, there was an underground A.I. C. C. meeting in which Sadiq Ali, Dr. Lohia, Suchetaji and a few others participated. Were you in touch with them?
Chavan : No, I was not in touch with them. But the general feeling was there that this time we were not going to court arrest. We had no idea about the A.I.C.C meeting or where they met. I do not know even now. And that they gave the message which was carried on, was not a very correct thing. The people had taken their own decisions. That atmosphere was there. We, for example, about ten/fifteen people of my district met there. We went round the streets of Bombay to see the atmosphere of resistance. We did not participate but watched the crowd as outsiders. We just wanted to see what the spirit of resistance was like. In our meeting we discussed that since the leaders had been arrested promptly by the Government. They must have plans to arrest other people do to the district level. So this time we did not follow the usual technique of going to jail and surrendering ourselve We decided that though we had come in groups, but we would not go back in groups, we would go separately, so that we did not get arrested. This decision was taken spontaneous by our group.
