M.Krishnan
Ex-Secretary General,
NFPE & Confederation.
BRIEF LIFE HISTORY OF BABU
TARAPADA MUKHERJEE:
Babu
Tarapada Mukherjee, the pioneer of the Postal Employees movement in India was
born in the year 1868 at a Village named Baikunthapur in the District of
Burdwan in Bengal State. He has completed his BA degree course and
got married in the year 1891. Tarapada started his service carreer firstly
at Raj Treasury, Coochbehar and then as Headmaster of Jetkeen’s School prior to
his appointment as a Postal Clerk in 1895. He entered the service on
1st February 1895.
From
the very beginning of his service carreer, he started his trade union
activities amongst the Postal Employees. In those days it was not
easy to organise trade union activities and form unions in employees
front. British rulers were very much against such
ideas. But Tarapada found out a new device. He contemplated
to carry on the trade union work through Recreational
Club. Accordingly, the “Calcutta Postal Club” was formed in the
month of May 1908. British rules were ready to accept such
recreational club with a view to engaging the employees in the recreational
activities and divert their attention from trade union
functions. British Government was generous enough to allot a plot of
land at 37, Ganesh Chandra Avenue at Calcutta for the purpose and a building
was constructed there, which is now the Circle headquarters of National
Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE) Postal and RMS Unions of West Bengal
Circle.
Gradually
this Postal Club became the nerve centre of trade union activities of the
Postal as well as the Central Government employees movement. Since
formation of Postal Club numerous memoranda, petitions etc were submitted to
the Postal Administration. These organisers were often transferred
to distant places, not only within Bengal but also Burma, Bihar, Assam, Uttar
Pradesh and even to Andaman Nicobar Islands as punitive measure. But
the employees could not be deterred from organising movement to realise their
demands. Babu Tarapada was always upright in giving them the
leadership. The employees under the guidance of Babu Tarapada did not succumb
to the vindictive measures of the administration but they finally succeeded in
forming a trade union of Postal Employees viz; All India (including Burma) Post
office and RMS Employees Union.
Under
the auspices of this union, the Postal and RMS Employees 2nd Conference was
held at Lahore on the 9th October 1921 of which Babu Tarapada was chosen to
chair the occassion. Babu Tarapada’s address as President of the
Conference held two-way effect on the movement of the employees and on the
outlook of the administration. For the employees, the historic
speech was a unique guidance as to how and which way the movement should be
built and developed. He roused in them the inherrent potentiality,
capable of moving heaven and earth. He taught the employees to
organise themselves with a purpose which was bound to bring success to the
movement.
On
the other hand, the administration found on him the power of a
tiger. They were not ready to allow him to continue in service and
remain a leader. They, therefore, decided to remove him from service
and brought charges against him. In the memo, the administration
said, “the Lahore speech was a public one. It is calculated to bring
Government and Postal Administration into contempt with their own
employees.” Babu Tarapada was asked to either make a public apology
on their terms or submit resignation. It means, in no way he can be
retained in Government Service. After his bold reply to the charges
raised by the administration, while refusing to submit resignation, the
administration’s axe fell on him and he was dismissed from service with effect
from 20th November 1921.
It
was a sad period in the life of Babu Tarapada. His wife Smt.
Sulakhanna Debi was in deathbed. He was hesitating to go to Lahore
to attend the Conference in such a condition of his wife. But it was
his wife who insisted that he must go. After Tarapada’s return from
Lahore, the condition of his wife became serious and the cruel hand of death
snatched her on the 29th of November 1921, nine days after he was removed from
service. He has not informed her about his dismissal from service
fearing that it may aggravate her health condition.
There
is a saying, misfortune never comes alone. This was true with
Tarapada’s case. He lost both his service and wife within one
week. He was a man who did not look into personal interest, courted
sufferings for prosperity of others. He remains as a guiding force
of the movement of the Postal employees as well as the other Central Government
employees. Babu Tarapada breathed his last on the 29th September
1929. Tarapada was a man of exceptional ability and energy, whatever
work he undertook he crowned with success.
Tarapada
was a studious man. He studied many books on the Labour conditions
of England and the method the British workers had adopted to improve their
lot. Once Postmaster General conducted surprise inspection of his
Postoffice quarters where he lived with wife. The Postmaster General
was rather surprised to see that a petty Sub Postmaster had a fairly large
collection of books on literature, philosophy, History and
Economics. Postmaster General enquired whether those books belonged to
Tarapada and whether he read them all. Tarapad replied in the
affirmative.
Like
a comet he trailed the blaze for a brief period of service of about 26 years
and disappeared. The pioneering history of Postal Trade Union
movement is compressed in this period of his life. Controversies did
not deflect him from his resolve to meet the challenges of the
time. He met the adversaries with forbearance and calm.
HUMILIATING
CONDITIONS OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES IN BRITISH INDIA AND THE BACKGROUND OF HISTORIC
LAHORE SPEECH:
Tarapada
Mukherjee in his reminiscences explained as follows:
“In
1895, I entered the Postal Department as a Clerk. The initial pay at
that time was Rs.15/-. The staff position as a rule was quite
inadequate on account of which clerks had generally to work for 12 hours a
day. The miseries of the clerks did not end there. They
used to be very badly treated by the officers, severely punished for
petty faults and personally abused by the Superintendent and other officers. It
is hardly possible to believe it now, but it is well known, that corruption was
rampant even in Calcutta. None could get leave without spending some
money. To get promotion from one grade to another, although by virtue
of seniority, would cost at least Rs.60/- to satisfy the Superintendent.
Juniors would often get promotion before their turn by means of bribes.
There
was no printed gradation list at that time and it was not supplied to all
offices. In Calcutta two kinds of gradation lists were kept, one for
show and the another being real. Both these copies were written in
pencil, so that the position of men could be altered at anytime, by
erasing. A man who was very junior in the grade would have been able
to stand as senior in the gradation list by spending some money. The
result was that honest and god-fearing man has very little chance to get
promotion to higher grade and had to rot in a grade for several years to come.
Another
incident quoted by him in his reminiscences is cited below -
“A
clerk of the Dharamtola Post office in Calcutta while on duty had
an attack of high fever. His condition was such that he
could not leave the office, so he had to lie down on the floor of the office on
some bags which were spread for the purpose. Mr. H.A.Sans, ICS, the
then Postmaster General happened to visit Dharamtola Post office at that
time. He was so enraged at the sight that clerk misused the Post
office bag and he was so unsympathetic that he dismissed the clerk then and
there”.
In
para-26 of his reply to the chargesheet, Tarapada narratted the following
incident -
“I
may mention only one instance that occurred in the Calcutta GPO to prove my
contention. An European lady came in the afternoon at the window of
the Registration department and she asked the window clerk to accept a
registered parcel. The clerk explained to the lady that parcels were
accepted in a different place and the one she had presented could not therefore
be booked by him; and he requested her to go to the place where parcels were
booked. The lady got irritated and abused the clerk to her hearts
content and came to the Asst. Postmaster in charge and complained against the
window clerk. The Asst. Postmaster called the widow clerk to know
what had happened. When the clerk was explaining to the Assistant
Postmaster the real situation, the lady got more and more irritated and in the
presence of the Assistant Postmaster slapped the clerk on the
face. What protection did the clerk get? Absolutely
none. The Assistant Postmaster quietly told the clerk to go and
work, and politely asked the European lady to go to the parcel window and gave
his chaprasi to escort her to the proper place.”
The
above instances, narrated by Tarapada Mukherjee will give an idea with what
difficulty the postal workers had to work in those days. There was
no holiday to speak of, working hours were longer and above all, the treatment
and behaviour of officers were inhuman. Employees were naturally
looking forward for a leader who could be able to remove their
hardship. Tarapada entered the Postal Department at such a juncture.
HISTORIC
LAHORE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
Babu
Tarapada Mukherjee delivered his historic speech at the Lahore Conference of
All India (including Burma) Post office and RMS Employees Union on 09th October
1921 - as President of the 2nd All India Conference. First
Conference was held in Delhi in the year 1920.
When
we recall the famous Lahore Speech of Tarapada Mukherjee and read it again and
again we could delve deep into his outlook and charactor. His speech
is full of exhortation to be bold, courageous, self-sacrificing and hard
working. He organised the employees into a mighty force so as to
challenge the might of arrogant British rulers.
About the recommendations
of Postal Enquiry Committee:
In
his speech he spoke at length about the recommendations of Hazeltine Committee
(Postal Enquiry Committee of 1920). Quoting the following
recommendations of the committee he furiously rejected the theory as placing
the workers in the category of beggars.
“Postal
Committee starts with the very curious and insulting proposition that “all
concession is of the nature of gift and this being so, it is for the donor to
decide about what the measure of the gift shall be”. This
tantamounts to saying that the employers are donors and the workers are beggars
and they must, therefore, be satisfied with beggar’s doles.”
Pointing
out this comment of the committee, Tarapada exhorted the delegates -
“Workers
are not beggars, they are the salt of the earth, they are the
only people who produce wealth. Wealth consists of the
Labour imprinted on material substance and in the absence of workers where is
the labour to come from which is necessary to create wealth? Those
who do not work are parasites sucking like vampire the life blood of the society
and are battening on the wealth produced by the workers.”
He
further cautions that if workers stop work, all the bloated rich cannot have
their glittering apparel, their bungalows and mansions and delicious food on
their table.
About Discrimination in
Pay Scales:
Tarapada
rejected the Government’s argument that it is due to the financial crisis,
better pay scales are not recommended to the Postal employees. He
recalled how the same committee has recommended better pay and working conditions
to Telegraphists who at that time were Anglo-Indians or whites.
“The
consideration of economy is, however cast to the four winds when question of
raising the pay of the upper strata arises. You will be surprised to
learn that in the course of twelve months, more than one revision has been
sanctioned for those who are paid by thousands instead of by tens, but when the
poor underpaid, over worked subordinate staff is concerned, that is another
matter.”
“Man
is something more than an animal. He cannot afford to pass his days
in mere animal existence. He cannot live contended if only his
physical needs are satisfied. His moral nature will rise in
rebellion if it is altogether neglected.” He rejected the plea of want
of funds to pay better wages to postal workers and said that Postal department
in India gave surplus when in England wages of Postal Workers were enhanced
despite deficit. He treated it as discriminatory.
About Insulting treatment
meted out to Postal Workers and the threat of punishments:
Tarapada
cited insulting treatment meted out to Postal Workers, long hours of work they
have to perform and said that in every Director General’s circular the postal
workers were terrorised into submission by adding the words -
“Mistake
or failure to carryout instructions will be severely punished”.
He
recalled how for every minor or unintended lapses, penalties, fine, stoppage at
efficiency bars and debarring selection grades were imposed with heavy hand.
Through
his speech he exudes high sense of learning as he quotes from Shakespeare and
also form Greek Lawyer Draco, who promulgated harsh laws called Draconian
laws. He gave graphic details of the hard working conditions and the
oppressive officers regime.
He
exhorted the postal workers to revolt against such injustices -
“Brothers,
we cannot afford to continue as we are, unless we belie our
nature. We must, therefore, determine to have our pay increased and
working hours reduced. We must fight and fight strenuously to secure
what alone can make life worth living. We must make up our minds in
this Conference whether we shall continue to live as human cattle or “take up
arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end
them”.
“We
have fallen from our high pedestral and we have lost consciousness of our true
self. We have forgotten that we have a soul which is the essence of
God. Once our hypnotism is gone and once we succeed in overcoming
mean terror and low selfishness and abject submission to fate, the soul will
manifest in all its glory and it will triumph over whatever obstacles may stand
in our way”.
About Importance of
Organisation:
In
his speech Tarapara made the following exhortations emphasising the need to
organise -
“If
you are convinced in your heart that the recommendations of the Postal
Committee are humiliating and unsatisfactory, if you feel you have been very
shabbily treated and you deserved better, and if you are determined to obtain
what you have a right to claim, only one course is open to you, and that is
summed up in the one word "organise''.
Organise if you want
real living wages,
Organise if
you want to have your working hours reduced,
Organise if you desire
better treatment from your superior officers,
Organise if you want
that the authorities should consult and consider your opinion in all
administrative measures affecting you.''
About the need that
Memorandums should be backed up by the struggle of workers
Tarapada
made it clear that mere submission of memorandum and petitions to the
Government will not yield any positive result, unless we mobilise the workers
and fight for the demands.
He said-
"Take
it from me, brothers, that petitions and memorials and supplications will count
for nothing so long as you do not organise yourselves in a manner to convince
the Government that you will no longer stand nonsense.''
About the feeling - We are
for the Union and the Union is for us-
Through
his speech Tarapada exhorted to be class consious and unite into a mighty
centralised organisation so as to free themselves from the shackles
of slavish working conditions and low wages.
"Organisation
to be effective must be centralised. To make the All India Union a
reality, demands a good deal from us. We must rise superior to
provincialism, we must broaden our outlook, we must cultivate a spirit of
trust, we must be identified with the Union wherever it may be located,
we must fully develop class-conciousness, we must have implicit
faith in the Union, in one word we must strongly feel that "we are for the
Union and the Union is for us.'' so long as we cannot thus identify
ourselves fully, the union will lack the full strength necessary for our
salvation.''
About Six pre-requisites
of an organisation-
For
building a strong union he cited the five prescriptions presented by the
Colonel Wedgwood, a labour leader of England, who visited and addressed meeting
of Postal employees in Kolkata.
They included-
(i) Feeling
of class consciousness. No organisation worth the name is possible, without
class consciousness.
(ii) Everyone
should join the Union with heart and soul.
(iii) Create
substantive reserve fund for the functioning of the Union-without a strong
financial backing union work cannot be conducted satisfactorily.
(iv) Publicity
of our grievances through media and journals.
(v) Lobbying
or influencing Parliamentarians to bring pressure on the Government.
To
the above five prescriptions, Tarapada added a sixth one ie; (vi)
"Discipline in the organisation.''
He
said a decision taken by the Executive body of the Union after free expression
of views and after hearing the opposing view, a majority decision on a
particular proposition should be implemented by lower formations.
This
is very much applicable today as there is a tendency to ignore or not
implementing the decision of the apex body by the lower bodies.
He
defined organisational discipline in one line as follows-
-"If
my view does not find favour with the majority, I must subordinate my view to
the views of the majority, and work loyally and whole heartedly for the common
cause - This is discipline.''
About Maintaining Unity of
organisation and to shun parochialism:
Tarapada
in his speech gave call for steel-like unity in the organisation irrespective
of province, language and exhorted to common brotherhood. He said
all workers are brothers and asked them to shun parochialism.
About Living wage for
decent living:
Tarapada
enlightened the audience on the question of living wage as follows:
The
burning question of the day is question of bread and decent
living. Are we paid a living wage?
Do
we get sufficient wages to nourish our children with healthy and nutritious
food, to clothe them decently, to house them in proper and
ventilated quarters with sufficient accomodation for purposes of decency and
healthy moral development, to give them education, to pay for proper medical
help, to meet their marriage expenses and various other social obligations, and
provide for the rainy day? Ah, brothers, we all know to what strait
have we been reduced. We do not live, but we merely exist, and drudge
on to sustain life.”
About Four minimum
requirements of Postal Workers:
Tarapada
summed up the four minimum demands of the Postal employees as below
-
“We
should consider what we actually want and determine what we should fight
for. To my mind four things are necessary to establish the
subordinate service in the Postoffice on a correct basis. The first
thing we must have is adequate and decent wages; the second thing, curtailment
of hours of duty, the third thing, good treatment from superior officers and
moderation of punishment, and the last thing that we must have a voice in the
administration in matters affecting the subordinate staff.”
Concluding the speech with
an optimistic note
He
concluded his speech saying, "Do try to make your Union strong and do not
commit suicide folly of seeking recognition. Recognition is bound to
come from an unwilling Government as soon as you make your Union strong, he
said.
Finally
he gave the following clarion call on the workers-
"You
are men and not dumb driven cattle; you have a soul which is the essence of God
and which nothing can repress except your own folly, ignorance and
supineness. You have immense potentiality, capable of moving heaven
and earth. Organise this power, organise with a purpose, organise
with determination and I promise you success will knock at your door.''
Historical importance of
Lahore speech
It
may be recalled that he lived in a period soon after 1917 world shaking Russion
Revolution. No doubt his views were very revolutionary for the
period and his ideas robust and fresh.
The
speech of Tarapada is a document worth reading again and again, Let us
therefore treat his Lahore speech as a piece of permanent document acting as a
beacon light to guide the path for trade union workers and leaders for all time
to come.
The charge sheet and the
reply
British
Government took serious note of the contents of Lahore speech and they
chargesheeted Tarapada Mukherjee. The relevant portion of the
chargesheet is reporduced below -
“There
is no objection to reasonable criticism of any action, but public abuse of the
Postal administration by a responsible officer belonging to it cannot be
tolerated. If you hold the views expressed in this address, you are
disloyal to yourself by remaining in the Department. Your whole
speech is designed to stir up disaffection and disloyalty among the staff and
it a matter for regret that any officer of this Department could be capable of
such unseemly and disloyal conduct.
Ordinarily
no officer who made a public address of this kind could be retained in
Government service, but the Director General is willing to give you an
opportunity of withdrawing your assertions and expressing regret. I
have been requested by the Director General to inform you that if you make a
public apology on the terms set forth in the accompanying form he will ask the
Government to overlook the matter upon this occassion, if you refuse to do so,
you are given the option of resigning your appointment or of being
removed from Government service. You are therefore, asked to submit
your reply either in the form of apology sent herewith or to tender your
resignation within one week from the date of 'issue of this letter''.
As
soon as the charge sheet was received, the leaders of the Postal
club met together at a private meeting. It was indeed a red letter
day and the charge sheet may be regarded as an ephoc making document which
forced the issue on the unionists.
Tarapada
knew well that he could not depend on the possibility of union’s financial
support, once he is dismissed from service. Moreover Postal unions
were not at all organised at that time and the idea of supporting Tarapada
after his dismissal was not considered practical. Tarapada would be
doomed to lead a miserable life. But then, he could not court
dishonour. The condition of his ailing wife was alarming and he was
placed on the dangerous horns of dilemma. Amongst all these worries,
Tarapada maintained his spirit and decided ultimately to prefer self-respect to
service.
Tarapada
then submitted his detailed 40 paragraph reply denying all the
allegations. The concluding para of the reply statement is
reproduced below
''In
these circumstances, I submit that I have done nothing unworthy of an officer
of the Department, I would be false to myself if I were to apologise for doing
what my conscience fully approves. I would be false to myself and to
the service, If I were to tender resignation for doing what I considered as the
only honourable and sensible course conducive to the interest of both the
Postal Administration and the workers in the subordinate service.''
Naturally,
the British Government rejected the submissions made by Tarapada in his reply
and dismissed him from service.
Long live Tarapada
Mukherjee, Long live Lahore speech
Tarapada
delivered the historic speech one hundered years back. He was dismissed from
service one hundred years back. He left this world almost 90 years
back. But even now lakhs and lakhs of workers are remembering him and he will
be living in our minds always and his historic Lahore speech will be
reverberating in the minds of trade union leaders and activists in the years to
come.
Long live Tarapada
Mukherjee!
Long live historic Lahore
speech!!
