द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

80 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Das. Accompanied by her sister-in-law, Mrs. Urmila Devi
and another associate, Miss Suniti Devi, she went out at the
head of the volunteers. When the news spread in the city
that Mrs. Das and other ladies had been taken to prison, there
was wild excitement. In utter indignation young and old,
rich and poor began to pour in as volunteers. The authorities
were alarmed and they converted the city into an armed
camp. But our battle was half-won.
Indignation was not confined to the public but spread
within the ranks of the hitherto loyal police. At the police-
station, as Mrs. Das stepped into the prison-van, to be con-
veyed to prison, numbers of police constables came up to
her and vowed that they were going to resign their jobs the
same day. There was consternation in Government circles.
No one knew at the time how far the contagion would spread.
Orders were issued at once by Government that the pay of
police constables would be substantially increased. The same
evening at a dinner party in Government House there was a
sensation. Mr. S. N. Mullick, a leading Liberal politician
(who was afterwards a member of the Council of the Secretary
of State for India)—when he heard of Mrs. Das's arrest—left
Government House immediately as a protest. So tense was
the excitement that before midnight the Government had to
order the release of Mrs. Das and her associates, and the
public were given to understand that the arrests had been
made through a mistake. From the next day thousands of
students and factory-workers began to enlist as volunteers.
Within a few days the two big prisons in the city were filled
with political prisoners. Camp-prisons were then opened but
they too were filled in no time. The Government then
resorted to drastic action. Orders were issued for the arrest
of Deshbandu Das and his close associates, and by the evening
of December 10th we were all in prison.
But these arrests acted as a further stimulus and as more
people were arrested the prison-administration became more
unmanageable. Orders were given for the release of a large
number of political prisoners but no one would leave the
prison, and moreover, it was impossible to identify them.
Sometimes they would be taken to the prison office on the