Page 55 - Gujar Mal Modi

factory was entitled to get free of cost sugar to the extent of 1/10th of the sugar

produced from the cane supplied by him.

The irate landlords of the Sikri village joined hands with communist elements
and incited the farmers. The result was that on 26th June 1946 a huge mob col-

lected in front of the sugar mill. It included young girls and both undergraduate
and post graduate students from Meerut. The girl students and small children

were kept at the head of this mob and the communists and others armed with
lathis kept themselves behind them.

The organisers of this demonstration perhaps expected that the watch and ward
staff of the mills would be ordered to open fire on the restive people and this

would give the agitated mob an opportunity to level the allegation that Mr. Modi
had committed excesses against a peaceful gathering. But that did not happen,

for the far-sighted industrialist had anticipated such moves on the part of these
elements and had quietly disarmed the watch and ward staff. The angry mob

beat the watch and ward staff and slapped them in their faces and threw their
turbans away. However, even these tactics failed to provoke the watch and ward

staff into reacting in any violent manner.

From the sugar mill the mob proceeded to the biscuit mill where the same dra-
ma of violence was enacted. As a measure of safety, Mr. Modi had to order all the

factories to close down for the day. The rowdy elements continued their tactics
almost throughout the day and retreated only late in the evening.

Mr. Modi lodged a report about these incidents with the District Magistrate who
promised to hold an inquiry into the matter. Next day when the District Magis-

trate and the police officer in charge of the area came to the scene of the inci-
dents, they, too, were manhandled by rowdy elements. One person threw the

pea-cap of the Police Chief, a British national, and another snatched away his
baton. The police chief refrained from using force, for he did not want to incur

the displeasure of the new Government. But as the crowd became more res-
tive, a few of the rowdy elements were rounded up and taken to the local Police

Station. The mob, however, was able to secure their release under the threat of
further violence. The police officers left for Meerut with the promise to return in

the after noon, but they never came back.

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