P. Sainath

large_1-DSC00301-PS-A-moment-in-history-dies-with-Captain-Bhau.jpg

medium_1-DSC00301-PS-A-moment-in-history-dies-with-Captain-Bhau.jpg

small_1-DSC00301-PS-A-moment-in-history-dies-with-Captain-Bhau.jpg

thumbnail_1-DSC00301-PS-A-moment-in-history-dies-with-Captain-Bhau.jpg

1-DSC00301-PS-A-moment-in-history-dies-with-Captain-Bhau.jpg

‘Captain
Bhau’ (Ramchandra Sripati Lad) Freedom
fighter and head of Toofan Sena

 June
22, 1922–February 5, 2022 In
the end, he went unhonoured and unsung by the nation he fought for, but
venerated by the thousands who knew of this remarkable human being who with his
comrades in the 1940s stood up to the mightiest empire in the world. Ramchandra
Sripati Lad was an important part of the ‘prati
sarkar’, the underground provisional government led by the legendary
Nana Patil, which had declared Satara’s secession from the British Empire in
1943. But
Captain Bhau (his underground nom de guerre) and his warriors didn’t stop at that.
For three years, till 1946, they held off the British, and it was the prati sarkar that held sway in some 600 villages
from where they ran their parallel government. In a sense, his death on
February 5 marks the end of a sarkar that took on the Raj.

Captain
‘Bhau’ (‘elder brother’) headed the striking wing of the prati sarkar’s underground armed force – the ‘Toofan Sena’ or whirlwind
army. Together with his personal hero G.D. Bapu Lad, he led the attack of June
7, 1943, in Shenoli, Maharashtra, on the Pune-Miraj special goods train
carrying the salaries of officials of the British Raj. The money they looted
from it was mainly spent on helping hungry farmers and labourers in a year of
scarcity and famine. Decades
later, when he and the prati sarkar had
sunk into obscurity, PARI rediscovered <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/captain-elder-brother-and-the-whirlwind-army/">Captain Elder Brother</a> and had him
tell us his story. That’s when he made the distinction between Independence and
Freedom. India is independent. But freedom, he said, is still the monopoly of
the few. And: “Today, the man who has money rules…he who holds the hare is the
hunter – this is the state of our freedom.”

We
also made a short film on him, primarily the
effort of PARI’s Sinchita Maji, Samyukta Shastri and Shreya Katyayini (put together elegantly by Archana Phadke) that continues to mesmerise young audiences who have never seen, spoken with, or
listened to a bona fide freedom fighter. In some colleges, the youngsters are
in tears when they see this beautiful film, unable to believe that such
selfless human beings still existed, that such role models had never once been
held before their eyes. 

Subsequently,
thanks to Captain Bhau’s grandson Deepak Lad, I spoke to him every year on his
birthday, June 22, and he would proudly say: “Today, I am 96…” Or 97, or 98… 

In July 2017, <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/the-last-hurrah-of-the-prati-sarkar/">at a
meeting</a>
held to felicitate the last living freedom fighters of Satara and Sangli,
Captain Bhau was to meet Gopalkrishna Gandhi, former Governor of West Bengal and
grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The warrior and one-time armed revolutionary was in
tears as he gave the grandson of the Mahatma a warm hug. It was, he told me
later, one of the most emotional moments of his life.

In
November 2018, as over 100,000 farmers marched on Parliament, he sent them a video
message through PARI’s Bharat Patil. “If I were in better health,” the old
warrior thundered, at age 96, to the farmers, “I would be there marching with
you.” In
June 2021, I decided I had better see him once more and reassure myself that he
was surviving the pandemic. Together with my colleague Medha Kale, I went to
greet him on his birthday. On behalf of PARI, we took him birthday gifts: a
lovely Nehru jacket (he was always fond of them), a hand-carved hand stick, and
an album of photos we’d taken of him. I was shocked to see how he’d shrunk
since I’d last met him in 2018. The old warrior was weak, listless, could
hardly speak a word – but he loved the gifts. He wore the jacket immediately –
though it was blazing hot in the Sangli sun. And placing the handstick across
his knees, absorbed himself in the photo album. It
was only then that we realised he had lost his partner of over seven decades,
the redoubtable Kalpana Lad, more than a year earlier. And that had devastated the
old gentleman for whom the loss was unbearable. I had the sense as we left that
his own end could not be too far off.

Deepak
Lad phoned me to say: “He was wearing that very Nehru jacket when he passed.”
The carved handstick too, was beside him. Deepak says officials had promised a
funeral with state honours for Bhau, but it never materialised. Very large
numbers of people, though, gathered for their Captain’s last journey. PARI
has won 44 national and global awards in our 85 months of existence. But I
believe none has meant more to us than this single accolade from Captain Elder
Brother after the film on him was shown in his hometown of Kundal. This is the
message he sent us through Deepak Lad in 2017: &quot;The
whole history of the prati sarkar was
dead until P. Sainath and PARI revived it. That great chapter in our history
was erased. We had fought for Independence and Freedom, then the years
passed by, and our contribution was forgotten. We were abandoned. Sainath came
to our home last year for my story. He went with me to the site in Shenoli of
our great attack on the British train, to the very point on the tracks where we
fought. “With this film and article
about me and my fellow fighters, Sainath and PARI have revived the memory of
the prati sarkar and how it fought for
the people, they have revived our pride and honour. They have restored us to
the consciousness of our society. This was our true story.

“I
felt very emotional watching that film. Earlier, most young people in my own
village knew nothing, had no idea who I was or what my role was. But today,
after this film and article came on PARI, even the younger generation look at
me with a new respect and know now that my comrades and I played a role in
making India a free nation. This, in my last and final years, has restored our
respect.&quot; With
his passing, India has lost one of her greatest ever foot-soldiers of freedom –
those who fought for this country’s liberation with no thought of personal gain,
and fully conscious of the risks they were taking. In
2017, more than a year after that first interview, Bharat Patil sent me a
photograph of the old man marching at a farmer’s strike in Kundal. I asked
Captain Bhau when I next saw him, what was he doing out there in the sun? What
was he fighting for now? Invoking memories of the freedom struggle, he said: “Then
also it was for farmers and workers, Sainath. Now also it is for farmers and
workers.”

Read also: <a id="2147" linktype="page">‘Captain Elder Brother’ and the whirlwind army </a>and <a id="3104" linktype="page">The last hurrah of the prati sarkar </a>

A moment in history dies with Captain Bhau

कैप्टन भाऊ के संग इतिहास के एक अध्याय खतम

کیپٹن بھاؤ کے ساتھ غروب ہوا تاریخ کا ایک باب

ক্যাপ্টেন ভাউয়ের সঙ্গে কালের গর্ভে বিলীন হল এক ঐতিহাসিক মুহূর্ত

કેપ્ટન ભાઉની સાથે જ ઈતિહાસની એક ક્ષણ પણ મૃત્યુ પામી છે

कैप्टन भाऊ के साथ समाप्त हुआ इतिहास का एक सोपान

வரலாற்றுத் தருணம் ஒன்று கேப்டன் பாவுடன் மறைந்தது

ക്യാപ്റ്റൻ ഭാവുവിനോടൊപ്പം ചരിത്രത്തിലെ ഒരു നിമിഷവും ഇല്ലാതാവുന്നു

కెప్టెన్ భావుతో పాటు చరిత్రలో ఒక క్షణం మరణించింది

ಕ್ಯಾಪ್ಟನ್ ಭಾವ್‌ ಅವರೊಡನೆ ಇಲ್ಲವಾದ ಇತಿಹಾಸದ ಒಂದು ಕ್ಷಣ

କ୍ୟାପଟେନ୍ ଭାଉଙ୍କ ସହ ଇତିହାସରେ ଏକ ଯୁଗର ଅନ୍ତ

তুফান আৰু নাহে: কেপ্টেইন ভাউৰ সৈতে এটা যুগৰ অৱসান

ਕੈਪਟਨ ਭਾਊ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ਼ ਇਤਿਹਾਸ ਦਾ ਉਹ ਪਲ ਵੀ ਮਰ ਗਿਆ

इतिहासाचं एक पानच कॅप्टन भाऊंसोबत गळून पडलंय

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

A moment in history dies with Captain Bhau

'We fought for two things, Independence and Freedom – we achieved Independence'

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit