To earn fury and wrath of the power-that-be has never fetched any
good to a community and the easiest way to dodge their wrath or
alternatively to continue availing facilities provided by them is to
become a puppet at their hands at the cost of your own freedom. Though
avoiding fury of a power and getting benefitted from a plan is not that
bad yet one may not subscribe to this idea when it costs one’s freedom
and independence. The villagers of Basaud in Baghpat district of Uttar
Pradesh said no to leading a luxurious life when the British had tried
to strengthen power in India and thus become a threat to her
independence. The villagers, paying homage to the country, fought nail
and tooth against the well trained British army and sacrificed their
lives unhesitatingly to save the country from being exploited at the
hands of foreigners.
When the revolt against British occupants or rather the very first
movement of freedom started at Meerut cantonment in Uttar Pradesh on 10
May 1857, Baba Shahmal along with the villagers of Basaud and Badaka
dared the British army in Baghpat district. A small but extremely
enthusiastic group of country-fighters under Baba Shahmal, on 12 May
1857, carried out a raid on nearby Badaut Tehseel and freed it out of
the claws of the occupants. In this raid, Wazeer Khan, the Kotwal (a
term used then and now known as Station House Officer) of Baghpat,
welcomed the Indian fighters open-heartedly and extended his full
support to them.
Soon after this success, Wazeer Khan rushed to the Walled City of
Delhi and met the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, narrating the
story of Baba Shahmal and urging him to nominate him Sobedar— governor—
of Badaut Tehseel . Subsequently, the Emperor nominated Baba as Sobedar
of the area. The Sobedar chose the village of Basaud as a safe place for
the accumulation of rations and arms to help the freedom fighters in
Delhi and at other places and destroyed the bridge at Yamuna River
connecting the village from Meerut so as not to let the British army
reach the village.
As soon as the occupants came to know about the development in the
area, a British troop consisting of two tanks, 60 King Rifles and 50
trained horses headed towards the village. The villagers, having got the
news of military expedition, sent the females and children of the
village to a safer place and armed themselves with country weapons such
as Lathi, Ballam, Farsa, etc. to take on the sophisticated weapons of
the British army. The British troop, guided by Gauri Paltan, reached the
village of Basaud on 17 July and killed almost all the male villagers.
They also set ablaze the arms and rations kept for the Indian fighters
in the Jama Masjid of the village.
On their return, they left behind Captain Cannon with 10 personnel to
keep an eye on the village. The surviving villagers, who had seen the
brutal murder of around 180 co-villagers at the hands of the British
battalion, attacked them back but were made captive and 16 of them were
hanged in public. The tree on which they were hanged is still surviving
in the village. According to the founder of the Yuva Chetna Manch of
Basaud, Master Sattar Ahmad, the freedom fighter Baba Shahmal was also
in the village when it came under attack but some villagers, dodging the
British troops, took him to the nearby jungle of Badaka. But the brave
fighter again attacked the English on 18 July and sacrificed his life to
become a martyr.
The villagers feel pride to narrate the anecdotes of their
forefathers and more usually they end up with tears rolling down the
cheeks. Khursheed Alam, President Yuva Chetna Manch, says some of the
villagers dipped themselves in the pond of the village so as to escape
from the tyranny of the occupants but they opened fire aiming at the
pond and the transparent water in the pond turned red literally with the
blood of the villagers. Mr. Alam added that the village was once
categorised as a rebellious one by the British rulers and is still
facing consequences though it has passed 62 years since they left the
country. Ninety-five of every one hundred persons in the village are
still forced to live hand to mouth.
The population of the village is around 8000 and the villagers
themselves prefer to call the village “the village of labourers.” The
residents are facing tough times as there is neither water supply in the
locality nor a primary healthcare centre. The villagers have been
demanding a college for a long time. Also, the road connecting the
village to other cities is in a deplorable condition.
Ali Hasan, a resident of the village, alleged that they had knocked
at the doors of local MP, MLA and the District Magistrate several times
but all in vain. Though the village, in pre-Independence days, had
refused to bow down to the “foreign intruders” yet they have to learn
that they have no run from saluting the “home rulers” in independent
India in order to avail themselves of even basic facilities.
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