Vivek Shukla
Noted actor Manoj Kumar is known through his patriotic films. He once said that when his family came to Delhi in 1947, looted and beaten, from across the border after the partition of the country, many members of his family were injured due to attacks by rioters. His younger brother was sick. They were all treated at St. Stephen’s Hospital. During that time, volunteers from the Delhi Brotherhood Society were taking refugees arriving at Delhi Junction, also known as the Old Delhi Railway Station, to their St. Stephen’s Hospital for treatment or giving them shelter at the Brotherhood House campus in Civil Lines.
Due to the partition of the country, lakhs of Hindu and Sikh refugees had come to Delhi from Pakistan. They mostly arrived at Delhi Junction. At that time, they had nothing except the open sky in the new city. During that terrible period, workers from the Delhi Brotherhood Society and some Hindu and some Sikh organizations were helping the refugees.
In fact, for Indian, every Independence Day brings with it two kinds of emotions. First, the country was freed from the clutches of the British government. Therefore, a feeling of immense reverence arises in the mind for all those freedom fighters, whose sacrifices led to the departure of the whites from here. Second, the country also had to bear the brunt of the partition along with independence on August 15, 1947. India was divided into two parts.
During that period, lakhs of Hindu and Sikh refugees came to the capital Delhi. At that time, Milkha Singh was also among those who arrived at Delhi Junction. He later became a great athlete. During the partition of the country, humanity was dead. Milkha Singh’s parents were murdered. But there were angels then too. They hid him in the ladies’ compartment of the train. He was separated from his sister. Just imagine how Milkha Singh would have been searching for his sister who was lost during the riots in an unknown and chaotic city due to the partition. But he found his sister.
Even though it was the capital of the country, Delhi was a small city compared to today. At that time, Dr. Ruth Rosewier, the head of St. Stephen’s Hospital, was leading the treatment of injured and sick refugees here. Dr. Ruth was a British citizen. This hospital was opened in 1885 by the Delhi Brotherhood Society. It established St. Stephen’s College too. They have also one established St. Stephen’s Cambridge School at Sonepat in Haryana. Dr.N. C. Joshi was engaged in serving the people of Delhi during that crisis period in Karol Bagh in Central Delhi. When communal riots broke out in Karol Bagh during 1947, Dr. Joshi was also a victim of it. On the other hand, at Irwin Hospital (now Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital), the pain of patients was being relieved by the medical superintendent, Dr. Banwari Lal, along with his hardworking colleagues like Kabul Chand Balmiki.
Workers of the Delhi Brotherhood Society were also taking many patients to Lady Hardinge Medical Hospital for treatment. At that time, this was the only known hospital in the New Delhi area. During that period, the crowd of patients was being treated under the supervision of Dr. K.J. McDermett (1946-1948) and Dr. O.P. Bali (1948-1950), the Principal-Directors of this hospital. Until 1947, the students here used to go to Lahore to give their annual exams. Their exams were held at King Edward Medical College. At that time, this college was part of Punjab University. Meanwhile, Dr. Vishumber Das was also serving the people of Delhi. In 1922, he established the Vishumber Free Homeopathic Dispensary in the New Delhi area and treated the poor for the rest of his life. There is a road named after him, Dr. Vishumber Das Marg, which was called Allenby Road before 1965.
You will still find many refugee families who will tell you that they would have been nowhere without the support of Father Ian Weathrall and his colleagues associated with the Delhi Brotherhood Society. Father Ian Weathrall was working day and night for the rehabilitation of refugees. Every day at Brotherhood House, which was established in 1925, refugees were getting a roof and food. Father Father Ian Weathrall’s first relationship with India was established during the Second World War. He was in the British Army. He was in the Punjab Regiment. He had also stayed in some cities of India. His life changed after the end of World War II. He became disillusioned with his military job. He started speaking and writing against the war. He had seen the devastation caused by the war with his own eyes. He was disturbed by it. He understood the futility of war. Then he took a degree in Theology from Cambridge University. He wanted peace in his life. He had a desire to serve society. He stayed in London for some time and then came to India. “Father Ian Weathrall then devoted the rest of his life to working for the rights of the poor, the downtrodden and the marginalized. He liked everything here. The people, the children, the trees, the plants, the rivers, etc. The influence of Mahatma Gandhi was clearly visible on Father Ian Weathrwell ‘s personality. He passed away in 2013. He was 91 years old then,” says Father Solomon George, an old colleague of Father Ian Weathrall.
When India is celebrating its Independence Day, we should remember all those unnamed individuals who gave shoulder to the refugees. Understand that there was no government in the country at that time. There was chaos and disorder everywhere. Those who selflessly helped the refugees during that period should always be remembered.
