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I did not betray Quit India movement, says Vajpayee

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday decried attempts being made by some "vested interests" to denigrate him on the eve of the mid-term election by alleging that he sided with the British in the Quit India movement of 1942.

Referring to such reports in a section of the media, Vajpayee said, ''With elections round the corner, this untruth is again being floated...''

Vajpayee asserted that the allegation that some persons arrested in connection with the August 27, 1942, incidents at Bateshwar were convicted on the basis of his evidence was ''baseless and libellous."

Recounting the Bateshwar incidents, Vajpayee said, to express solidarity with the Quit India movement, villagers of Bateshwar demolished the forest outpost near the village and damaged the accommodation built for the guard. Later they also demolished another outpost at nearby Bhickauli and torched its windows.

The next day the British rulers resorted to indiscriminate arrests and those arrested, including him, were sent to Agra jail. The government prosecuted six leaders for the incidents -- Sarvashri Liladhar Vajpayee, Shiv Kumar, Bhawani Prasad, Shobharam, Goverdhandas and Kokaiyan. They were tried in the court of the special judge of the Agra district court who held them guilty and separately sentenced them.

Vajpayee asserted that he did not tender any evidence against any person in court. He was never among the 15 witnesses whose statements were recorded by the court.

"Therefore, the allegation that some persons were convicted on the basis of my evidence was baseless and libellous." Equally baseless was the allegation that he tendered any apology to the government, on the strength of which he was supposed to have been let off, Vajpayee announced today.

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