This year on 15th August, India will celebrate its 79th Independence Day. It is because of a sustained freedom movement and the sacrifices of lakhs of freedom fighters that we are able to see this day. While the names of many such freedom fighters found a place in history, several others remained anonymous.
One of the major freedom movements launched was the ‘Quit India Movement’ in 1942. The movement started in 1942 after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi called it and was a major turning point in India’s freedom struggle. The British made every possible effort to suppress this movement, in which thousands of innocent Indians sacrificed their lives. The first martyr of this Quit India Movement was Umakant Kadia of Ahmedabad. He was a volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In 1942, on one hand, the Second World War was going on, and on the other hand, Mohandas Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement against the British in the Congress session held in Bombay on August 8, 1942. As soon as the movement was launched, Indians started countrywide demonstrations against the British government. The British government, as usual, put all the top Indian leaders in jail and used unprecedented force to suppress the movement.
After Gandhi announced ‘Quit India’ in Bombay on 8th August, its impact was felt across the country, including Ahmedabad in Gujarat. On the morning of 9th August, the British government started arresting Indian leaders in Ahmedabad. However, the protests still took place with marches taking place at various places. To suppress this protest, the police started using force on the orders of the British government and even opened fire.
21-year-old Umakant Kadia, who lived in Dariyapur, was the Mukhya Shikshak of a Shakha of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Remembering him, volunteers who had worked at his Shakha say that Umakant was fully committed to the ideology of the RSS and was devoted to the work of the Shakha.
स्वाधीनता आंदोलन में 9/8/1942 के दिन #RSS की शाखा के मुख्य शिक्षक, अपने माता-पिता के एकमात्र पुत्र ऐसे श्री उमाकांत कडियाने 1942 'भारत छोडो आंदोलन' में बलिदान' दिया, उस उनके साथ 14 वर्ष के चिनुदादा आज वीर बलिदानी उमाकांत की बात बताते है। @vskgujarat @editorvskbharat @RSSorg pic.twitter.com/aee5B7WGML
— Devendra Kumar (@23_devendra) August 10, 2025
When the protest started on 9th August, Umakant was at the forefront of the crowd of protestors. The police opened fire to disperse the crowd. Someone from the crowd warned Umakant that why are you moving forward, but Umakant kept moving forward. A bullet fired by the police then hit him directly on the forehead as Umakant made the supreme sacrifice.
Years later, a memorial was built in the Khadia area, in Ahmedabad, where the incident took place. The memorial says that Umakant Motiram Kadia attained martyrdom here. He was the first martyr of the Quit India Movement.
The British government’s repression continued even after the incident. The next day, the students of Law College held a rally in the area. When the rally reached Gujarat College, other students also joined in. The police started a lathi-charge to disperse the rally. As the students hoisted the Indian flag, a British officer shot a young man named Vinod Kinariwala.
Umakant Kadia who sacrificed his life on 9th August, and Vinod Kinariwala who did it on 10th August, became heroes of the movement in two days. This is the reason Umakant is known as the ‘First Balidani‘.
The sacrifice of Umakant Kadia shatters the propaganda of the Congress and the Left against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Contrary to the baseless claim that the RSS did not contribute to India’s independence, the truth is that many such volunteers played a vital role in the Indian freedom struggle, and many RSS members like Umakant made the supreme sacrifices, but they were forgotten by history, which was written years later.
The original report in Gujarati can be read here.
