Who started the secret Congress Radio during the Quit India Movement?

Usha Mehta (1920-2000) was a Gandhian freedom fighter from Gujarat. She was born near Surat and became involved in the freedom movement as a child; at the age of eight, she took part in a protest against the Simon Commission with the slogan "Simon, Go Back".

During the Quit India Movement of 1942, almost all the senior Congress leaders were arrested, and the British strictly controlled the press and radio. To keep people informed about the movement and to spread the messages of the leaders, Usha Mehta, then a 22-year-old student, along with a few associates such as Babubhai Khakhar, Vithalbhai Jhaveri and Chandrakant Jhaveri, set up a secret radio station called the "Congress Radio". It began broadcasting on 14 August 1942 from Bombay, with the announcement: "This is the Congress Radio calling on 42.34 metres from somewhere in India." Ram Manohar Lohia and other underground leaders were associated with it.

The radio broadcast news of the movement, speeches of leaders and patriotic songs. To avoid detection, the station changed its location almost every day. On 12 November 1942, the police found and raided the station. Usha Mehta was arrested and sentenced to four years of imprisonment in Yerawada jail, Pune. She was released in 1946.

After Independence, she completed a PhD on the political and social thought of Mahatma Gandhi and taught at the University of Bombay for many years. She was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1998. The Hindi film "Ae Watan Mere Watan" (2024) is based on her life.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Congress flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August 1942 and was called the "Grand Old Lady" of the movement.
• ✗Sucheta Kripalani worked underground during the movement and later became India's first woman Chief Minister (Uttar Pradesh, 1963).
• ✗Matangini Hazra, aged 73, was shot dead while leading a procession in Tamluk, Bengal.