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xtruss · 10 months

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The Forgotten Hero: How Russia Helped Launch The Decolonial Movement in The Heart of The British Empire

Rafiq Ahmed, Who Founded the Communist Party of India in Tashkent, Gave His Descendants Both a Legacy and a Name, But Hardly Any of Them Know Why They Are Called ’Roosis’

— December 5, 2023 | RT

Rafiq ‘Roosi’ Ahmed died four decades ago, but his visits to the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) are forgotten, to the extent that his descendants, who continue to be known as the ‘Roosis’ (Hindi/Urdu for Russian national) of Bhopal, are unsure of the origin of the name they carry, and are ignorant of his illustrious legacy.

After battling lung cancer for three years, Comrade ‘Roosi’ died as quietly as he had lived, in the central Indian city of Bhopal at the age of 93, in 1982.

Bhopal had been run by the Nawabs during British rule, from 1818 to 1947, after which it became part of the Indian Union; since then, the socio-political fabric of the city has changed radically. Roosi’s travels to the USSR in 1920, inspired by the great revolutionary upsurge in Russia and Central Asia, have largely been forgotten.

Rafiq Ahmed's ancestral home is a stone’s throw from the picturesque Upper Lake in a typically non-descript narrow bylane in the old quarters of Bhopal, but it is easy to find – thanks to the title, Roosi. Apart from a handful of senior residents of the city, nobody quite knows the origin of this name.

His daughter-in-law Saulat has done a fine job of keeping his belongings safe – especially those pertaining to his trip to the Soviet Union in September-October 1967 to attend the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution – but the family’s collective knowledge is limited to his second trip to Russia, and some anecdotes from his first visit which border on the mythical.

Comrade Rafiq Ahmad, personal archive © RT

They are unaware that Roosi was among the first group of Indian revolutionaries who went to the Soviet Union to seek advice on ousting their British colonial rulers, or that he was among the first to enroll at the Indian Military Training School in Tashkent, or was the founding member of the Communist Party of India in Tashkent, or was tried and jailed for almost a year in the Peshawar Conspiracy Case.

Septuagenarian Khalid Ghani, who knows Bhopal’s history and its people like the back of his hand, attributes this to Roosi’s modest lifestyle. The Ghanis and his family have been neighbors and go back a long way. Ghani’s family used to run a sports shop on the ground floor, and Roosi’s son ran a small hotel called ‘Moonlight’ on the first floor of the same building.

When Ahmed came back from Russia in 1923, people started calling him ‘Roosi’. “He had rubbed shoulders with the top Indian and Russian revolutionaries there, risked his life, and had been jailed. But he didn’t speak about it to anyone, let alone brag about his stay there. Even after the independence of India, he did not list himself as a freedom fighter and avail benefits – such as seeking a plot of land – and secure his future. He just went back to being the person he was before he had left Bhopal. This says a lot about the kind of man he was,” says Ghani.

Modest Background

Roosi hailed from a modest background, and when he returned from Russia, he took a job as the head of the kitchen of the last ruler of Bhopal, Nawab Hameedullah Khan. Much later, when his son Jameel opened his own restaurant, Roosi started assisting him.

Jameel’s wife, Saulat, and his sister, Rafia-un-Nisa, are the two surviving members of the family who spent time with Roosi. Rafia-un-Nisa is in her late eighties and can barely speak. Saulat married into the family in 1969, five decades after Roosi returned from Russia.

Although she is alert and can recall most details about her father-in-law, she is unable to piece together the sequence of events of his life before she married into the family.

“He would be at the hotel during the day and spend the nights writing. I saw him do that for eight years. It is unfortunate that we cannot find most of his writings,” she laments. She pulls out a newspaper clipping to show that Roosi was among the first Indians to write a book on Vladimir Lenin in 1923. However, she has no idea where the book is.

Comrade Rafiq Ahmad (center) meets with youths of the Soviet Union in the city of Kirov. © Sputnik/I. Agranovskiy

Trip to Russia

Roosi’s long period of anonymity ended quite suddenly when Soviet Land magazine published an article on him in around 1966-1967. He was invited to the Soviet embassy in New Delhi and before he knew it, he was on his way to Moscow.

In between, there were mentions of him in the writings of fellow compatriots such as Shaukat Usmani, but they seem to have gone unnoticed.

Ghani recalls, “Nearly five decades after he had returned from Russia, Ahmed was invited to meet the Soviet ambassador in New Delhi. In 1967, he flew to Russia to take part in the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Later in 1972, he was acknowledged as a freedom fighter at former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s behest.”

In Moscow, he was awarded a gold medal for his struggle alongside Russian revolutionaries. After receiving the medal, he told Patriot newspaper that the revolutionaries who languished in jail and died there deserved the decoration more than him.

“Twenty of my comrades died fighting there. They were all courageous people…I think they deserved this honor much more than me,” he said, adding that he was held hostage in Kerki (in modern-day Turkmenistan) for over a month along with 36 other Indians, as well as Russian and Turkmen revolutionaries. He spoke about how the British tortured the revolutionaries.

He visited Lenin’s mausoleum and placed a wreath there. He told the newspaper New Age that he had seen Lenin addressing a meeting once, but he could not meet him in person alongside his Indian comrades as he had fallen ill, and this was his greatest misfortune. New Age newspaper then described him as a tall and energetic man.

Comrade Rafiq Ahmad with a monument of Vladimir Lenin at Smolny, in Leningrad (N ow St. Petersburg). Ahmad met Lenin in 1921. © Sputnik/Mikhail Ozerskiy

Roosi reunited with other revolutionaries in Moscow; among them was Maria Fortus. She had been his teacher at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, in Moscow, and remembered all her Indian students by their names. She recognized Roosi and asked him about the other Indian revolutionaries. He also met Avanes Baratov, an old Communist who had participated in the struggle against the counter-revolutionary bands.

Roosi, who was hosted by APN Board (Novosti Press Agency), visited Kerki, where he had fought alongside the Red Army, and Tashkent, where he went to a school where children were taught Urdu. Saulat has a couple of photos of him with Fortus and Baratov, and of his visits to Tashkent and Kerki.

Later that year, he was decorated with another medal by the Soviet Ambassador to New Delhi, N.M. Pegov.

In 1972, he was among the few freedom fighters to be invited to New Delhi by the government of India to celebrate the silver jubilee of India’s Independence.

Roosi’s Journey

A few years after his death, a portion of Roosi’s missing memoir was published in Qazi Wajdi-ul-Hussaini’s book “Barkatullah Bhopali” in 1986.

According to Hussani, when the Khilafat Movement was in full swing in 1920, the Khilafat Committee of Delhi announced a conference and an emotionally charged and rather naïve group of Bhopalis headed for Delhi, believing that this was a call to rid India of the British.

Apart from Roosi, the fiery group included Aftab Ali Khan, Mohammed Ali, Abdul Hayi, Master Mashkoor, Mohammed Khan, Ahmed Kabeer Ahmed, Mohammed Shafi and Mohammed Akhtar.

These revolutionaries stood out among the others when they literally kicked a spy out from their group, and stopped the Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid from leading the prayers, as he was said to be close to the British.

Comrade Rafiq Ahmad visiting USSR © RT

However, when they learnt that this was a call to protest against the British stance towards the Turkish Caliphate, a few of Roosi’s companions decided to return to Bhopal. The rest decided to go ahead with the “Hijrat” (Migration), impressed by the enthusiastic call given by Afghanistan’s King Amanullah Khan, and set out for Kabul.

They crossed the border from Peshawar and entered Afghanistan, and headed towards Kabul via Jalalabad. They met King Amanullah Khan, who received them well, but ordered that the refugees be sent to Jabal al-Siraj (a former palace he used as a military base). When the Emir promised to give them jobs, it dawned on the group that he was buying time to strike a deal with the British.

Disappointed, the group escaped from Jabal al-Siraj, covering 30 to 40 miles on foot each day, crossing difficult mountains and treacherous deserts, and reached the Turkistan border, and then finally Termez via Mazar-i-Sharif and Ghor. In Termez, they heard the fiery speech of a Russian commander who said his country had opened its doors to the workers of the world. They met the commander and went to Tashkent with his help.

In ‘The Indian Revolutionaries and the Bolsheviks - their early contacts, 1918-1922’, Arun Coomer Bose writes, “We have it on the authority of Rafiq Ahmed (Roosi) that the first four ‘muhajirs’ (Migrants), including himself, reached Kabul sometime in May 1920. They were well received, and were lodged at Jabal us-Siraz (Jabal al-Siraj), at some distance from Kabul. Others, who came after them, were also brought there, and by the beginning of July there were about a couple of hundred of them at Jabal us-Siraz (Jabal al-Siraj).”

After the founding of the Communist Party of India in Tashkent, it was decided that some of the Indian ‘Muhajirs’ would return to India to establish the foundations of a communist movement there.

Accordingly, towards the end of March 1922, a bigger group of ten, which included Roosi, set out for India via the Pamir route, writes Bose. “At Kharog they divided themselves into small groups and, barring a couple of them, succeeded in reaching Chitral or the tribal territories in the north-west of India. But, almost all of them were apprehended by the Indian police, and were tried in the Peshawar Conspiracy Case,” adds Bose.

Roosi was jailed for nearly a year. A letter issued by the Government of India on December 25, 1972 states that Roosi was arrested in the Peshawar Conspiracy Case (Crown vs Akbar Shah and seven others in the Moscow Tashkent conspiracy case) in the last week of October 1922 and released on May 18, 1923, and that he spent his term in the District Jail in Peshawar.

Saulat’s son now runs the family restaurant, which serves Mughlai cuisine. Her daughter, Bushra, who was eight years old when Roosi passed away, has taken charge of her grandfather’s papers and plans to preserve them.

The next generation of Roosis are unaware of their great-grandfather’s lineage, content with the knowledge that he visited Russia. Can, then, one blame the rest of Bhopal?

— By Lamat R Hasan, an Independent Journalist Based in Delhi

#Feature #Rafiq Ahmed #Rafiq ‘Roosi’ Ahmed #Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)#Hindi/Urdu for Russian National #Bhopal | India 🇮🇳#Russia 🇷🇺#British 🇬🇧 Empire #“Hijrat” (Migration)#Tashkent | Capital of Uzbekistan 🇺🇿 Now #Peshawar (Now City of Pakistan 🇵🇰)#Kabul | Jalalabad | Afghanistan 🇦🇫#King Amanullah Khan #Indian Revolutionaries & Bolsheviks #Turkistan #Termez | Mazar-i-Sharif | Ghor #Kabul #Muhajirs #Mughlai Cuisine

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cherrycola27 · 2 years

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Labyrinth

Paring: Rooster x OC A.J. "Maroon" Dawson

Warnings: Language, drinking, Mentions of Smut. 18+ Minors DNI

A/N: Hey babes! So this piece is a sequel to one of my other works Maroon. If you haven't read it, go check it out before reading this one! Enjoy!

"Son of a bitch" Rooster cursed. He was working on a gear of his plane and dropped the wrench just out of his grasp.

He reached down to pick it up only for another hand to snatch it before he could get it.

He climbed out from under the plane to see who it was.

He wiped his hands on his flight suit before looking up at them.

And when he did he froze. No, this couldn't be real. Was the California heat playing tricks on him? Had he gone into G-LOC and was hallucinating? Had all those years if flying finally caught up to him and drove him mad?

There was no way she was real, there was no way she was standing infront of him right now.

He blinked slowly a few times, as if to see if she would still be there when he opened his eyes, she she was. When if finally clicked in his mind that maybe he wasn't going crazy he spoke.

"Maroon?" He breathed out. "Rooni, it that really you? Are you really here right now? Are you... are you real?" He had tears forming in his eyes

She smiled back at him before placing the wrench down on the tool bag next to him.

"It's me Rooster. I'm here. I'm real." She beamed at him.

"Oh my god." Rooster sighed. He rushed forward pulling her into his arms tightly. He lifted her off of the ground, spinning her in a passionate hug. The task he was working on long forgotten.

"I can't believe it." He whispered to himself. "I can't believe you're here."

Maroon laughed with delight as Rooster spun her around. He carefully set her down on the ground but didn't let her go.

There was a silence between the two of them as Maroon wondered if Rooster was about to kiss her and he wondered the same.

Though he wanted to, Rooster thought it best not to do so because I had been two years since they had seen each other, while he certainly hadn't gotten over her, he didn't know if she had moved on.

"I feel like we've done this before." Rooni says gesturing between Rooster, his plane, and his tools.

"Seems like we have." He smiled at her. "When, when did you get back?" He asks looking down at his boots.

"I got in late yesterday. Just got done with a test flight. I start training here next week... permanently." She tells him.

"Last time was supposed to be permanent too." Rooster states.

"I know, but I made sure this time. I have the contract to prove it. The only way I'll leave San Diego is if I died, get fired, or retire. This is it for me. This is where I want to be." Maroon tells him with certainty in her voice.

"Well then, just so you know I have a reputation for being the best instructor here. Don't think you are just going to waltz in here and take that title from me." He jokes.

"Roosie, if you teach the way you play pool, I doubt I will have to try too hard." She laughs.

He cracks a smile.

"Do you have any plans this evening ma'am?" Rooster asks her hoping she doesn't.

"As a matter of fact I do not sir. What are you proposing?" Rooni asks him.

"Well A.J., if you don't have anything better to do, I was hoping you would like to get a drink with me, and lose a pool game or two, I've been practicing. Bradley suggests.

"Sounds like a plan. Meet you at the Hard Deck at 7?" She asks him.

"Sure thing. See you then." He smiles at her once more before she leaves.

The moment she is out of sight Rooster does his happy dance, and thanks God or whoever else sent her back to him and gave him a second chance. He didn't plan to waste it.

At 7pm on the dot Maroon walked into the Hard Deck. Rooster was already at the bar waiting on her, a beer ready for both of them.

His breath caught in his throat we he saw her walk in. She was wearing some denim pants, a black top that hugged her body, and a crimson cardigan. Her hair was in its signature braid, and her lips were painted the same shade as her call sign. It took all of his strength not to focus on them everytime she opened her mouth.

It was even harder for him to not think about the way they tasted against his, or how the shade would contrast his tan skin as they grazed his body.

Fuck... this was going to be a long evening.

After sitting down beside him, they talked as if no time had passed catching each other up on everything and enjoying being near one another again.

Bradley's heart skipped a beat every time she threw her head back laughing. At some point in the conversation, even though he had tried to not say it, the words came out "Are you seeing anyone?"

Her eyes went wide at his question and he immediately felt bad and countered with " I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that."

"No it's okay. I'm not. When I left Fightertown I closed myself off. And just being back on the other side of the states. I just couldn't date. I didn't want to. No one there was..." she trailed off before turning to face him and shook her head.

She didn't finish her sentence but Rooster knew she almost said that no one there was him. He knew how she felt because that's how he had been over the past two years. No matter how hard he tried. No other woman compared to her.

"Gosh it is warm in here." A.J. said snapping him back to reality. She quickly shrugged off her cardigan and reached her arm out and placed it on his thigh. "How about that game off pool? Ready to lose?" She challenged him.

Rooster froze for a moment and look down to where her hand rested and that's when he saw it running the length of her inner left forearm.

A new tattoo.

A carnation. A maroon carnation. With something written in the stem.

"What's this?" He asked picking up her arm and admiring it.

"I lost the silk one you gave me during a move. I had saved the note but it disappeared. It killed me that it was gone because of the promise it represented. So, I got that I'll never lose and will never die. Do you like it?" She asks tentatively.

He examins her arm closely. Gently touching it with his fingers.

The delicate petals of the flower are outlined in black and then filled with maroon ink. The stem runs down from it, but instead of being a solid line, it's made of words.

His eyes go wide as he recognizes his own hand writing. There, forever etched into her skin, for all the world to see are his words "I will love you until the last one dies."

"Rooni" He whispers out, trying to hide the crack in his voice. "This—this is my hand writing. You—you tattooed my words on you." He stares at her in disbelief.

"I wanted to make sure a part of you was always with me no matter where I went." She tells him as the blood rushes to her cheeks and turns them scarlet red.

"I understand if you don't feel the same way anymore Rooster. I'm not going to hold you to a promise you made years ago. But I also don't want to let got of the memories we have. I've never loved anyone like I've loved you Bradley. And don't think I every will." She confesses to him.

"I've been lost these past two years, it's like I'm stuck in a labyrinth with no way out. I've always felt that way when it comes to love, except when it comes to you. And I told myself I wasn't going to come back and fall in love again so quickly, but here I am falling in love with you all over again after a few hours.

I'm sorry if this is too much. Hell I don't even know if you are single or if you moved on, I guess it was foolish of me to think I could come back and we could pick up where we left off. God. I'm sorry I should go. I'm sorry Bradley." A.J. says before stepping of her bar stool.

But before she can go anywhere, Rooster grabs her arm and pulls her to him, and kisses her.

It isn't just any kiss. It's a kiss full of power, passion, love. A love that burns so deep and red-hot and pure that anything it touches turns to the deep shade of red she shares her name with.

When they break apart she looks at him and the maroon blush that has spread over his face.

"Aurora Jane, I've waited two years, one month, three weeks, and four days to have you in my arms again. I've never stopped loving you and I don't plan to either."

Maroon swears you could have knocked her over with a feather at his confession. The spark of his words cause all rational thought to leave her body.

Without hesitating she grabbed his hand to pull him out of the bar.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked as he followed her to her car and got in.

"Home" She said without a hint of regret in her voice.

There was a comfortable, yet sexual tension in the air as Maroon navigated the San Diego streets. The radio was low, but Rooster could just make out the melody of a Taylor Swift song through the speakers.

When they pulled into her driveway, Maroon killed the engine and sat still without speaking. Neither of them dared to move or say a word.

Rooster was the first to break the silence.

"Rooni...we don't have to—"

Before he could finish she leaned in and cut him off with a hungry kiss. She pulled away breathless.

"I want this Bradley. I want you... forever and always. You're it for me. You're my person."

He didn't need any further assurance from her. He opened the passenger door of her car and jogged around to the other side to open hers. He gingerly took her hand and helped her out of the vehicle.

As they made their way up the steps, Rooster was on her. His body was so close she could feel the heat radiating off it.

Her hands trembled as she tried to unlock the door. Roostet took the keys from her and did it for them.

She lead him inside to her bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Rooster pulled Maroon into his arms and kissed her with passion, but it wasn't fast, it wasn't rushed. It was slow and loving.

They took their time undressing each other. There was no need to hurry.

And when he touched her body, it was nothing short of him worshiping her.

She panted his name as his fingers curled inside her and his lips played with her clit. Her hand tangled in his locks, afraid if she didn't, he would vanish.

She opened her eyes and peered down at him. His large hand firmly held the bouquet of flowers on her thigh, pinning her to the bed.

When he entered her, her name fell from his lips like a prayer.

She was beautiful beneath him, her faced flushed maroon, her green eyes hazy and filled with love for him. Her lips swollen and crying out for him.

That night what happened between them it wasn't sex, no it was the true definition of making love.

It was perfect. He took such good care of her. He felt her approaching the edge as he held her close.

His hand stroked over her tattoo, admiring it and the woman before him.

This simple act sent A.J. over the edge. She clung to him as he guided both of them through their finish.

When Rooster pulled out of her and rolled onto his side to hold her he noticed tears in her eyes.

"Rooni what's wrong?" He spoke softly as he brushed them away.

"I just... I just can't believe we get a second chance. I can't believe how lucky we are." Rooni whispered as she cuddled close to him.

"I know. I don't believe it either, but I promise I'm not going to waste a day of it." Rooster told her before kissing her a final time before they fell asleep.

A year later Maroon and Rooster lay in bed. The California sun peeking in through the curtains had caused her to awake a bit earlier than she had planned, but she didn't mind.

A.J. turned to the sleeping man next to her and watched the rise and fall of his chest.

Her fingers went to his rib cage and gently traced the carnation tattoo with her hand writing in it.

Rooster sighed contentedly in his sleep and wrapped an arm around her. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat. While stroking the wedding ring that now adorned his finger.

Maroon isn't sure who to thank for bringing them back together, but one thing she does know, is she will forever be grateful that they did.

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