Congress Radio

Prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement like Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyutrao Patwardhan, and Purushottam Trikamdas were also associated with Congress Radio.

During the Second World War, all amateur radio licenses were suspended throughout the British Empire, with operators having to surrender their broadcasting equipment.

Gandhi and a few other leaders from the movement were immediately arrested, resulting in spontaneous violence across the country, demanding his release and the withdrawal of the British empire.

[4] It was at this time that student activist Usha Mehta and Congress leader Vithalbhai Jhaveri got together and decided to seek out amateur radio operators Nariman Abarbad Printer and 'Bob' Tanna to set up an underground radio broadcasting station that would broadcast messages related to the Indian independence movement and recorded speeches from some of the prominent leaders of the movement.

[3] Some of the other founding members of the station included Ram Manohar Lohia, who would later go on to become a socialist leader in independent India; Chandrakant Jhaveri; and Babubai Khakhar.

Radio Free India), where he beamed messages of the Indian independence movement briefly before he was arrested by the authorities and his equipment seized.

[5] The station continued to broadcast recorded messages from prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement (including Mahatma Gandhi) from undisclosed locations.

[5] English news on the station was read by Ram Manohar Lohia, Coomi Dastur, Achyut Patwardhan, Moinuddin Harris, and Usha Mehta.

Speaking about the role that the station played in covering the political movement, Mehta had said, "When the press is gagged and all news banned, our transmitter certainly helps a good deal in furnishing the public with the facts of the happenings and in spreading the message of rebellion in the remotest corners of the country.

The station also carried messages to workers and peasants, Indian soldiers, and students, directing their participation in the Quit India Movement.

[5] Mehta was subjected to a secret trial in a special court, in what was called the Radio Conspiracy case, and was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment at the Yerawada prison in Pune on 13 May 1943.