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In 1940, JP was arrested when trying to organise a strike at TISCO in Jamshedpur. The British government was especially furious as a strike would hamper the production of munitions and other vital war materials. When charged with this, JP was unmoved. In a famous courtroom speech, he declaimed, %u201cI plead guilty to these charges. As far as the charge of endangering the defence of British India, I think the irony of it cannot be lost upon us. A slave has no obligation to defend his slavery. His only obligation is to destroy his bondage. I hope we shall know how to defend ourselves when we have achieved our freedom%u201d. This electrified the nation, and catapulted JP to the forefront of the young leaders of that time. PVG Raju, who was in the habit of following the news all his life, would have undoubtedly come across this.Meanwhile, Gandhi's %u2018Do or Die%u2019 call in 1942 had roused the masses (the catchy phrase was itself coined by Yusuf Meheralli) and the Socialists had been at the forefront of the struggle. JP, who was sentenced and sent to Hazaribagh Jail, and other socialists such as Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyut Patwardhan, Yusuf Meharalli, Aruna Asaf Ali, and Poornima Banerjee would soon become household names.To PVG Raju who was in his late teens when this was happening %u2013 this gallant action would have meant a lot. Then in 1943, JP and his friends made a makeshift ladder out of knotted dhotis and staged a spectacular jailbreak, which captured the nation's imagination. There was also the childhood trauma inflicted by the British trying to separate him from his beloved father %u2013 something which would put him firmly against bullying, authoritarianism, and unchecked power in any manifestation. 108