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Sauda in the representative of the trade union—the Red Flag Union. He followed by his colleagues Muzaffar and Stanley Jackson exhorts the workers to go on strike and stand up for their rights. In fact, he is not an instigator of strikes and disorder, rather he represents anti-capitalistic and anti-tyrannical forces in Indian political and social life of the thirties. Sauda presents the charter of demands which suggest the workers of overcoming the prevailing evils. Sauda represents the novelist himself, who along with his two companions, Lala Onkar Nath and Jackson want a ‘collective approach’ to improve the conditions of the workers. They are of the opinion that union is strength and only by the collective effort can they overcome the mighty hand of capitalism.
Sauda has the unique quality of public speaking. He talks fluently and has the gift of moving the workers by his eloquence. Saros Cowasjee says, “The reader, along with a few of the workers, is swayed by the eloquence of the communist leader Sauda, but his solution that all the workers should go on strike is riddled with irony; for the workers are in debt, they are protesting against the partial shut-down of the mills which means additional debts, and they are in no condition to go on strike. Sauda knows this, and he and his friends depart with the words, ‘Think over what we have said,’ when all that the workers can think about is where the next meal will come from.”
Like other revolutionary heroes of Anand, Sauda has no regard for the poor coolies whom he claims to lead. He draws up a charter for the aggrieved parties without even consulting them. He urges the workers to fight for the safeguards against their right and their dignity in an abusive language; ‘Stand up then, stand up for your rights, you roofless wretches, stand up for justice. Stand up, you frightened fools. Stand up and fight. Stand up and be the men that you were meant to be and don’t crawl back to the factories like the worms that you are.’
Anand’s leaders are, by and large from the privileged class and their attitude to the oppressed class is much encouraging and they want to uplift their position high in the society Sauda is a very rich man. He has never seen the wily demand of poverty He, therefore, rushed to fight for the cause of the oppressed. Munoo stared hard at Sauda and pricked up his ears to listen to every word of Sauda. He says ‘There are only two kinds of people in the world: the rich and the poor, and between the two there is no connections’. He says to the coolies to stand up and recite with him the charter of their demands and the crowd recites after him. He has electrified the ideas of socialism among the people.
Sauda is a highly intellectual and sensible leader and he faces the situation very prudently when there is a rumour of kidnapping the Hindu children by the Mohammedans and vice versa, he suddenly shouted that “not home! no home! It is only a base rumour spread by our enemies. Don’t go to work tomorrow. The trade union will pay you an allowance. And meet here tomorrow for a procession.” when the matter became intense, he shouted ‘Go away go away; you fools! We will look into the matter.’ By and large ideas of Sauda are far-reaching and feasible in bringing out the radical change in the society—to bridge the gulf between the rich and the poor.