India's Independence Day

[Guest guest]

Yes, there is juice here in Toronto. Although parts of

the city are still in the dark, I have had power back

on since late last night. But my ISP's DSL service is

out of action, so I have to go back to molasses-slow

dial up! They're even using the Indian term ("load

shedding") to warn of rotating blackouts. Today is

India's Independence day.. here's the New York Times

front page article from Aug. 15, 1947.

 

Bharat Mata Ki Jai!

 

Keval

 

 

India and Pakistan Become Nations; Clashes Continue

 

----

 

Ceremonies at New Delhi and Karachi Mark Independence

for 400,000,000 Persons

------

Nehru Acclaims Gandhi

----

But He Warns of Trials Ahead -- Death Toll in Communal

Fighting Reaches 153

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By ROBERT TRUMBULL

Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES

 

 

NEW DELHI - India achieved her long sought

independence today through the transfer of British

power to the two dominions into which that land of

400,000,000 persons has been divided, India and

Pakistan.

 

While the ceremonies marking this major historic event

were taking place communal strife continued to cast a

grim shadow over future.

 

[Communal clashes, fires and looting continued in

Landra, Punjab, with the rising death toll estimated

at 158, The Associated Press reported. In London King

George conferred an earldom on Viscount Mountbatten

for his role in solving the Indian problem and the

Government £ 35,000,000 of India's sterling balance.]

 

The Dominion of India reached the goal of freedom here

at midnight with minimum celebration and a few

speeches that stressed the gravity of the tasks ahead

of the new nation.

 

In Karachi, capital of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah

will take the oath this morning as Governor General of

the Moslem dominion which he was the primary figure in

creating against the demand for a united India.

 

Viceroy at Both Ceremonies

 

This ceremony at the Sind Provincial Government House,

which is now Mr. Jinnah's official residence, will be

the only event marking the transfer of power from

British to Indian hands in that dominion.

 

The Viceroy, Viscount Mountbatten, addressed the

Pakistan Constituent Assembly yesterday -- his last

official act as Viceroy -- and then flew back to New

Delhi to attend the formal transfer here. No special

events were scheduled in Karachi, as they were in New

Delhi, to mark the actual moments when the rule of the

King-Emperor came to an end at midnight except in so

far as both dominions continued to owe formal

allegiance to the British crown.

 

Mohandas K. Gandhi, the real hero of the New Delhi

ceremony, was absent from the capital of his country

in its triumphant hour. At the moment his great dream

came true -- though not precisely in the form he

wished -- Mr. Gandhi was in humble surroundings of his

own choosing among the Moslems of Calcutta, where he

felt he was needed more. But his name was publicly

praised by others who remained here to carry on the

work to which he has devoted his life.

 

Climax at Midnight

 

The Constituent Assembly or the Government of India

assumed its sovereign power solemnly in a special

session that began at 11 p.m. last night and reached

its climax at twelve o'clock. As the hands of the

clock in the stately assembly hall of the State

Council building met at midnight India's Cabinet

Ministers and Members of the Assembly listened in

silence to the chimes of the hour.

 

As the last note died an unidentified member blew a

conch shell of the kind used in Hindu temples to

summon the gods to witness a great event. Instantly a

great cheer arose. India at that moment had become a

free member of the British Commonwealth of Nations --

free even to leave the commonwealth if she chooses.

The members then stood and repeated after the Assembly

President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, this oath in Hindi and

then in English:

 

"At this solemn moment when the people of India,

through suffering and sacrifice, have secured freedom,

I, a member of the Constituent Assembly of India do

dedicate myself in all humility to the service of

India and her people to the end that this ancient land

attain her rightful place in the world peace and the

welfare of mankind."

 

Then in accordance with a formal motion made by

President Prasad and approved by the Assembly, the

President and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister

of the Dominion Government drove half a mile to the

VIceroy's hourse -- now to be known as Government

House -- and passed to Viscount Mountbatten two

momentous announcements.

 

Viscount Mountbatten, who ceased to be Viceroy at

midnight and thus at that moment ended the long and

sometimes illustrious line of British statesmen in

India, was told by Dr. Prasad and Pandit Nehru first,

that the Constituent Assembly of India had assumed the

power of governance of this country and second that

the same Assembly had endorsed a recommendation that

Viscount Mountbatten be Governor General of India from

today.

 

The chief justice of India will administer the oath of

office to Viscount Mountbatten at 8:30 o'clock this

morning after which the new Governor General will

swear in the Indian Cabinet, headed by Pandit Nehru.

Later in the morning Viscount Mountbatten will make

his inaugural address to the Constituent Assembly.

 

Thousands at Council Building

 

Ten thousand Indians crowded about the entrance to the

huge round Council of State building as the hour drew

near for the Constituent Assembly's historic night

meeting. Shopping centers of New Delhi and the

adjacent ancient city of Delhi were gay with strings

of the new national flag -- saffron, white and dark

green -- the colors of the All-India Congress party --

with the symbolic wheel of the great Emperor Asoka.

 

Unusual crowds were on the streets in both cities.

Public buildings and Hindu temples were outlined in

electric lights.

 

A large illuminated flag painted on glass decorated

the porch roof of Pandit Nehru's home.

 

There was, however, little of gaiety that would be

associated with such an event as this in the Occident.

It is said that exuberance is foreign to the Indian

nature though there was no lack of shouting by the

crowd at the Council of State building.

 

Pandit Nehru on entering and leaving received a

tremendous ovation and the surging crowd soon broke

through the police lines but there was no real

disorder, and after the ceremony they soon dispersed.

 

Stars Held Inauspicious

 

As a matter of fact the enthusiasm for independence

day was dampened by two factors. One was the division

of India into Moslem and Hindu nations, leaving large

and unhappy minorities in each dominion. The other --

a peculiarly Hindu thing that the West might

mistakenly underestimate in importance -- was the fact

that astrologers, on whom millions of Hindus place

great dependence in all matters discovered an

inauspicious mating of the stairs on Aug.15. In India

this last is a serious consideration that receives no

little attention in the press.

 

Tonight's program in the Assembly was bilingual; most

of the speakers, including President Rajendra Prasad

and Pandit Nehru employing Hindi first and then

English. The official language of the Assembly is

still a matter of debate in which for sentimental

reasons, English is losing out to Urdu and Hindi.

 

The ceremony opened at 11 p.m. with the singing by a

trio of sariclad women of Vande Mataram composed by

the wife of Acharya J.B. Kripalini, President of the

All India Congress party.

 

After President Prasad spoke the entire assembly arose

and observed two minutes of silence "in memory of

those who died in the struggle for freedom in India

and elsewhere."

 

Dr. Prasad paid tribute to Mr. Gandhi whom he called

"our beacon light, our guide and philosopher during

the last thirty years or more."

 

Nehru Sees Trials Ahead

 

"And now the time has come when we shall redeem our

pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very

substantially," Pandit Nehru began, "At the stroke of

the midnight hour when the world sleeps, India will

awake to life and freedom." Pandit Nehru dwelt upon

the trials that follow the assumption of such great

responsibilities as are India's in the days to follow.

He called upon his countrymen for an "ending of

poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of

opportunity."

 

Referring to Mr. Gandhi he said: "The ambition of the

greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every

tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but so

long as there are tears and suffering, so long our

work will not be over."

 

He reminded India of the indivisibility of "one world"

and demanded an end to "petty and destructive

criticism ... ill-will, or the blaming of others."

 

Pandit Nehru then moved the resolution for the solemn

oath which all members took standing at midnight. He

was seconded by a Moslem, Chaudry Khaliquzzaman,

leader of the Moslem League party in the Constituent

Assembly who promised the fealty for India's Moslems

to their state.

 

Sir S. Radhakrishnan, noted Indian philosopher , paid

tribute to the British and asked Indians to look

within themselves for faults that in the past had made

the Indians "ready victims" for the imperialists.

 

"From midnight on," he said, "we cannot crowd blame on

the British." He called for an end to "nepotism and

corruption, which have been a blot on the great name

of the country."