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Know How we got the INDEPENDENCE by clicking on the Following Link........!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_independence_movement

 

JEY HIND

Thanks & regards,Vishnu Charan.T

vishnucharant (AT) infotechsw (DOT) com

Engg-Embedded Systems,INFOTECH ENTERPRISES LMTD. ph: 98-856-856-60

**

The Indian independence movement was a series of steps taken in the Indian

subcontinent for independence from British colonial rule, beginning with the

Rebellion of 1857. The term 'Indian independence movement' is fairly diffuse,

since it involves several different movements with similar objectives. The

mainstream movement was led by the Indian National Congress, which followed

non-violent agitation and civil disobedience under Mahatma Gandhi, among

others. Other leaders, notably Subhash Chandra Bose, also adopted a military

approach to the movement. The movement culminated in the independence of the

subcontinent from the

roman" size="3">British Empire and the formation of India and Pakistan in August 1947.

The independence movement also served as a major catalyst for similar movements

in other parts of the world, leading to the eventual disintegration and

dismantling of the British Empire and its replacement with the Commonwealth of

Nations.

European rule

 

Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive

Main articles: European colonies in India, British East India Company, Company rule in India

European traders came to Indian shores with the arrival of Portuguese explorer

Vasco da Gama in 1498 at the port of Calicut, Kerala in search of the lucrative

spice trade. After 1754's Battle of Plassey, during which the British army under

Robert Clive defeated the Nawab of Bengal, the British East India Company

established itself. This is widely seen as the beginning of the British Raj in

India. The Company gained administrative rights over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa

in 1765 after the Battle of Buxar.

The British parliament enacted a series of laws to handle the administration of

the newly conquered provinces, including the Regulating Act of 1773, the India

Act of 1784, and the Charter Act of 1813; all to enhance the British

government's rule. In 1835 the English language was introduced as the medium of

instruction. Western-educated Hindu elites sought to rid Hinduism of its much

criticized social practices: the caste system, child marriage, and sati.

Literary and debating societies were initiated in Bombay and Madras, becoming

forums for open discourse. Educational attainments and skillful use of the

press by these early reformers enhanced the possibility of effecting broad

reforms without compromising societal values or religious practices.

Even while these movements towards modernity occurred in Indian society, the

British rule in India, immediately before 1857, was taking a turn for the

worse. The memoirs of Henry Ouvry of the 9th Lancers records many "a good

thrashing" to careless servants. A spice merchant, Frank Brown, wrote to his

nephew saying that stories of maltreatment of servants were not exaggerated and

that he knew people who kept an orderly "purposely to thrash" the others. As the

English became political masters of the continent they threw away restraints on

their behaviour, giving parties in mosques, dancing to the music of regimental

bands on the terrace of the Taj Mahal

new roman" size="3">, using whips to force their way through crowded bazaars (as

recounted by General Henry Blake), and even mistreating the sepoys. In the years

after the annexation of Punjab in 1849 there had been several mutinies among the

sepoys which were put down by force.

Indian uprising of 1857

 

Indian mutiny

Indian rebellion of 1857

The Indian Mutiny (also Sepoy Mutiny) as known to the British, or The First War

Of Indian Independence as known to the Indians was a period of uprising in

northern and central India against British rule in 1857-1858. It is considered

to be the first united rebellion

against colonial rule in India.

Causes

The rebellion was the outcome of decades of ethnic and cultural differences

between Indian soldiers and their British officers. The specific reason that

triggered the rebellion was the use of cow and pig fat in .557 calibre Pattern

1853 Enfield (P/53) rifle cartridges. Since soldiers had to break the

cartridges with their teeth before they could load them into their rifles, this

was offensive to Hindu and Muslim soldiers, who considered tasting beef and pork

to be against their respective religious tenets. In February 1857, sepoys

(Indian soldiers in the British army) refused to use their new cartridges. The

British claimed to have replaced the cartridges with new ones and tried to make

sepoys make their own grease from beeswax and vegetable oils, but the rumor

persisted.

Mangal Pandey and the march to Delhi

In March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a soldier of the 34th Native Infantry, attacked

his British sergeant and wounded an adjutant. General Hearsay, who said Pandey

was in some kind of "religious frenzy," ordered a jemadar to arrest him but the

jemadar refused. Mangal Pandey was hanged on 7 April along with the jemadar. The

whole regiment was dismissed as a collective punishment. Other sepoys felt this

was too harsh.

On May 10th, when the 11th and 20th cavalry assembled, they broke rank and

turned on their commanding officers. They then liberated the 3rd Regiment, and

on 11 May, the sepoys reached Delhi. They were joined by other Indians from the

local bazaar. They attacked and captured the Red Fort, which was the residence

of Bahadur Shah Zafar,

the last emperor of the Mughal dynasty. The sepoys demanded that he reclaim his

throne. He was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed to the demands and

became the leader of the rebellion.

About the same time in Jhansi, the army rebelled and killed the British army

officers. In 1858, when the British army marched towards Jhansi, Rani Lakshmi

Bai, the queen of Jhansi, assembled an army of 14,000 volunteers to fight the

invaders. The war lasted 2 weeks but eventually the British won. The queen

escaped on horseback to the fortress of Kalpi. Here she organized a few other

kingdoms to rebel against the British. The rebel forces captured Gwalior from

the British, who placed a prize of Rs. 20,000 on the capture of Rani

Lakshmibai.

The British response

 

Secundra Bagh after the 93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab regiment fought the rebels, Nov 1857

The British were slow to respond at first but eventually two columns left Meerut

and Simla. At the same time, the British moved regiments from the Crimean War

and diverted European regiments headed for China to India.

After a march lasting two months, the British fought the main army of the rebels

near Delhi in Badl-ke-Serai and drove them back to Delhi before laying a siege

on the city. The siege of Dehli lasted roughly from 1 July to 31 August. After

a week of street fighting, the British retook the city. The last significant

battle was fought in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. It is during this battle that

Rani Lakshmi Bai lost her life. Sporadic fighting continued until 1859 but most

of the rebels were subdued.

Aftermath

The war of 1857 was a major turning point in the history of modern India. The

British abolished the British East India Company and replaced it with direct

rule under the British crown. A Viceroy was appointed to represent the Crown.

In proclaiming the new direct-rule policy to "the Princes, Chiefs, and Peoples

of India," Queen Victoria promised equal treatment under British law, but

Indian mistrust of British rule had become a legacy of the 1857

rebellion.

The British embarked on a program of reform, trying to integrate Indian higher

castes and rulers into the government. They stopped land grabs, decreed

religious tolerance and admitted Indians into civil service, albeit mainly as

subordinates. They also increased the number of British soldiers in relation to

native ones and allowed only British soldiers to handle artillery.

Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, Burma where he died in 1862, finally

bringing the Mughal dynasty to an end. In 1877, Queen Victoria took the title

of Empress of India.

Congress and the Muslim League

Indian National Congress, Muslim League

The decades following the Sepoy Rebellion were a period of growing political

awareness, manifestation of Indian public opinion, and emergence of Indian

leadership at national and provincial levels. Inspired by a suggestion made by

A.O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, seventy-three Indian delegates met

in Bombay in 1885 and founded the Indian National Congress. They were mostly

members of the upwardly mobile and successful western-educated

provincial elites, engaged in professions such as law, teaching, and journalism.

They had acquired political experience from regional competition in the

professions and by securing nomination to various positions in legislative

councils, universities, and special commissions.

At its inception, the Congress had no well-defined ideology and commanded few of

the resources essential to a political organization. It functioned more as a

debating society that met annually to express its loyalty to the British Raj

and passed numerous resolutions on less controversial issues such as civil

rights or opportunities in government, especially the civil service. These

resolutions were submitted to the Viceroy's government and occasionally to the

British Parliament, but the Congress's early gains were meager. Despite its

claim to represent all India, the Congress voiced the interests of urban

elites; the number of participants from other economic backgrounds remained

negligible.

By 1900, although the Congress had emerged as an all-India political

organization, its achievement was undermined by its singular failure to attract

Muslims, who felt that their representation in government service was

inadequate. Attacks by Hindu reformers against religious conversion, cow

slaughter, and the preservation of Urdu in Arabic

roman" size="3"> script deepened their concerns of minority status and denial of

rights if the Congress alone were to represent the people of India. Sir Syed

Ahmed Khan launched a movement for Muslim regeneration that culminated in the

founding in 1875 of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, Uttar

Pradesh (renamed Aligarh Muslim University in

1921). Its objective was to educate wealthy students by emphasizing the

compatibility of Islam with modern western knowledge. The diversity among

India's Muslims, however, made it impossible to bring about uniform cultural

and intellectual regeneration.

Partition of Bengal

Partition of Bengal

In 1905, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy and Governor-General (1899-1905), ordered the

partition of the province of Bengal for improvements in administrative

efficiency in that huge and populous region, where the Bengali Hindu

intelligentsia exerted considerable influence on local and national politics.

The partition created two provinces: Eastern Bengal & Assam, with its capital

at Dhaka, and West Bengal, with its capital at Calcutta (which also served as

the capital of British India). An ill-conceived and hastily implemented action,

the partition outraged Bengalis. Not only had the government failed to consult

Indian public opinion, but the action appeared to reflect the British resolve

to "divide and rule." Widespread agitation ensued in the

streets and in the press, and the Congress advocated boycotting British products

under the banner of swadeshi. During this period nationalist poet Rabindranath

Tagore penned and composed a song (roughly translated into English as "The soil

of Bengal, the water of Bengal be hallowed ... ") and himself led people to the

streets singing the song and tying Rakhi on each other's wrists. The people did

not cook any food (Arandhan) on that particular day.

The Congress-led boycott of British goods was so successful that it unleashed

anti-British forces to an extent unknown since the Sepoy Rebellion. A cycle of

violence and repression ensued in some parts of the country. The British tried

to mitigate the situation by announcing a series of constitutional reforms in

1909 and by appointing a few moderates to the imperial and provincial councils.

A Muslim deputation met with the Viceroy, Lord Minto (1905-10), seeking

concessions from the impending constitutional reforms, including special

considerations in government

service and electorates. The All-India Muslim League was founded the same year

to promote loyalty to the British and to advance Muslim political rights, which

the British recognized by increasing the number of elective offices reserved for

Muslims in the India Councils Act of 1909. The Muslim League insisted on its

separateness from the Hindu-dominated Congress, as the voice of a "nation

within a nation."

In what the British saw as an additional goodwill gesture, in 1911 King-Emperor

George V visited India for a durbar (a traditional court held for subjects to

express fealty to their ruler), during which he announced the reversal of the

partition of Bengal and the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to a newly

planned city to be built immediately south of Delhi, which became New Delhi.

World War I

World War I began with an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill

towards Britain, contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt. India

contributed generously to the British war effort, by providing men and

resources. About 1.3 million Indian soldiers and laborers served in Europe,

Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian government and the princes

sent

large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. But high casualty rates, soaring

inflation compounded by heavy taxation, a widespread influenza epidemic, and

the disruption of trade during the war escalated human suffering in India. The

prewar nationalist movement revived, as moderate and extremist groups within

the Congress submerged their differences in order to stand as a unified front.

In 1916, the Congress succeeded in forging the Lucknow Pact, a temporary

alliance with the Muslim League over the issues of devolution of

political power and the future of Islam in the region.

The British themselves adopted a "carrot and stick" approach in recognition of

India's support during the war and in response to renewed nationalist demands.

In August 1917, Edwin Montagu, the secretary of state for India, made the

historic announcement in Parliament that the British policy for India was

"increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and

the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the

progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part

of the British Empire." The means of achieving the proposed measure were later

enshrined in the

Government of India Act of 1919, which introduced the principle of a dual mode

of administration, or diarchy, in which both elected Indian legislators and

appointed British officials shared power. The act also expanded the central and

provincial legislatures and widened the franchise considerably. Diarchy set in

motion certain real changes at the provincial level: a number of

non-controversial or "transferred" portfolios, such as agriculture, local

government, health, education, and public works, were handed over to Indians,

while more sensitive matters such as finance, taxation, and maintaining law and

order were retained by the provincial British administrators.

The Rowlatt Act and its aftermath

 

The Amritsar Massacre

The positive impact of reform was seriously undermined in 1919 by the Rowlatt

Act, named after the recommendations made the previous year to the Imperial

Legislative Council by the Rowlatt Commission, which had been appointed to

investigate "seditious conspiracy." The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black

Act, vested the Viceroy's government with extraordinary powers to quell

sedition by silencing the press, detaining political activists without trial,

and arresting any suspected individuals without a warrant. In protest, a

nationwide cessation of work (hartal) was called, marking the beginning of

widespread, although not nationwide,

popular discontent.

The agitation unleashed by the acts culminated on 13 April 1919, in the Amritsar

Massacre in Amritsar, Punjab. The British military commander, Brigadier-General

Reginald Dyer, ordered his soldiers to fire at point-blank range into an

unarmed and unsuspecting crowd of some 10,000 persons. They had assembled at

Jallianwala Bagh, a walled garden, to celebrate Baisakhi, a Sikh festival,

without prior knowledge of the imposition of martial law. A total of 1,650

rounds were fired, killing 379 persons and wounding 1,137 in the episode, which

dispelled wartime hopes and goodwill in a frenzy of postwar reaction.

Gandhi's return to India

 

Mohandas Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

India's option for an entirely original path to obtaining swaraj (self-rule,

sometimes translated as Home Rule or Independence) was due largely to Mohandas

Gandhi, commonly known as "Mahatma" (or Great Soul.) A native of Gujarat who

had been educated in Britain, he was an obscure and unsuccessful provincial

lawyer. Gandhi had accepted an invitation in 1893 to represent indentured

Indian laborers in South Africa,

where he stayed on for more than twenty years, lobbying against racial

discrimination. He returned to India in 1915, virtually a stranger to public

life but fired with a religious vision of a new India.

Gandhi's ideas and strategies of nonviolent civil disobedience appeared

impractical to many Indians. In Gandhi's own words, "civil disobedience is

civil breach of unmoral statutory enactments," but as he viewed it, it had to

be carried out nonviolently by withdrawing cooperation with the corrupt state.

Observers realized Gandhi's political potential when he used satyagraha during

the anti-Rowlatt Act protests in Punjab. In 1920, under Gandhi's leadership,

the Congress was

reorganized and given a new constitution, whose goal was swaraj (independence).

Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee, and a

hierarchy of committees was established and made responsible for discipline and

control over a hitherto amorphous and diffuse movement. The party was

transformed from an elite organization to one of mass national appeal.

During his first nationwide satyagraha, Gandhi urged the people to boycott

British educational institutions, law courts, and products; to resign from

government employment; to refuse to pay taxes; and to forsake British titles

and honors. Although this came too late to influence the framing of the new

Government of India Act of 1919, the magnitude of disorder resulting from the

movement was unparalleled and presented a new challenge to foreign rule. Gandhi

was forced to call off the campaign in 1922 because of atrocities committed

against police forces. He was imprisoned in 1922 for six years, but served only

two. On his release from prison, he set up the

Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on the banks of river Sabarmati, established the

newspaper Young India, and inaugurated a series of reforms aimed at the

socially disadvantaged within Hindu society - the rural poor, and the

untouchables.

Emerging leaders within the Congress --Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel,

Subhash Chandra Bose, and others-- accepted Gandhi's leadership in articulating

nationalist aspirations but disagreed on strategies for wresting more

concessions from the British. The Indian political spectrum was further

broadened in the mid-1920s by the emergence of both moderate and militant

parties, such as the Swaraj Party. Regional political organizations also

continued to represent the interests of non-Brahmans in Madras, Mahars in

Maharashtra, and Sikhs in Punjab.

Dandi March

Salt Satyagraha

Following the rejection of the recommendations of the Simon Commission by the

Indians, an all-party conference was held at Bombay in May 1928. The conference

appointed a drafting committee under Motilal Nehru to draw up a constitution for

India. The Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress asked the British

government to accord dominion status to India by December 1929, or a

countrywide civil disobedience movement would be launched. The British

government declared in May 1929 that India would get dominion status within the

empire very soon. However, the Congress, at its historic Lahore session in

December 1929, under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, adopted a resolution

to gain complete independence from the British. It authorised the Working

Committee to launch a civil disobedience movement throughout the country. It

was decided that 26 January 1930 should be observed all over India as the Purna

Swaraj (complete independence) Day.

Gandhi emerged from his long seclusion by undertaking his most famous campaign,

a march of about 400 kilometers from his commune in Ahmedabad to Dandi, on the

coast of Gujarat between 12 March and 6 April 1930. The march is usually known

as the Dandi March or the Salt Satyagraha. At Dandi, in protest against British

taxes on salt, he and thousands of followers broke the law by making their own

salt from sea water. The act was largely symbolic, meant to show Indian

defiance to British legislation.

Civil disobedience movement

In April 1930 there were violent police-crowd clashes in Calcutta. Approximately

90,000 people were imprisoned in the course of the Civil disobedience movement

(1930-31). While Gandhi was in jail, the first Round Table Conference was held

in London in November 1930, without representation from the Indian National

Congress. The ban upon the Congress was removed because of economic hardships

caused due to the satyagraha. Gandhi, along with other members of the Congress

Working Committee, were released from prison in January 1931.

In March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed, and the government agreed to

set all political prisoners free. In return, Gandhi agreed to discontinue the

civil disobedience movement and participate as the sole representative of the

Congress in the second Round Table Conference, which was held in London in

September 1931. However, the conference ended in failure in December 1931.

Gandhi came back to India and decided to resume the civil disobedience movement

in January 1932.

For the next few years, the Congress and the government were locked in conflict

and negotiations until what became the Government of India Act of 1935 could be

hammered out. By then, the rift between the Congress and the Muslim League had

become unbridgeable as each pointed the finger at the other acrimoniously. The

Muslim League disputed the claim of the Congress to represent all people of

India, while the Congress disputed the Muslim League's claim to voice the

aspirations of all Muslims.

Revolutionary activities

Bhagat Singh

 

Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh

As voices inside and outside the Congress became more strident, the British

appointed a commission in 1927, under Sir John Simon, to recommend further

measures in the constitutional devolution of power. The British failure to

appoint an Indian member to the commission outraged the Congress and others,

and, as a result, they boycotted it throughout India, carrying placards

inscribed "Simon, Go Back."

In Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya protested to the

commission in open about their displeasure. Thousands joined in the silent

demonstration. Police troops charged the demonstration, and Lala Lajpatrai was

hit with a lathi (bamboo stick) on the head several times by an officer Scott.

He succumbed to the injuries.

Bhagat Singh, a young marxist from Punjab, vowed to take revenge and with the

help of Chandrashekhar Azad, Rajguru and Sukhadev, plotted to kill Scott.

Unfortunately, he killed Mr. Sanders, a junior officer, in a case of mistaken

identity. This issue is not clear according to a folklore they couldn't find

Scott and killed Sanders instead.

The British, under the Defense of India Act, gave more power to the police to

arrest persons to stop processions with suspicious movements and actions. The

act brought in the council was defeated by one vote. Even then it was to be

passed in the form of an ordinance in the "interest of the public." Bhagat

Singh volunteered to throw a bomb in the central assembly where the act was to

be passed. It was a carefully laid out plot, not to cause death or injury, but

to draw the attention of the government. It was agreed that Bhagat Singh and

Batukeshwar Dutt would court arrest after throwing the bomb.

On 8 April 1929, at Delhi Central Assembly, Singh and Dutt threw handouts,

exploded a bomb in the corridor, and courted arrest after shouting the slogan

"Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long Live, Revolution!). Bhagat Singh thought the court

would be an ideal place to get publicity for the cause of freedom, and did not

disown the crime. He was found guilty, and was hanged on 23 March 1931.

Revolutionary activities in Bengal

 

Surya Sen postage stamp

Surya Sen

Surya Sen, a revolutionary from the Chittagong district of Bengal (now in

Bangladesh), was the president of Indian National Congress in the district. By

1923, he had established revolutionary cells under the Jugantor (New Age)

party. Aided by Purnendu Dastidar, Kalpana Dutt and Pritilata Waddedar, Surya

Sen organized guerrilla raids on British targets. His group successfully raided

offices of Assam-Bengal railways in Chittagong. The Chittagong Armoury Raid took

place on 18 April 1930, when the revolutionaries under the

leadership of Surya Sen attacked the British Armory in Chittagong. However, the

attack was thwarted by the British soldiers and police.

On 23 September 1932, Surya Sen masterminded an successful attack on the

European Club in Chittagong, which bore the notorious sign Dogs and Indians not

allowed. However, Pritilata Waddedar, the leader of the group leading the attack

was surrounded and committed suicide to avoid capture. After spending years in

hiding, Surya Sen was captured on 17 February 1933. He was later tried and

sentenced to death. Members of Jugantor party made a futile attempt to rescue

him. Surya Sen was hanged on 8 January 1934 in Chittagong Jail.

Elections and the Lahore resolution

The 1935 act, the voluminous and final constitutional effort at governing

British India, articulated three major goals: establishing a loose federal

structure, achieving provincial autonomy, and safeguarding minority interests

through separate electorates. The federal provisions, intended to unite

princely states and British India at the center, were not implemented because

of ambiguities in safeguarding the existing privileges of princes. In February

1937, however, provincial

autonomy became a reality when elections were held; the Congress emerged as the

dominant party with a clear majority in five provinces and held an upper hand

in two, while the Muslim League performed poorly.

In 1939, the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared India's entrance into World War II

without consulting provincial governments. In protest, the Congress asked all of

its elected representatives to resign from the government. Jinnah, the president

of the Muslim League, persuaded participants at the annual Muslim League session

at Lahore in 1940 to adopt what later came to be known as the Lahore Resolution,

demanding the division of India into two separate sovereign states, one Muslim,

the other Hindu; sometimes refered as Two Nation Theory. Although the idea of

Pakistan had been introduced as early as 1930, very few had responded to it.

However, the volatile political climate and hostilities between the Hindus and

Muslims transformed the idea of Pakistan into a stronger demand.

World War II

Subhash Chandra Bose

 

Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose, Indian National Army

Though the Congress was initially reluctant to participate in World War II, it

was eventually persuaded to do by the British government with the promise of

full independance after the end of the war. During the war the Indian armed

forces were the largest all-volunteer forces fighting alongside the allied

powers. This was strongly opposed by Subhash Chandra Bose, who had been elected

president of the Congress twice, in 1937 and 1939. After lobbying against

participation in the war, he resigned from Congress in 1939 and started a new

party, the All India Forward Bloc. He was placed under house arrest, but

escaped in 1941. He surfaced in Germany, and enlisted German and Japanese help

to fight the British in India.

In 1943, he travelled to Japan from Germany on board German and Japanese

submarines. In Japan, he helped organize the Indian National Army (INA) and set

up a government-in-exile. During the war, the Andaman and Nicobar islands came

under INA control, and Bose renamed them

Shahid (Martyr) and Swaraj (Independence). The INA engaged British troops in

northeastern India, hoping to liberate Indian territories under colonial rule.

Its attempts ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. It is agreed by many

that Subhash Chandra Bose was killed in an air crash in August 1945. But his

death is still controversial.

Quit India

In an effort to bring the British to the negotiating table, Gandhi launched the

Quit India movement in August 1942. He issued the call "to do or die" from a

large meeting ground in Bombay (since re-named August Kranti.) However, almost

the entire Congress leadership were arrested within a span of 24 hours after

Gandhi's speech. Large scale violence resulted in the aftermath of the Quit

India movement.

Independence

World War II not only changed the map of the world and reduced Britain to a

second rate power, it also helped mature British public opinion on India. The

Labour Party's election victory in 1945 helped reassess the merits of the

traditional policies. While the British was

negotiating to transfer power to India, the Muslim League renewed its demand for

the formation of Pakistan. Jinnah was opposed to sharing power with the Indian

National Congress, he declared 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day, which

brought communal rioting in many places in the north. On 3 June 1947,

Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the Viceroy (1947) and Governor-General (1947-48),

announced plans for partition of the British Indian Empire into secular India,

and Muslim Pakistan, which itself was divided into east and west wings on

either side of India.

At midnight, on August 15, 1947, amidst ecstatic shouting of "Jai Hind" (Long

Live India), India became an independent nation, with its first prime minister

Jawaharlal Nehru delivering his famous speech on India's tryst with destiny.

Gandhi did not support the idea of partition of India, so he did not

participate in the celebration of Indian Independence. Concurrently, the Muslim

northwest and northeast of British India were separated into the nation of

Pakistan. Violent clashes between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs

followed this partition. The area of Kashmir in the far north of the

subcontinent quickly became a source of controversy that erupted into the First

Indo-Pakistani War which lasted from 1947 to 1949.

References

Library of Congress: India - A country study

The Indian Mutiny 1857-1858 by G W Forest. ISBN 8175361964

Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru. ISBN 0195623592

An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth by Mohandas Gandhi. ISBN 0807059099

Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre. ISBN 0006388515

Sofri, Gianni. 1995. Gandhi and India: A Century in Focus. English edition

translated from the Italian by Janet Sethre Paxia. The Windrush Press,

Gloucestershire. 1999. ISBN 1-900624-12-5

Emergence of Indian Nationalism: Competition and Collaboration in the Later

Nineteenth Century (1968) by Anil Seal ISBN 0521062748

External Links

Independence movement

Mahatma Gandhi

Subhash Chandra Bose

Bhagat Singh Incorporates text from the Library of Congress Country Studies (Public Domain).

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_independence_movement"

 

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