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Indian Independence Day
Post date: 2007-08-15
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge...At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance"
-- Jawaharlal Nehru Claiming Independence from British at Midnight of August 14, 1947
A century of accumulated grievances erupted in the Indian mutiny of sepoys in the British army, in 1857. This was the signal for a spontaneous conflagration, in which the princely rulers, landed aristocracy and peasantry rallied against the British around the person of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah. The uprising, however, was eventually brutally supressed. By the end of 1859, the "emperor" had been deported to Burma where he died a lonely death, bringing to a formal end the era of Mughal rule in India.
Main Landmarks in the Indian Freedom Struggle:
Contrary to the view that nationalist sentiments were awoken by the Indian National Congress only when M.K. Gandhi took over it's leadership, nationalist feelings in India had been present as early as 1857, and expressions of Indian nationalism manifested themselves in various forms all through the course of British rule.
The Boycott of Foreign Goods:
An early form of economic nationalism was seen in Shikarpur (Sindh), when the Pritam Dharma Sabha, set up in 1888, initiated various social reforms, but also inspired the setting up of swadeshi sugar, soap, and cloth mills. The literature produced by the Sabha was considered so revolutionary that, in 1909, three of it's members, Seth Chetumal, Virumal Begraj and Govind Sharma were all sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment by the British administration.
The Emergence of the Ghadar Party:
The first Indian political organization to call for complete independence from British rule was the Ghadar (or Gadar) Party, organized in 1913 by Indian immigrants in California. The Ghadar movement was remarkable for many reasons. Although Sikhs from Punjab made up the majority of it's founding members, the movement was completely devoid of any trace of regional or religious chauvinism. It's platform was uncompromisingly secular and called for a total rejection of any form of caste discrimination. And unlike the Congress, it's membership was primarily drawn from the working class and poor peasantry. Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus of all castes (including Dalits) were welcomed in the movement without bias or discrimination.
The Conservatism of the Congress:
In many respects, the analysis of Indian conditions by the Ghadar Party and of the Indian Communists was very similiar, and in spite of the repression they faced, their message continued to draw followers. But the Ghadarites were far more critical of the Congress and were a good deal more skeptical of the Congress leadership than were the Communists who thought that the pressure of the mass movements would force the Congress to act more decisively against the British. But they had perhaps underestimated the depth of conservatism that held back the Congress leadership. In 1921, Republican Muslim leader Hasrat Mohani wanted to move a resolution defining Swaraj as complete independence, free from all foreign control. Much to the relief of the British, Gandhi led the opposition against the resolution and secured it's rejection. In 1921, there was seething anger against the high taxes imposed by the British. Delegations from numerous districts approached Gandhi to lead a No-Tax campaign. In Guntur, the no-tax campaign began without the permission of the national leadership, but Gandhi responded by calling for all taxes to be paid by the due date. However, he agreed to lead a No-Tax campaign in the single district of Bardoli, but even that was withdrawn when he heard news of a peasant rebellion in Chauri Chaura village in UP.
Emergence of the armed revolutionaries:
Virtually all the armed revolutionaries had participated enthusiastically in the non-violent non-cooperation movement earlier. But when the non-cooperation movement was suddenly suspended by Gandhi, the more radically minded of the young leaders looked to other leaders for inspiration. In 1904, V.D. Savarkar had organized Abhinav Bharat as a secret society of revolutionaries. Anushilan Samiti and Yugantar were two other such societies. Ideas of armed resistance to British rule were propogated and international centres were established with Madame Cama and Ajit Singh representing the struggle in Europe, and Shyamji Krishnaverma and others organizing chapters in London.
Trade Union Resistance:
In addition, a wave of strikes confronted the British authorities once again. Although the communists were officially outlawed, communist and socialist sympathizers remained active in the trade union movement. The industrial workers of Bombay offered the most heroic resistance, refusing to be daunted by lathi charges, beatings and indiscriminate firings. In response to such growing opposition, the British resorted to massive armed retaliation even calling in bombers from it's Royal Air Force to bomb striking or protesting workers.
Building up to the Quit India movement:
Subhas Chandra Bose attempted to lead a radical revival of the Congress and tried to steer it in a more radical and socialist direction. In 1939, he defeated Gandhi's nominee Pattabhi Sitaramayya to be re-elected Congress president. But he was ill-prepared to deal with a campaign of non-cooperation launched against him by Gandhi, and resigned a few months later to launch an alternative and more radical platform that eventually became the Forward Block in independent India.
By 1942, the Congress too was compelled to act boldly, and issued the Quit India call in August. The Quit India Movement of 1942 swept across the length and breadth of the country like a mighty tidal wave bringing in its fold people from all walks of life, arousing in them tremendous patriotic fervour and an irresistible urge to act. Volunteers from groups like the Hindu Mahasabha who had all this while remained aloof from the mass struggle joined in as well. Individual industrialists were emboldened too and encouraged strike actions against the British.
The Revolutionary Peasantry, Adivasis and Dalits:
The final phase of the Indian freedom struggle also saw peasant struggles rising to new heights of militancy. Throughout the country, Kisan Sabhas had been active in the 1930s. After the Quit-India call, peasants of all classes joined in the freedom struggle in Eastern UP, Bihar, Midnapur in Bengal, Satara in Mahrashtra, and also in Andhra, Gujarat and Kerala. Even some of the Zamindars (landlords) joined in. The Raja of Darbhanga was one of the most supportive of the resisting peasants. Adivasis and landless peasants were particularly heroic in their struggles. Crushed by the inhumane demands of the Zamindari system, they had to fight a dual war - one against the British and the other against the Indian landlords who collaborated with British rule. Amongst the most significant of these struggles were those of Tebhaga, Punnapra Vayalar, the Worli adivasis and above all the historic Telangana peasants armed struggle which was directed against the Nizam of Hyderabad who had collaborated with the British.
Final step towards freedom:
After the Second World War, the momentum created by the Quit India movement led to growing militant actions that weakened British authority in an irreparable way. The World War had compelled the British into setting up Indian Navy units that recruited officers from various parts of India. The Indian naval men were mistreated and discriminated against, leading to a strike call in Februrary 1946. It quickly drew support from the Indian crews of all the 20 vessels anchored in Bombay port. 20,000 naval ratings went on strike. 'Victory to India', 'Long live the Revolution', and 'Hindus and Muslims Unite' were some of their slogans. The struggle soon spread to barracks in Thane and Delhi, and also to ships anchored in Karachi, Calcutta and Vishakapatnam. 200,000 workers in Bombay's factories downed their tools in solidarity. But leaders of the Congress including Gandhi and Maulana Azad were critical of the strike as was Jinnah of the Muslim League. Patel attempted to assuage the strikers by promising that they would not be victimized. But the assurances of Patel did not prevent mass arrests or police actions that led to a death toll of 1700.
Partition Idea:
The British realized that they could no longer hold on to India and instead turned their attentions on partitioning India. The Muslim League was more than willing to play an active role in these dangerous and divisive maneuvers. In a bizarre interpretation of the 'right to self-determination', the then legal Communist Party of India (who in their many years of being underground played a vital role in energizing the trade unions and Kisan Sabhas) endorsed the idea that India's Muslims constituted a separate nation, thus providing ideological cover for the Muslim League's incendiary propaganda. This led to a split with the Ghadarites and other communist organizations who fought vehemently against the ideology of the two-nation theory. Hindu and Muslim unity had been almost exemplary in the trade union and radical peasant movements. Yet, in a blunder of monumental proportions, the leaders of the Communist Party appeared to endorse the divisive message of the Muslim League.
The Congress although reluctant to accept partition put up a feeble fight. Decades of conservatism prevented it from moving the Indian masses into a struggle against the terror tactics of the Muslim League. The Indian Navy strike had shown that Hindus and Muslims were more than willing to unite against the British. In the Indian National Army of Subhash Chandra Bose, they were willing to take up arms together. But the Congress leadership remained wedded to non-violence even as the Muslim League was arming it's separatist volunteers.
Freedom:
With the decision by Britain to withdraw from the Indian subcontinent, the Congress Party and Muslim League agreed in June 1947 to a partition of India along religious lines. Under the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, India and Pakistan were established as independent dominions with predominantly Hindu areas allocated to India and predominantly Muslim areas to Pakistan.
After India's independence on August 15, 1947, India received most of the subcontinent's 562 widely scattered polities, or princely states, as well as the majority of the British provinces, and parts of three of the remaining provinces. Muslim Pakistan received the remainder. Pakistan consisted of a western wing, with the approximate boundaries of modern Pakistan, and an eastern wing, with the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh.
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