The Struggle for
Independence
The First War of Indpendence
The Freedom Struggle
Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi
Independence - August 15, 1947
The
Indian Mutiny of 1857 or The First War of
Independence
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 aristocarcy 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.
The Mutiny, even in its failure, produced many
heroes and heroines of epic character. Above all,
it produced a sense of unity between the Hindus
and the Muslims of India that was to be witnessed
in later years.
The rebellion also saw the end of the East
India Company's rule in India. Power was
transferred to the British Crown in 1858 by an
Act of British Parliament. The Crown's viceroy in
India was to be the chief executive.
The
Freedom Struggle
The British empire contained within itself the
seeds of its own destruction. The British
constructed a vast railway network across the
entire land in order to facilitate the transport
of raw materials to the ports for export. This
gave intangible form to the idea of Indian unity
by physically bringing all the peoples of the
subcontinent within easy reach of each other.
Since it was impossible for a small handful of
foreigners to administer such a vast country,
they set out to create a local elite to help them
in this task; to this end they set up a system of
education that familiarised the local
intelligentsia with the intellectual and social
values of the West. Ideas of democracy,
individual freedom and equality were the
antithesis of the empire and led to the genesis
of the freedom movement among thinkers like Raja
Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Vidyasagar. With
the failure of the 1857 mutiny, the leadership of
the freedom movement passed into the hands of
this class and crystallised in the formation of
the Indian National Congress in 1885. The binding
psychological concept of National Unity was also
forged in the fire of the struggle against a
common foreign oppressor.
At the turn of the century, the freedom
movement reached out to the common unlettered man
through the launching of the Swadeshi movement by
leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo
Ghose. But the full mobilisation of the masses
into an invincible force only occured with the
apperance on the scene of one of the most
remarkable and charismatic leaders of the
twentieth century, perhaps in history.
Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi
Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi was a British trained lawyer of
Indian origin from South Africa. He had won his
political spurs organising the Indian community
there against the vicious system of apartheid.
During this struggle, he had developed the novel
technique of non-violent agitation which he
called 'satyagraha', loosely translated as moral
domination. He was thus heir to the ancient
traditions of Gautama Buddha, Mahavir Jain and
emperor Ashoka, and was later given the title of
Mahatma, or Great Soul. Gandhi, himself a devout
Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of
tolerance, brotherhood of all religions,
non-violence (ahimsa) and of simple living. He
adopted an austere traditional Indian style of
living, which won him wide popularity and
transformed him into the undisputed leader of the
Congress. As Jawaharlal Nehru said, "He was
a powerful current of fresh air that made us
stretch ourselves and take a deep breath"
and revitalised the Freedom Movement.
Under his leadership, the Congress launched a
series of mass movements - the Non Cooperation
Movement of 1920 -1922 and the Civil Disobedience
Movement in 1930. The latter was triggered by the
famous Salt March, when Gandhi captured the
imagination of the nation by leading a band of
followers from his ashram at Sabarmati, on a 200
mile trek to the remote village of Dandi on the
west coast, there to prepare salt in symbolic
violation of British law.
These were populist movements in which people
from all classes and all parts of India
participated with great fervour. Women too,
played an active role in the struggle. Sarojini
Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali and Bhikaji Cama, to name
but a few, inspired millions of others to take
the first step on the road to emancipation and
equality. In August 1942, the Quit India movement
was launched. "I want freedom immediately,
this very night before dawn if it can be had.'..
we shall free India or die in the attempt, we
shall not live to see the perpetuation of our
slavery", declared the Mahatma, as the
British resorted to brutal repression against
non-violent satyagrahis. It became evident that
the British could maintain the empire only at
enormous cost. At the end of the Second World
War, they saw the writing on the wall, and
initiated a number of constitutional moves to
effect the transfer of power to the sovereign
State of India. For the first and perhaps the
only time in history, the power of a mighty
global empire 'on which the sun never set', had
been challenged and overcome by the moral might
of a people armed only with ideals and courage.
Independence
India achieved independence on August 15,1947.
Giving voice to the sentiments of the nation, the
country's first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru said, "Long years ago we made a tryst
with destiny, and now the time comes when we will
redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure,
but very substantially. 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 .... We end today a period of ill
fortune, and India discovers herself again."
The progress and triumph of the Indian Freedom
movement was one of the most significant
historical processes of the twentieth century.
Its repercussions extended far beyond its
immediate political consequences. Within the
country, it initiated the reordering of
political, social and economic power. In the
international context, it sounded the death knell
of British Imperialism, and changed the political
face of the globe.
|