The Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement encompassed activities and
ideas aiming to end the East India Company rule (1757–1858) and the British
Indian Empire (1858–1947) in the Indian subcontinent. The movement spanned a
total of 190 years (1757–1947).
The very first organised militant movements were in Bengal,
but they later took movement in the newly formed Indian National Congress with
prominent moderate leaders seeking only their basic right to appear for Indian
Civil Service (British India) examinations, as well as more rights, economic in
nature, for the people of the soil. The early part of the 20th century saw a
more radical approach towards political self-rule proposed by leaders such as
the Lal, Bal, Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The last
stages of the self-rule struggle from the 1920s onwards saw Congress adopt
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's policy of nonviolence and civil resistance, and
several other campaigns. Nationalists like Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh
and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar preached armed revolution to achieve self-rule.
Poets and writers such as Subramania Bharati, Muhammad Iqbal, Josh Malihabadi,
Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Kazi Nazrul Islam used
literature, poetry and speech as a tool for political awareness. Feminists such
as Sarojini Naidu and Begum Rokeya promoted the emancipation of Indian women
and their participation in national politics. B. R. Ambedkar championed the
cause of the disadvantaged sections of Indian society within the larger
self-rule movement. The period of the Second World War saw the peak of the
campaigns by the Quit India Movement led by Congress, and the Indian National
Army movement led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The Indian self-rule movement was a mass-based movement that
encompassed various sections of society. It also underwent a process of
constant ideological evolution.[1] Although the basic ideology of the movement
was anti-colonial, it was supported by a vision of independent capitalist
economic development coupled with a secular, democratic, republican, and
civil-libertarian political structure.[2] After the 1930s, the movement took on
a strong socialist orientation, owing to the influence of Bhagat Singh's demand
of Purn Swaraj (Complete Self-Rule).The work of these various movements led
ultimately to the Indian Independence Act 1947, which ended the suzerainty in
India and the creation of Pakistan. India remained a Dominion of the Crown
until 26 January 1950, when the Constitution of India came into force,
establishing the Republic of India; Pakistan was a dominion until 1956, when it
adopted its first republican constitution. In 1971, East Pakistan declared
independence as the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
Background (1757–1883)
Early British colonialism in India
After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India was now
either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control
European traders first reached Indian shores with the
arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 at the port of
Calicut, in search of the lucrative spice trade. Just over a century later, the
Dutch and English established trading outposts on the subcontinent, with the
first English trading post set up at Surat in 1617. Over the course of the
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British defeated the
Portuguese and Dutch militarily, but remained in conflict with the French, who
had by then sought to establish themselves in the subcontinent. The decline of
the Mughal Empire in the first half of the eighteenth century provided the
British with the opportunity to establish a firm foothold in Indian
politics. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, during which the East India Company's
Indian army under Robert Clive defeated Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal,
the Company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs, and soon
afterwards gained administrative rights over the regions of Bengal, Bihar and
Midnapur part of Orissa, following the Battle of Buxar in 1764. After the
defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India came either under the Company's
direct rule, or under its indirect political control as part a princely state
in a subsidiary alliance. The Company subsequently gained control of regions
ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars. The
Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of the Sikh armies in the First
(1845–1846) and Second (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.
English was made the medium of instruction in India's
schools in 1835, and many Indians increasingly disliked British rule.
Early rebellion
Puli Thevar was one of the opponents of the British rule in
India. He was in conflict with the Nawab of Arcot who was supported by the
British. His prominent exploits were his confrontations with Marudhanayagam,
who later rebelled against the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s.
Nelkatumseval the present Tirunelveli Dist of Tamil Nadu state of India was the
headquarters of Puli Thevan.
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja was one of the earliest freedom
fighters in India. He was the prince regent of the princely state of Kottiyur
or Cotiote in North Malabar, near Kannur, India between 1774 and 1805. He
fought a guerrilla war with tribal people from Wynad supporting him. He was
caught by the British and his fort was razed to the ground.
Rani Velu Nachiyar (1730–1796),
was a queen of Indian
Sivaganga from 1760 to 1790. She was the first queen to fight against the
British in India. Rani Nachiyar was trained in war match weapons usage, martial
arts like Valari, Silambam (fighting using stick), horse riding and archery.
She was a scholar in many languages and she had proficiency with languages like
French, English and Urdu. When her husband, Muthuvaduganathaperiya
Udaiyathevar, was killed by British soldiers and the son of the Nawab of Arcot,
she was drawn into battle. She formed an army and sought an alliance with
Gopala Nayaker and Hyder Ali with the aim of attacking the British, whom she
did successfully fight in 1780. When Rani Velu Nachiyar found the place where
the British stored their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack: a faithful
follower, Kuyili, doused herself in oil, set herself alight and walked into the
storehouse. Rani Velu Nachiyar formed a woman's army named "udaiyaal"
in honour of her adopted daughter, Udaiyaal, who died detonating a British
arsenal. Rani Nachiyar was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom, and
ruled it for ten more years.
Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an eighteenth-century Polygar
and chieftain from Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India who waged a war
against the East India Company. He was captured by the British and hanged in
1799 CE. Kattabomman refused to accept the sovereignty of East India
Company, and fought against them. Dheeran Chinnamalai was a Kongu chieftain
and Palayakkarar from Tamil Nadu who fought against the East India Company.
After Kattabomman and Tipu Sultan's deaths, Chinnamalai sought the help of
Marathas and Maruthu Pandiyar to attack the British at Coimbatore in 1800.
British forces managed to stop the armies of the allies and hence Chinnamalai
was forced to attack Coimbatore on his own. His army was defeated and he
escaped from the British forces. Chinnamalai engaged in guerrilla warfare and
defeated the British in battles at Cauvery in 1801, Odanilai in 1802 and
Arachalur in 1804.
In September 1804, the King of Khordha, Kalinga was deprived
of the traditional rights of Jagannath Temple which was a serious shock to the
King and the people of Odisha. Consequently, in October 1804 a group of armed
Paiks attacked the British at Pipili. This event alarmed the British force.
Jayee Rajguru, the chief of Army of Kalinga requested all the kings of the
state to join hands for a common cause against the British.[14] Rajguru was
killed on 6 December 1806.[15] After Rajguru's death, Bakshi Jagabandhu
commanded an armed rebellion against the East India Company's rule in Odisha
which is known as Paik Rebellion.
Vellore sepoy revolt
The garrison of the Vellore Fort in July 1806 comprised four
companies of British infantry from H.M. 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of
Foot and three battalions of Madras infantry. Two hours after midnight, on 10
July, the sepoys in the fort shot down the European sentries and killed
fourteen of their own officers and 115 men of the 69th Regiment, most of the
latter as they slept in their barracks. Among those killed was Colonel St. John
Fancourt, the commander of the fort. The rebels seized control by dawn, and
raised the flag of the Mysore kingdom over the fort. Tipu's second son Fateh
Hyder was declared king. However a British officer escaped and alerted the
garrison in Arcot. Nine hours after the outbreak of the mutiny, a relief force
comprising the British 19th Light Dragoons, galloper guns and a squadron of
Madras cavalry, rode from Arcot to Vellore, covering 16 miles in about two
hours. It was led by Sir Rollo Gillespie – one of the most capable and
energetic officers in India at that time – who reportedly left Arcot within a
quarter of an hour of the alarm being raised. Gillespie dashed ahead of the
main force with a single troop of about 20 men.
Arriving at Vellore, Gillespie found the surviving
Europeans, about sixty men of the 69th, commanded by NCOs and two assistant
surgeons, still holding part of the ramparts but out of ammunition. Unable to
gain entry through the defended gate, Gillespie climbed the wall with the aid
of a rope and a sergeant's sash which was lowered to him; and to gain time led
the 69th in a bayonet-charge along the ramparts. When the rest of the 19th
arrived, Gillespie had them blow the gates with their galloper guns, and made a
second charge with the 69th to clear a space inside the gate to permit the
cavalry to deploy. The 19th and the Madras Cavalry then charged and slaughtered
any sepoy who stood in their way. About 100 sepoys who had sought refuge in the
palace were brought out, and by Gillespie's order, placed against a wall and
shot dead. John Blakiston, the engineer who had blown in the gates, recalled:
"Even this appalling sight I could look upon, I may almost say, with
composure. It was an act of summary justice, and in every respect a most proper
one; yet, at this distance of time, I find it a difficult matter to approve the
deed, or to account for the feeling under which I then viewed it. The harsh
retribution meted out to the sepoys snuffed out the unrest at a stroke and
provided the history of the British in India with one of its true epics; for as
Gillespie admitted, with a delay of even five minutes, all would have been
lost. In all, nearly 350 of the rebels were killed, and another 350 wounded
before the fighting had stopped.
The rebellion of 1857
States during the
rebellion
Main article: Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian rebellion of 1857 was a large-scale rebellion in
northern and central India against the British East India Company's rule. It
was suppressed and the British government took control of the company. The
conditions of service in the company's army and cantonments increasingly came
into conflict with the religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. The
predominance of members from the upper castes in the army, perceived loss of
caste due to overseas travel, and rumours of secret designs of the government
to convert them to Christianity led to deep discontent among the sepoys.[20]
The sepoys were also disillusioned by their low salaries and the racial
discrimination practised by British officers in matters of promotion and
privileges. The indifference of the British towards leading native Indian
rulers such as the Mughals and ex-Peshwas and the annexation of Oudh were
political factors triggering dissent amongst Indians. The Marquess of
Dalhousie's policy of annexation, the doctrine of lapse (or escheat) applied by
the British, and the projected removal of the descendants of the Great Mughal
from their ancestral palace at Red Fort to the Qutb Minaar (near Delhi) also
angered some people.
The final spark was provided by the rumoured use of tallow
(from cows) and lard (pig fat) in the newly introduced Pattern 1853 Enfield
rifle cartridges. Soldiers had to bite the cartridges with their teeth before
loading them into their rifles, and the reported presence of cow and pig fat
was religiously offensive to both Hindu and Muslim soldiers.
Mangal Pandey,
a 29-year-old sepoy, was believed to be
responsible for inspiring the Indian sepoys to rise against the British. Pandey
revolted against his army regiment for protection of the cow, considered sacred
by Hindus. In the first week of May 1857, he killed a higher officer in his
regiment at Barrackpore for the introduction of the rule. He was captured and
was sentenced to death when the British took back control of the
regiment.[citation needed] On 10 May 1857, the sepoys at Meerut broke rank and
turned on their commanding officers, killing some of them. They reached Delhi
on 11 May, set the company's toll house on fire, and marched into the Red Fort,
where they asked the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, to become their leader
and reclaim his throne. The emperor was reluctant at first, but eventually
agreed and was proclaimed Shehenshah-e-Hindustan by the rebels. The rebels
also murdered much of the European, Eurasian, and Christian population of the
city.
Revolts broke out in other parts of Oudh and the
North-Western Provinces as well, where civil rebellion followed the mutinies,
leading to popular uprisings.[24] The British were initially caught off-guard
and were thus slow to react, but eventually responded with force. The lack of
effective organisation among the rebels, coupled with the military superiority
of the British, brought a rapid end to the rebellion. The British fought
the main army of the rebels near Delhi, and after prolonged fighting and a
siege, defeated them and retook the city on 20 September 1857.Subsequently, revolts in other centres were also crushed. The last significant
battle was fought in Gwalior on 17 June 1858, during which Rani Lakshmibai was
killed. Sporadic fighting and guerrilla warfare, led by Tatya Tope, continued
until spring 1859, but most of the rebels were eventually subdued.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major turning point in
the history of modern India. While affirming the military and political power
of the British, it led to significant change in how India was to be
controlled by them. Under the Government of India Act 1858, the Company was
deprived of its involvement in ruling India, with its territory being
transferred to the direct authority of the British government. At the apex
of the new system was a Cabinet minister, the Secretary of State for India, who
was to be formally advised by a statutory council; the Governor-General of
India (Viceroy) was made responsible to him, while he in turn was responsible
to the government. In a royal proclamation made to the people of India, Queen
Victoria promised equal opportunity of public service under British law, and
also pledged to respect the rights of the native princes. The British
stopped the policy of seizing land from the princes, decreed religious
tolerance and began to admit Indians into the civil service (albeit mainly as subordinates).
However, they also increased the number of British soldiers in relation to
native Indian ones, and only allowed British soldiers to handle artillery.
Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, Burma, where he died in 1862.
In 1876, in a controversial move Prime Minister Benjamin
Disraeli acceded to the Queen's request[citation needed] and passed legislation
to give Queen Victoria the additional title of Empress of India. Liberals in
Britain objected that the title was foreign to British traditions.
Rise of organised movements
Image of the delegates to the first meeting of the Indian
National Congress in Bombay, 1885
Main article: Nationalist Movements in India
The decades following the Rebellion were a period of growing
political awareness, manifestation of Indian public opinion and emergence of
Indian leadership at both national and provincial levels. Dadabhai Naoroji
formed the East India Association in 1867 and Surendranath Banerjee founded the
Indian National Association in 1876. Inspired by a suggestion made by A.O.
Hume, a retired British civil servant, seventy-two 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. At its
inception, the Congress had no well-defined ideology and commanded few of the
resources essential to a political organisation. Instead, 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 in 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 slight. Despite its
claim to represent all India, the Congress voiced the interests of urban
elites;[citation needed] the number of participants from other social and
economic backgrounds remained negligible.
The influence of socio-religious groups such as Arya Samaj
(started by Swami Dayanand Saraswati) and Brahmo Samaj (founded by Raja Ram
Mohan Roy and others) became evident in pioneering reforms of Indian society.
The work of men like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Sri Aurobindo, V. O.
Chidambaram Pillai, Subramanya Bharathy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan, Rabindranath Tagore and Dadabhai Naoroji, as well as women such as
the Scots–Irish Sister Nivedita, spread the passion for rejuvenation and
freedom. The rediscovery of India's indigenous history by several European and
Indian scholars also fed into the rise of nationalism among Indians.
Rise of Indian nationalism (1885–1905)
Main article: Nationalist Movements in India
Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
By 1900, although the Congress had emerged as an all-India
political organisation, 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 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 1920). Its objective was to educate wealthy students by
emphasising 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.
The nationalistic sentiments among Congress members led to
the movement to be represented in the bodies of government, to have a say in
the legislation and administration of India. Congressmen saw themselves as
loyalists, but wanted an active role in governing their own country, albeit as
part of the Empire. This trend was personified by Dadabhai Naoroji, who went as
far as contesting, successfully, an election to the House of Commons of the
United Kingdom, becoming its first Indian member.
Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first Indian nationalist to
embrace Swaraj as the destiny of the nation[citation needed]. Tilak deeply
opposed the then British education system that ignored and defamed India's
culture, history and values. He resented the denial of freedom of expression for
nationalists, and the lack of any voice or role for ordinary Indians in the
affairs of their nation. For these reasons, he considered Swaraj as the natural
and only solution. His popular sentence "Swaraj is my birthright, and I
shall have it" became the source of inspiration for Indians.
In 1907, the Congress was split into two factions: The
radicals, led by Tilak, advocated civil agitation and direct revolution to
overthrow the British Empire and the abandonment of all things British. The
moderates, led by leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, on
the other hand wanted reform within the framework of British rule. Tilak was
backed by rising public leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, who
held the same point of view. Under them, India's three great states –
Maharashtra, Bengal and Punjab shaped the demand of the people and India's
nationalism. Gokhale criticised Tilak for encouraging acts of violence and
disorder. But the Congress of 1906 did not have public membership, and thus
Tilak and his supporters were forced to leave the party.
But with Tilak's arrest, all hopes for an Indian offensive
were stalled. The Congress lost credibility with the people. A Muslim
deputation met with the Viceroy, Minto (1905–10), seeking concessions from the
impending constitutional reforms, including special considerations in
government service and electorates. The British recognised some of the Muslim
League's petitions by increasing the number of elective offices reserved for
Muslims in the Indian Councils Act 1909. The Muslim League insisted on its
separateness from the Hindu-dominated Congress, as the voice of a "nation
within a nation".
Partition of Bengal, 1905
Partition of Bengal (1905)
In July 1901, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy and Governor-General
(1899–1905), ordered the partition of the province of Bengal supposedly for
improvements in administrative efficiency in the huge and populous region.[32]
It also had justifications due to increasing conflicts between Muslims and
dominant Hindu regimes in Bengal[citation needed]. However, the Indians viewed
the partition as an attempt by the British to disrupt the growing national
movement in Bengal and divide the Hindus and Muslims of the region. The Bengali
Hindu intelligentsia exerted considerable influence on local and national
politics. 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, or indigenous industries. A growing movement emerged,
focussing on indigenous Indian industries, finance and education, which saw the
founding of National Council of Education, birth of Indian financial
institutions and banks, as well as an interest in Indian culture and
achievements in science and literature. Hindus showed unity by tying Rakhi on
each other's wrists and observing Arandhan (not cooking any food). During this
time, Bengali Hindu nationalists like Sri Aurobindo, Bhupendranath Datta, and
Bipin Chandra Pal began writing virulent newspaper articles challenging
legitimacy of British rule in India in publications such as Jugantar and
Sandhya, and were charged with sedition. Brahmabhandav Upadhyay, a Hindu
newspaper editor who helped Tagore establish his school at Shantiniketan, was
imprisoned and the first to die in British custody in the twentieth century
struggle for self-rule.
All India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League was founded by the All India
Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka (now Bangladesh), in 1906, in the
context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal
in 1905. Being a political party to secure the interests of the Muslim diaspora
in British India, the Muslim League played a decisive role behind the creation
of Pakistan in the Indian subcontinent. But when Muslim league passed Pakistan
resolution based on Two Nation theory of Jinnah, Nationalist leaders like
Maulana Azad and others stood against it. The All-India Jamhur Muslim League
was formed parallel to Muslim League with Raja of Mahmoodabad (a close
associate of Jinnah) as its president and Dr.Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi its general
secretary.
In 1916, Muhammad Ali Jinnah joined the Indian National
Congress, which was the largest Indian political organisation. Like most of the
Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favour outright self-rule, considering
British influences on education, law, culture and industry as beneficial to
India. Jinnah became a member of the sixty-member Imperial Legislative Council.
The council had no real power or authority, and included a large number of
un-elected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental
in the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimisation of the
Muslim waqf (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst
committee, which helped establish the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun. During the First World War, Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting
the British war effort.
First World War
This photograph shows an emaciated Indian Army soldier who
survived the Siege of Kut
The First World War began with an unprecedented outpouring
of support towards Britain from within the mainstream political leadership,
contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt. India contributed
massively to the British war effort by providing men and resources. About 1.3
million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa and the Middle
East, while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of
food, money and ammunition. However, Bengal and Punjab remained hotbeds of anti
colonial activities. Nationalism in Bengal, increasingly closely linked with
the unrests in Punjab, was significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional
administration, whilst failed conspiracies were made by revolutionaries to
trigger nationalist revolt in India.
None of the revolutionary conspiracies had significant
impact inside India. The prospect of subversive violence and its effect on the
popular war effort drew support amongst Indian population for special measures
against anti-colonial activities in the form of Defence of India act 1915, and
no major mutinies occurred. However, the war-time conspiracies did lead to
profound fears of insurrection among British officials, preparing them to use
extreme force to frighten the Indians into submission.
Nationalist response to war
In the aftermath of the First World War, 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 pre-war nationalist movement revived as moderate and
extremist groups within the Congress submerged their differences in order to
stand as a unified front. They argued their enormous services to the British
Empire during the war demanded a reward, and demonstrated the Indian capacity
for self-rule. 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.
British reforms
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 realisation 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, 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.
Gandhi arrives in India
Gandhi in 1918, at the time of the Kheda and Champaran
satyagrahas
(Sitting L to R)Rajendra Prasad and Anugrah Narayan Sinha
during Mahatma Gandhi's 1917 Champaran Satyagraha
Gandhi had been a leader of the Indian nationalist movement
in South Africa, and had been a vocal opponent of basic discrimination and
abusive labour treatment as well as suppressive police control such as the
Rowlatt Acts. During these protests, Gandhi had perfected the concept of
satyagraha, which had been inspired by the philosophy of Baba Ram Singh (famous
for leading the Kuka Movement in the Punjab in 1872). In January 1914 (well
before the First World War began) Gandhi was successful. The legislation
against Indians was repealed and all Indian political prisoners were released by
General Jan Smuts.[39] Gandhi accomplished this through extensive use of
non-violent protest, such as boycotting, protest marching, and fasting by him
and his followers.
Gandhi returned to India on 9 January 1915, and initially
entered the political fray not with calls for a nation-state, but in support of
the unified commerce-oriented territory that the Congress Party had been asking
for. Gandhi believed that the industrial development and educational
development that the Europeans had brought with them were required to alleviate
many of India's problems. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a veteran Congressman and
Indian leader, became Gandhi's mentor. Gandhi's ideas and strategies of
non-violent civil disobedience initially appeared impractical to some Indians and
Congressmen. In Gandhi's own words, "civil disobedience is civil breach of
unmoral statutory enactments." It had to be carried out non-violently by
withdrawing co-operation with the corrupt state. Gandhi had great respect for
Lokmanya Tilak. His programmes were all inspired by Tilak's
"Chatusutri" programme. It was at this point he met the prophet Ryan
Chart, where he founded some of his most spiritual messages with his British
colleague.[citation needed]
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 Committee. The commission
was set up to look into the war-time conspiracies by the nationalist
organisations and recommend measures to deal with the problem in the post-war
period. Rowlatt recommended the extension of the war-time powers of the Defence
of India act into the post-war period. The war-time act had vested the
Viceroy's government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing
the press, detaining political activists without trial, and arresting any
individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. It was
increasingly reviled within India due to widespread and indiscriminate use. Many
popular leaders, including Annie Beasant and Ali brothers had been detained.
Rowlatt act was, therefore, passed in the face of universal opposition among
the (non-official) Indian members in the Viceroy's council. The extension of
the act drew widespread opposition and criticism. 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 led to British attacks
on demonstrators, culminating on 13 April 1919, in the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre (also known as the Amritsar Massacre) in Amritsar, Punjab. The British
military commander, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, blocked the main, and only
entrance, and ordered his soldiers to fire into an unarmed and unsuspecting
crowd of some 15,000 men, women and children. They had assembled peacefully at
Jallianwala Bagh, a walled courtyard, but Dyer had wanted to execute the
imposed ban on all meetings and proposed to teach all Indians a lesson the harsher
way. A total of 1,651 rounds were fired, killing 379 people (as according
to an official British commission; Indian officials' estimates ranged as high
as 1,499 and wounding 1,137 in the massacre.). Dyer was forced to retire but
was hailed as a hero in Britain, demonstrating to Indian nationalists that the
Empire was beholden to public opinion in Britain, but not in India. The
episode dissolved wartime hopes of home rule and goodwill and opened a rift
that could not be bridged short of complete self-rule.
First non-co-operation movement
From 1920 to 1922, Gandhi started the Non-Cooperation
Movement. At the Kolkata session of the Congress in September 1920, Gandhi
convinced other leaders of the need to start a non-co-operation movement in
support of Khilafat as well as for dominion status. The first satyagraha
movement urged the use of khadi and Indian material as alternatives to those
shipped from Britain. It also urged people to boycott British educational
institutions and law courts; resign from government employment; refuse to pay
taxes; and forsake British titles and honours. Although this came too late to
influence the framing of the new Government of India Act 1919, the movement
enjoyed widespread popular support, and the resulting unparalleled magnitude of
disorder presented a serious challenge to foreign rule. However, Gandhi called
off the movement because he was scared after Chauri Chaura incident, which saw
the death of twenty-two policemen at the hands of an angry mob.
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 organisation to one of mass national appeal
and participation.
Gandhi was sentenced in 1922 to six years of prison, but was
released after serving 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.
This era saw the emergence of new generation of Indians from
within the Congress Party, including C. Rajagopalachari, Jawaharlal Nehru,
Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose and others- who would later on come to
form the prominent voices of the Indian self-rule movement, whether keeping
with Gandhian Values, or, as in the case of Bose's Indian National Army,
diverging from it.
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, Hindu Mahasabha, Communist Party of India and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh. Regional political organisations also continued to represent the
interests of non-Brahmins in Madras, Mahars in Maharashtra, and Sikhs in
Punjab. However, people like Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, Vanchinathan and
Neelakanda Brahmachari played a major role from Tamil Nadu in both self-rule
struggle and fighting for equality for all castes and communities.
Many women participated in the movement, including Kasturba
Gandhi (Gandhi's wife), Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Muthulaxmi Reddy, Aruna Asaf Ali,
and many others.
Purna Swaraj
Following the rejection of the recommendations of the Simon
Commission by Indians, an all-party conference was held at Mumbai in May 1928.
This was meant to instill a sense of Liberation among people. The conference
appointed a drafting committee under Motilal Nehru to draw up a constitution
for India. The Kolkata 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. By 1929, however, in
the midst of rising political discontent and increasingly violent regional
movements, the call for complete sovereignty and end of British rule began to
find increasing grounds within the Public.Congress party was in a hurry to
acquire political power from Britishers was demanding dominion status.Bhagat
Singh was demanding Purna Swaraj (complete self-rule).Popularity of Bhagat
Singh increased among congress activists.Congress leaders feared that many
Congress activist would join Bhagat Singh.So to seize credit from Bhagat Singh
under the presidency of Jawaharlal at his historic Lahore session in December
1929, the Indian National Congress adopted a Bhagat Singh's idea of complete
self-rule and end of British rule. 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 self-rule) Day. Many Indian political parties and Indian
revolutionaries of a wide spectrum united to observe the day with honour and
pride.[citation needed]
In March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed, and the
government agreed to set all political prisoners free (Although, some of the
great revolutionaries were not set free and the death sentence for Bhagat Singh
and his two comrades was not taken back which further intensified the agitation
against Congress not only outside it but within the Congress itself). For the
next few years, the Congress and the government were locked in conflict and
negotiations until what became the Government of India Act 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.
The Civil Disobedience Movement indicated a new part in the
process of the Indian self-rule struggle. As a whole, it became a failure by
itself, but it brought the Indian population together, under the Indian
National Congress's leadership. The movement made the Indian people strive even
more towards self-rule. The movement allowed the Indian community to revive
their inner confidence and strength against the British Government. In
addition, the movement weakened the authority of the British and aided in the
end of the British Empire in India. Overall, the civil disobedience Movement
was an essential achievement in the history of Indian self-rule.
Elections and the Lahore resolution
Indian provincial elections, 1937
Jinnah with Gandhi, 1944.
The Government of India Act 1935, 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 centre,
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 Linlithgow declared India's entrance
into the Second World War without consulting provincial governments. In
protest, the Congress asked all of its elected representatives to resign from
the government. Muhammad Ali 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 referred to 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.
Revolutionary movement
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
See also: Anushilan Samiti, India House, Ghadar Party, and
Hindustan Socialist Republican Army
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev
Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru
Apart from a few stray incidents, armed rebellions against
the British rulers did not occur before the beginning of the 20th century. The
Indian revolutionary underground began gathering momentum through the first
decade of the 20th century, with groups arising in Bengal, Maharashtra, Odisha,
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and the Madras Presidency including what is now
called South India. More groups were scattered around India. Particularly
notable movements arose in Bengal, especially around the Partition of Bengal in
1905, and in Punjab after 1907. In the former case, it was the educated,
intelligent and dedicated youth of the urban middle class Bhadralok community
that came to form the "Classic" Indian revolutionary,[47] while the
latter had an immense support base in the rural and Military society of the
Punjab. In Bengal, the Anushilan Samiti emerged from conglomerations of local
youth groups and gyms (Akhra) in Bengal in 1902, forming two prominent and
somewhat independent arms in East and West Bengal identified as Dhaka Anushilan
Samiti in Dhaka (modern day Bangladesh), and the Jugantar group (centred at
Calcutta) respectively. Led by nationalists of the likes of Aurobindo Ghosh and
his brother Barindra Ghosh, the Samiti was influenced by philosophies as
diverse as Hindu Shakta philosophy propounded by Bengali literaetuer Bankim and
Vivekananda, Italian Nationalism, and Pan-Asianism of Kakuzo Okakura. The
Samiti was involved in a number of noted incidences of revolutionary terrorism
against British interests and administration in India within the decade of its
founding, including early attempts to assassinate Raj officials whilst led by
Ghosh brothers. In the meantime, in Maharashtra and Punjab arose similarly
militant nationalist feelings. The District Magistrate of Nasik, A.M.T. Jackson
was shot dead by Anant Kanhere in December 1909, followed by the death of
Robert D'Escourt Ashe at the hands of Vanchi Iyer. Indian nationalism made
headway through Indian societies as far as Paris and London. In London India
House under the patronage of Shyamji Krishna Verma came under increasing
scrutiny for championing and justifying violence in the cause of Indian
nationalism, which found in Indian students in Britain and from Indian
expatriates in Paris Indian Society avid followers. By 1907, through Indian
nationalist Madame Bhikaji Rustom Cama's links to Russian revolutionary
Nicholas Safranski, Indian groups including Bengal revolutionaries as well as
India House under V.D.Savarkar were able to obtain manuals for manufacturing
bombs. India House was also a source of arms and seditious literature that was
rapidly distributed in India. In addition to The Indian Sociologist, pamphlets
like Bande Mataram and Oh Martyrs! by Savarkar extolled revolutionary violence.
Direct influences and incitement from India House were noted in several
incidents of political violence, including assassinations, in India at the
time. One of the two charges against Savarkar during his trial in
Bombay was for abetting the murder of the District Magistrate of Nasik, A.M.T.
Jackson, by Anant Kanhere in December 1909. The arms used were directly traced
through an Italian courier to India House. Ex-India House residents M.P.T.
Acharya and V.V.S. Aiyar were noted in the Rowlatt report to have aided and
influenced political assassinations, including the murder of Robert D'Escourt
Ashe. The Paris-Safranski link was strongly suggested by French police to
be involved in a 1907 attempt in Bengal to derail the train carrying the
Lieutenant-Governor Sir Andrew Fraser. The activities of nationalists
abroad is believed to have shaken the loyalty of a number of native regiments
of the British Indian Army. The assassination of William Hutt Curzon Wyllie
in the hands of Madanlal Dhingra was highly publcised and saw increasing
surveillance and suppression of Indian nationalism. These were followed by
the 1912 attempt on the life of Viceroy of India. Following this, the nucleus
of networks formed in India House, the Anushilan Samiti, nationlalists in
Punjab, and the nationalism that arose among Indian expatriates and labourers
in North America, a different movement began to emerge in the North American
Ghadar Party, culminating in the Sedetious conspiracy of World War I led by
Rash Behari Bose and Lala Hardayal.
However, the emergence of the Gandhian movement slowly began
to absorb the different revolutionary groups. The Bengal Samiti moved away from
its philosophy of violence in the 1920s, when a number of its members
identified closely with the Congress and Gandhian non-violent movement.
Revolutionary nationalist violence saw a resurgence after the collapse of
Gandhian Noncooperation movement in 1922. In Bengal, this saw reorganisation of
groups linked to the Samiti under the leadership of Surya Sen and Hem Chandra
Kanungo. A spate of violence led up to enactment of the Bengal Criminal Law
Amendment in the early 1920s, which recalled the powers of incarceration and
detention of the Defence of India Act. In north India, remnants of Punjab and
Bengalee revolutionary organisations reorganised, notably under Sachindranath
Sanyal, founding the Hindustan Republican Association with Chandrashekhar Azad
in north India. The HSRA had strong influences from leftist ideologies.
Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) was formed under the
leadership of Chandrasekhar Azad. Kakori train robbery was done largely by the
members of HSRA. A number of Congress leaders from Bengal, especially Subhash
Chandra Bose, were accused by the British Government of having links with and
allowing patronage to the revolutionary organisations during this time. The
violence and radical philosophy revived in the 1930s, when revolutionaries of
the Samiti and the HSRA were involved in was involved in the Chittagong armoury
raid and the Kakori conspiracy and other attempts against the administration in
British India and Raj officials. Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb
inside the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929 protesting against the
passage of the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Disputes Bill while raising
slogans of "Inquilab Zindabad", though no one was killed or injured
in the bomb incident. Bhagat Singh surrendered after the bombing incident and a
trial was conducted. Sukhdev and Rajguru were also arrested by police during
search operations after the bombing incident. Following the trial (Central
Assembly Bomb Case), Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged in 1931.
Allama Mashriqi founded Khaksar Tehreek in order to direct particularly the
Muslims towards the self-rule movement,. Some of its members left for the
Indian National Congress then led by Subhas Chandra Bose, while others
identified more closely with Communism. The Jugantar branch formally dissolved
in 1938. On 13 March 1940, Udham Singh shot Michael O'Dwyer(the last political
murder outside India), generally held responsible for the Amritsar Massacre, in
London. However, the revolutionary movement gradually disseminated into the
Gandhian movement. As the political scenario changed in the late 1930s — with
the mainstream leaders considering several options offered by the British and
with religious politics coming into play — revolutionary activities gradually
declined. Many past revolutionaries joined mainstream politics by joining
Congress and other parties, especially communist ones, while many of the
activists were kept under hold in different jails across the country.
Within a short time of its inception, these organisations
became the focus of an extensive police and intelligence operations. Operations
against Anushilan Samiti saw founding of the Special branch of Calcutta Police.
The intelligence operations against India House saw the founding of the Indian
Political Intelligence Office which later grew to be the Intelligence bureau in
independent India. Heading the intelligence and missions against Ghadarite
movement and India revolutionaries was the MI5(g) section, and at one point
invokved the Pinkerton's detective agency. Notable officers who led the police
and intelligence operations against Indian revolutionaries, or were involved in
it, at various time included John Arnold Wallinger, Sir Robert Nathan, Sir
Harold Stuart, Vernon Kell, Sir Charles Stevenson-Moore and Sir Charles Tegart,
as well as W. Somerset Maugham. The threat posed by the activities of the
Samiti in Bengal during World War I, along with the threat of a Ghadarite
uprising in Punjab, saw the passage of Defence of India Act 1915. These
measures saw the arrest, internment, transportations and execution of a number
of revolutionaries linked to the organisation, and was successful in crushing
the East Bengal Branch. In the aftermath of the war, the Rowlatt committee
recommended extending the Defence of India Act (as the Rowlatt act) to thwart
any possible revival of the Samiti in Bengal and the Ghadarite movement in
Punjab. In the 1920s, Alluri Sitarama Raju led the ill-fated "Rampa Rebellion"
of 1922–24, during which a band of tribal leaders and other sympathizers fought
against the "British Raj". He was referred to as "Manyam
Veerudu" ("Hero of the Jungles") by the local people. After the
passing of the "1882 Madras Forest Act", its restrictions on the free
movement of tribal peoples in the forest prevented them from engaging in their
traditional "Podu" agricultural system, which involved shifting
cultivation. Raju led a protest movement in the border areas of the East
Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts of Madras Presidency in present-day Andhra
Pradesh. Inspired by the patriotic zeal of revolutionaries in Bengal, Raju
raided police stations in and around Chintapalle, Rampachodavaram,
Dammanapalli, Krishna-devi-peta, Rajavommangi, Addateegala, Narsipatnam and
Annavaram. Raju and his followers stole guns and ammunition and killed several
British army officers, including Scott Coward near Dammanapalli. The
British campaign lasted for nearly a year from December 1922. Rama Raju was
eventually trapped by the British in the forests of Chintapalli then tied to a
tree and shot dead with a rifle in Mampa village.Police officer Mr. N.
Gnaneswara Rao responsible for Raju's entrapment was awarded Rao Bahadur.
Government of India through the Ministry of Home Affairs has
later notified 38 movements/struggles across Indian territories as the ones
that led to the country gaining self-rule and ending the British Raj. The
Kallara-Pangode Struggle is one of these 39 agitations.
Final process of Indian self-rule movement
In 1937, provincial elections were held and the Congress
came to power in seven of the eleven provinces. This was a strong indicator of
the Indian people's support for complete self-rule.
When the Second World War started, Viceroy Linlithgow
unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of Britain, without
consulting the elected Indian representatives. In opposition to Linlithgow's
action, the entire Congress leadership resigned from the provincial and local
governments. The Muslims and Sikhs, by contrast, strongly supported the war
effort and gained enormous stature in London. Defying Congress, millions of
Indians supported the war effort, and indeed the British Indian Army became the
largest volunteer force, numbering 2,500,000 men during the war.
Especially during the Battle of Britain in 1940, Gandhi
resisted calls for massive civil disobedience movements that came from within
as well as outside his party, stating he did not seek India's self-rule out of
the ashes of a destroyed Britain. In 1942, the Congress launched the Quit India
movement. There was some violence but the Raj cracked down and arrested tens of
thousands of Congress leaders, including all the main national and provincial
figures. They were not released until the end of the war was in sight in 1945.
The self-rule movement saw the rise of three movements: The
first of these, the Kakori conspiracy (9 August 1925) was led by Indian youth
under the leadership of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil; second was the Azad Hind
movement led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which saw its inception early in the
war and joined Germany and Japan to fight Britain; the third one saw its
inception in August 1942, was led by Lal Bahadur Shastri[57] and reflected the
common man resulting the failure of the Cripps' mission to reach a consensus
with the Indian political leadership over the transfer of power after the war.
Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army)
Main articles: Indian National Army, Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad
Hind, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and World War II
See also: Legion Freies Indien, Battaglione Azad Hindoustan,
Capt. Mohan Singh, Indian Independence League, Death of Subhas Chandra Bose,
and INA trials
The entry of India into the war was strongly opposed by
Subhas Chandra Bose, who had been elected President of the Congress in 1938 and
1939, but later resigned due to differences in opinion with Gandhi. After
resignation he formed his own wing separated from the mainstream congress
leadership known as Forward bloc which was the centre of ex-congressmen with
socialist views; however he remained emotionally attached with him for the
remainder of his life.[58] Bose then founded the All India Forward Bloc. In
1940, a year after war broke out, the British had put Bose under house arrest
in Calcutta. However, he escaped and made his way through Afghanistan to Nazi
Germany to seek Hitler and Mussolini's help for raising an army to fight the
British. The Free India Legion comprising Erwin Rommel's Indian POWs was
formed. However, in light of Germany's changing fortunes, a German land
invasion of India became untenable and Hitler advised Bose to go to Japan and
arranged for a submarine. Bose was ferried to Japanese Southeast Asia, where he
formed the Azad Hind Government, a Provisional Free Indian Government in exile,
and reorganised the Indian National Army composed of Indian POWs and
volunteering Indian expatriates in South-East Asia, with the help of the
Japanese. Its aim was to reach India as a fighting force that would build on
public resentment to inspire revolts among Indian soldiers to defeat the
British raj.
Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose.
The INA was to see action against the allies, including the
British Indian Army, in the forests of Arakan, Burma and in Assam, laying siege
on Imphal and Kohima with the Japanese 15th Army. During the war, the Andaman
and Nicobar islands were captured by the Japanese and handed over by them to
the INA.
The INA failed owing to disrupted logistics, poor supplies
from the Japanese, and lack of training.[59] It surrendered unconditionally to
the British in Singapore in 1945. Bose, however, attempted to escape to
Japanese-held Manchuria in an attempt to escape to the Soviet Union, marking
the end of the entire Azad Hind movement.
Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement (Bharat Chhodo Andolan) or the
August Movement was a civil disobedience movement in India which commenced on 8
August 1942 in response to Gandhi's call for immediate self-rule by Indians and
against sending Indians to World War II. He asked all teachers to leave their
schools, and other Indians to leave their respective jobs and take part in this
movement. Due to Gandhi's political influence, his request was followed by a
massive proportion of the population. In addition, the INC led the Quit India
Movement to demand the British to leave India and to transfer the political
power to INC.
During the movement, Gandhi and his followers continued to
use non-violence against British rule. This movement was where Gandhi gave his
famous message, "Do or Die!", and this message spread towards the
Indian community. In addition, this movement was addressed directly to women as
"disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom" and they had to keep the war
for independence to go on (against British rule).
At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had during the
Wardha meeting of the working-committee in September 1939, passed a resolution
conditionally supporting the fight against fascism,[60] but were rebuffed when
they asked for self-rule in return. In March 1942, faced with an increasingly
dissatisfied sub-continent only reluctantly participating in the war, and
deteriorations in the war situation in Europe and South East Asia, and with
growing dissatisfactions among Indian troops- especially in Europe- and among
the civilian population in the sub-continent, the British government sent a
delegation to India under Stafford Cripps, in what came to be known as the
Cripps' Mission. The purpose of the mission was to negotiate with the Indian
National Congress a deal to obtain total co-operation during the war, in return
of progressive devolution and distribution of power from the crown and the
Viceroy to elected Indian legislature. However, the talks failed, having failed
to address the key demand of a timeframe towards self-government, and of
definition of the powers to be relinquished, essentially portraying an offer of
limited dominion-status that was wholly unacceptable to the Indian
movement. To force the British Raj to meet its demands and to obtain
definitive word on total self-rule, the Congress took the decision to launch
the Quit India Movement.
The aim of the movement was to force the British Government
to the negotiating table by holding the Allied war effort hostage. The call for
determined but passive resistance that signified the certitude that Gandhi
foresaw for the movement is best described by his call to Do or Die, issued on
8 August at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay, since renamed August Kranti
Maidan (August Revolution Ground). However, almost the entire Congress
leadership, and not merely at the national level, was put into confinement less
than 24 hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress
khiland were to spend the rest of the war in jail.
On 8 August 1942, the Quit India resolution was passed at
the Mumbai session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The draft
proposed that if the British did not accede to the demands, a massive Civil
Disobedience would be launched. However, it was an extremely controversial
decision. At Gowalia Tank, Mumbai, Gandhi urged Indians to follow a non-violent
civil disobedience. Gandhi told the masses to act as citizens of a sovereign
nation and not to follow the orders of the British. The British, already
alarmed by the advance of the Japanese army to the India–Burma border,
responded the next day by imprisoning Gandhi at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.
The Congress Party's Working Committee, or national leadership was arrested all
together and imprisoned at the Ahmednagar Fort. They also banned the party
altogether. All the major leaders of the INC were arrested and detained. As the
masses were leaderless the protest took a violent turn. Large-scale protests
and demonstrations were held all over the country. Workers remained absent en
masse and strikes were called. The movement also saw widespread acts of
sabotage, Indian under-ground organisation carried out bomb attacks on allied
supply convoys, government buildings were set on fire, electricity lines were
disconnected and transport and communication lines were severed. The
disruptions were under control in a few weeks and had little impact on the war
effort. The movement soon became a leaderless act of defiance, with a number of
acts that deviated from Gandhi's principle of non-violence. In large parts of
the country, the local underground organisations took over the movement.
However, by 1943, Quit India had petered out.
All the other major parties rejected the Quit India plan,
and most cooperated closely with the British, as did the princely states, the
civil service and the police. The Muslim League supported the Raj and grew
rapidly in membership, and in influence with the British.
There was opposition to the Quit India Movement from several
political quarters who were fighting for Indian self-rule. Hindu nationalist
parties like the Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the call and boycotted the Quit
India Movement.. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the president of the Hindu
Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled
"Stick to your Posts", in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who
happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or
those serving in the army...to stick to their posts" across the country,
and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.
The other Hindu nationalist organisation, and Mahasabha
affiliate Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had a tradition of keeping aloof
from the anti-British Indian self-rule movement since its founding by K.B.
Hedgewar in 1925. In 1942, the RSS, under M.S. Golwalkar completely abstained
from joining in the Quit India Movement as well. The Bombay government(British)
appreciated the RSS as such, by noting that,
"the Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law,
and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that
broke out in August 1942".
The British Government stated that the RSS was not at all
supporting any civil disobedience against them, and as such their other political
activities(even if objectionable) can be overlooked.[64] Further, the British
Government also asserted that at Sangh meetings organised during the times of
anti-British movements started and fought by the Indian National Congress,
"speakers urged the Sangh members to keep aloof from
the congress movement and these instructions were generally observed"
.
As such, the British government did not crack down on the
RSS and Hindu Mahasabha at all. The RSS head (sarsanghchalak) during that time,
M.S. Golwalkar later openly admitted to the fact that the RSS did not
participate in the Quit India Movement. However, such an attitude during the
Indian independence movement also led to the Sangh being viewed with distrust
and anger, both by the general Indian public, as well as certain members of the
organisation itself. In Golwalkar’s own words,
“In 1942 also, there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of
many. At that time too, the routine work of the Sangh continued. Sangh decided
not to do anything directly. ‘Sangh is the organisation of inactive people,
their talks have no substance’ was the opinion uttered not only by outsiders
but also our own swayamsevaks”
Overall, the Quit India Movement turned out to be not very
successful and only lasted until 1943. It drew away from Gandhi's tactic of
non-violence; it eventually became a rebellious act without any real leader.
Christmas Island Mutiny and Royal Indian Navy Revolt
Main articles: Battle of Christmas Island and Royal Indian
Navy Mutiny
After two Japanese attacks on Christmas Island in late
February and early March 1942, relations between the British officers and their
Indian troops broke down. On the night of 10 March, the Indian troops assisted
by Sikh policemen mutinied, killing five British soldiers and imprisoning the
remaining 21 Europeans on the island. Later on 31 March, a Japanese fleet
arrived at the island and the Indians surrendered.
The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny encompasses a total strike and
subsequent mutiny by Indian sailors of the Royal Indian revolt on board ship
and shore establishments at Bombay (Mumbai) harbour on 18 February 1946. From
the initial flashpoint in Bombay, the mutiny spread and found support
throughout British India, from Karachi to Calcutta and ultimately came to
involve 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 sailors.
The agitations, mass strikes, demonstrations and
consequently support for the mutineers, therefore continued several days even
after the mutiny had been called off. Along with this, the assessment may be
made that it described in crystal clear terms to the government that the
British Indian Armed forces could no longer be universally relied upon for
support in crisis, and even more it was more likely itself to be the source of
the sparks that would ignite trouble in a country fast slipping out of the
scenario of political settlement.
Sovereignty and partition of India
Main articles: History of the Republic of India, Partition
of India, and Pakistan movement
On 3 June 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last British
Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of British India into
India and Pakistan. With the speedy passage through the British Parliament of
the Indian Independence Act 1947, at 11:57 on 14 August 1947 Pakistan was
declared a separate nation, and at 12:02, just after midnight, on 15 August
1947, India also became a sovereign and democratic nation. Eventually, 15
August became the Independence Day for India, due to the ending of British rule
over India. On that 15 August, both Pakistan and India had the right to remain
in or remove themselves from the British Commonwealth. In 1949, India decided
to remain in the commonwealth.
Violent clashes between Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims followed.
Prime Minister Nehru and deputy prime minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel invited
Mountbatten to continue as Governor General of India. He was replaced in June
1948 by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Patel took on the responsibility of
bringing into the Indian Union 565 princely states, steering efforts by his
"iron fist in a velvet glove" policies, exemplified by the use of
military force to integrate Junagadh and Hyderabad State into India (Operation
Polo). On the other hand, Nehru kept the issue of Kashmir in his hands.[70]
The Constituent Assembly completed the work of drafting the
constitution on 26 November 1949; on 26 January 1950, the Republic of India was
officially proclaimed. The Constituent Assembly elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as
the first President of India, taking over from Governor General Rajgopalachari.
Subsequently, the French ceded Chandernagore in 1951, and Pondichéry and its
remaining Indian colonies in 1954. India invaded and annexed Goa and Portugal's
other Indian enclaves in 1961, and Sikkim voted to join the Indian Union in
1975.
Following self-rule in 1947, India remained in the
Commonwealth of Nations, and relations between the UK and India have been
friendly. There are many areas in which the two countries seek stronger ties
for mutual benefit, and there are also strong cultural and social ties between
the two nations. The UK has an ethnic Indian population of over 1.6 million. In
2010, Prime Minister David Cameron described Indian – British relations as a
"New Special Relationship".
