The Freedom Struggle

Vasco da Gama from Portugal came to trade his country's goods in return for Indian species. The French came and established their colonies in India.The British company known as English East India Company came to India in 1600 AD as traders. The Company has exclusive rights to trade in India. In the year 1765 the East India Company obtained “Diwani” (Rights over revenue and civil justice) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

After the Sepoy mutiny in the year 1858, British crown assumed direct responsibility for the governance of India. Continued up to August 15, 1947, afterward India is a free India. (India got independence). The Britishers ruled over India for nearly 200 years. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British achieved political power in India. The British power gained its heights during the middle of the 19th century.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857:
It came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independence.The Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically.

End of the East India Company:
Queen Victoria's Proclamation of November 1, 1858 declared that thereafter India would be governed by and in the name of the British Monarch through a Secretary of State. The Governor General was given title of Viceroy, which meant the representative of the Monarch. Queen Victoria assumed the title of the Empress of India and thus gave the British Government unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affair of the Indian states.

The leadership of the freedom movement passed into the hands of reformists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the BrahmoSamaj in 1828 which aimed at purging the society of all its evil practices.

He worked for eradicating evils like sati, child marriage and purdah system, championed widow marriage and women's education and favoured English system of education in India. It was through his effort that sati was declared a legal offence by the British.

Formation of Indian National Congress (INC):
The foundations of the Indian National Movement were laid by Suredranath Banerjee with the formation of Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the Association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take the value of united action. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded, with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and was attended among others by and Badr-uddin-Tyabji.

The launching of the "Swadeshi Movement" by leaders such as BalGangadharTilak and AurobindoGhose. The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by DadabhaiNaoroji, gave a call for attainment of 'Swaraj' a type of self-government elected by the people within the British Dominion, as it prevailed in Canada and Australia, which were also the parts of the British Empire.

BalGangadharTilak, LalaLajpatRai and Bipin Chandra Pal paid a virtual war against the British, on the other side, the revolutionaries stepped up their violent activities there was a widespread unrest in the country. Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. This caused widespread indignation, led to massive demonstration and hartals, which the Government repressed with brutal measures like the JaliawallaBagh massacre.

JallianwalaBagh Massacre:
JalianwalaBagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at JalianwalaBagh, adjacent to Golden Temple (Amritsar), to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. General Dyer appeared suddenly with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children.

Gandhi:
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the Congress. During this struggle, Gandhi had developed the novel method of non-violent agitation, which he called 'Satyagraha', loosely translated as 'moral domination'. Gandhi, himself a devout Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of tolerance, brotherhood of all religions, non-violence (ahimsa) and of simple living. With this, new leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose also emerged on the part and adoption of complete independence.

The Non-Cooperation Movement:
The Non-Cooperation Movement was pitched in under leadership of Gandhi. This movement was a great success as it got massive encouragement to millions of Indians.

Simon Commission:
The Simon Commission was sent to India in 1927 by the British Government to suggest further reforms in the structure of Indian Government. The Commission did not include any Indian member and the Government showed no intention of accepting the demand for Swaraj. Therefore, it sparked a wave of protests all over the country and the Congress as well as the Muslim League gave a call to boycott it under the leadership of LalaLajpatRai. The crowds were lathi charged and LalaLajpatRai, also called Sher-e-Punjab (Lion of Punjab) died of the blows received in an agitation.

Civil Disobedience Movement:
Gandhi led the Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929. The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. During this movement it was decided that India would celebrate 26th January as Independence Day all over the country. On 26th January 1930, meetings were held all over the country and the Congress tricolour was hoisted. The British Government tried to repress the movement and resorted to brutal firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country Following this, Round Table Conferences were arranged by the British and Gandhiji attended Round Table Conference at London. But nothing came out of the conference and the Civil Disobedience Movement was revived.

During this time, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were arrested on the charges of throwing a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall (which is now LokSabha) in Delhi, to demonstrate against the autocratic alien rule. They were hanged to death on March 23, 1931.

Quit India Movement:
Gandhiji started the 'Quit India Movement' in 1942and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement 'Do or Die' call to force the British to leave India. A large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement.

NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose:
He urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement."Give me blood and I shall give you freedom" - was one of the most popular statements made by NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose. During the Quit India Movement he cautiously ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to upheaval the British from India.with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India.

Cabinet Mission Plan:
A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was unbending the problem of partition.

India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. He said a statement that at the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom and India discovers herself again.

T Anand