The Story of Independence

The Story of Independence

India became independent ion 15th August 1947. At Delhi the Union Jack of the British Empire came down and up went the Tri-colour flag of a new India. Those who were born on that year are old today. Those who are young today are eager to know what this independence is all about. The first rumblings of struggle burst into flames during the time of the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. It took a hundred years after much blood shed and dashed hopes for the flag of free India to flutter from the ramparts of Red Fort, Delhi. A hundred years! Why did it take that long?

To find the answer one has to go back beyond the Mutiny. The Industrial Revolution in the West brought about gigantic changes in the pattern of manufacture. The demand arose for huge quantities of raw material. In search of this, propelled by steam ships the West began to foray into the East, especially India. Initially it was a private company – the East India Company that started the game of penetrating into the body polity of India. At that time the scene in India was ripe for foreign intervention. The Mughal Empire had collapsed. Local chieftains had raised their heads in Maratha and other places. In Bengal the Muslim Nawab had become independent of the Moghul Emperor in all but name. Roving bands of unpaid Mughal soldiers scoured the countryside depredating and looting.

There were dacoits known as Thugs of all types and creed. The local population was distressed sandwiched between these dacoits and lawlessness. One Indian ruler hated another. The western powers came as humble traders and got their trading rights from Delhi. Slowly they penetrated the country establishing a network of commerce backed by the power of the gun. Very cleverly they interfered in the struggle between local rulers to benefit themselves. There were many European powers in the fray – Dutch, French, Portuguese and of course the English amongst others. The sea faring English shrewdly defeated their western competitors on the one hand and on the other took over power from the native rulers, by playing one against the other. The British success reached its peak when Clive defeated Sirajuddulllah the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Clive succeeded by encouraging defection, betrayal and setting up of a puppet on the throne.

Behind the political war games was the economic rape of the country. After all it is for the loot of raw materials that the English had come. To cite the example of cotton. They took it from India to feed the cotton mills in Manchester and then shipped the finished goods back to India to stifle the local market in the commodity. Acres and acres of land were forcibly taken away from cultivation for production of industrial crops like indigo. The East India Company set up their headquarters in Calcutta – it being easy to navigate through the River Hoogly. By the Permanent Settlement they created a group, the zamindars, who worked for the benefit of the British by oppressing the native cultivators. By various farmans and decrees the English established a virtual monopoly over trade and began to enjoy indefinite tax holidays. From Bengal the English spread their tentacles to the rest of India playing the same game of divide and rule. This had a two-fold effect. On one hand the owners of the East India Company came into conflict with the their employees whom they were cheating while on the other the Company as a unit was cheating the British government. On the other hand there grew widespread discontent among the Indian masses who were just waiting for any reason to burst into flames.

The Doctrine of Lapse provided the matchstick. The English arbitrarily decreed that if any Indian ruler did not have a natural heir then the British would take over the property. It caused tremendous anger but who could argue? The British spoke with the guns in front of them. To add insult to abuse the English started interfering with the social and religious customs of the country. Sati or the burning of widows came to be banned, laws were passed allowing for widow remarriage and Christian Missionaries became aggressive in their proselytizing zeal. Thus economic, political and social causes combined to spread unrest. The mutineers were emboldened by the fact that proportionately the Indian soldiers outnumbered the British by more than three times the number. The immediate cause was the introduction of the Enfield rifle, which required the soldier to use his mouth to remove the cartridges. Rumour spread that the cartridges were greased with either cow or pig’s fat – both animals being strictly taboo to Hindus and Muslims respectively.

The fire of revolt broke out in Barrackpore and Berhampore in West Bengal during the early part of 1857 led by the heroic sepoy Mangal Pandey and spread right across the country from the Jhelum to the Narmada. The outbreak at Barrackpore was quickly and ruthlessly suppressed. Mangal Pandey was hanged. But the mutiny surfaced with avenging ferocity from Meerut in May 1857 and spread like wild fire led by Nana Saheb of Maharastra, the rulers of Oudh and the Rani of Jhansi. Another prominent figure was Tantia Topi a Maharashtrian Brahmin who gave the leadership in Central India when his 20,000 supporters joined Nana Saheb. The English were mercilessly butchered en masse. Women and children were not spared. But the English soon retaliated. The mutiny failed. The Rani of Jhansi was killed in a battle, Nana Saheb ran into the jungles to end his days as a fugitive and Tantia Topi was betrayed, caught and hanged.

Why did the mutiny fail? Firstly as regards arms and ammunitions the British were far ahead of their opponents. The old breech-loaders were no match for the English muzzle loaders. It was the same with communication. The British used postal and telegraph systems to full advantage while the rebels shied away from anything modern as tainted and foreign. The English were fortunate enough to get the support of a majority of the feudal chiefs like Dinkar Rao of Gwalior, Salar Jung of Hyderabad, Jang Bahadur of Nepal and the Sikhs. The local population preferred the law and order of the British to the anarchy of the rebels. On the positive side able and wise leaders served the English. The mutineers were disorganized and localized. There was no cohesion and an all India plan.

The main result of the Mutiny was the end of the rule of the East India Company and the establishment of the rule of the British crown. It was the stern rule of British imperialism. The 1857 riots and its failure led to the birth of extremism in politics giving the movement for Independence a pan-Indian character. The confidence and rapport between India and England snapped to be replaced by distrust and lack of confidence. This was the major contribution of the 1857 revolt to the shaping of a new India.

For hundred years more the British flag fluttered proudly. But time and tide changes. The British began to educate the Indians in their ways of democracy and this proved to be their undoing. The new Indians began to thirst for the very freedom, which they had learnt from the British textbooks and teachers.

The breaking of the dawn of a new India has behind it economic, social and political reasons. On the social side the Brahmo Smaj in Bengal, the Prarthana Samaj and Arya Samaj in North India and the Theosophical Society in South India brought about great changes. The Ramakrishna Mission set up by Swami Vivekananda gave a new meaning to ancient India’s spiritual health and heritage. With this came the spread of English education. The Indian learnt to master the secrets of technological power. To make matters more conducive the Viceregal seat came to be occupied by enlightened men like Lord Ripon and Lord Bentinck, who took an active part in building up a new India. All combined to build up the right political atmosphere to challenge the British with their own tools – education and technology combined with a feeling of love for Motherland.

Meanwhile Britain had got embroiled with two World Wars with Germany. Germany too wanted to a share of the colonial loot but the allies would not allow it. It was a fight to the finish scenario and although Germany was humbled with America supporting the Allies, Britain came out exhausted and tired. On the one hand she had to tackle the German menace and on the other deal with the growing surge of Indian nationalism that began to close in on her. Britain began to find it difficult to retain her Empire.

M.K Gandhi led the Indians. Gandhi introduced a unique method of movement – the non-violent method of driving home the point. The British were baffled with this simple leader of the masses in a loincloth drinking goat’s milk and fasting frequently to make him be heard. There grew around Gandhi a tremendous following of the masses – the numbers began to swell by the day. Gandhi was ably followed and assisted by his protégé Nehru.

Another leader of substance who shook the pages of history was Subhas Chandra Bose. Bose believed that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. So he took up an opposite stand. He did not believe in appeasement. Subhas sought German and Japanese help to build up the Indian National Army to fight out the British and accept Independence on Indian terms. But Subhas at the last minute of success disappeared from the scene under a cloud of mystery raising many unanswered questions.

Against this background the wily British chose the path of divide and rule. They pitched the Muslims and Hindus against each other to their own advantage. Out of this was born Pakistan – a country with two arms at two ends of the sub-continent – West and East Pakistan comprising of Muslims only. The Hindus were thrown out lock stock and barrel leading to one of the worst holocausts of history ever to be recorded. Punjab and Bengal paid the price and were divided into two. Thus due to many forces – social, economic, political and manipulations of leaders power was transferred from the Britain to India in 1947. It was a bleeding and truncated India. The climax came with the assassination of Gandhi by some disgruntled elements.

Sixty years has passed. In the historical perspective it is still too soon to analyze the issue. But emotion should not blind us to the fact that India was never a political unity from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Assam to Gujarat till the coming of the British. Even the mighty Moghuls could not rule from mountain to ocean unchallenged. This has been the pattern of Indian history. There have been many kingdoms like Kashi, Kosala and Magadha but never one political unit in the modern sense. There was the unifying idea of the Indian subcontinent – Bharatvarsha. For economic and political gains the British had to bring this unity into effect. India is a land of many customs and languages with Sanskrit (and its modifications) Tamil and Urdu in the forefront. What binds the Indian subcontinent from time immemorial is her spiritualism. It will be too narrow and typical to term this as Hinduism. It is no ‘ism’ but something far beyond that, which embraces all and everything into its maternal fold. India’s greatness cannot be measured by the shine of her economy. It is something beyond shopping malls and zooming cars. Thus A.L Basham has rightly titled his masterpiece on Indian history as The Wonder That Was India.