Category Social Sciences

After the failure of the First Round Table Conference, the British Government decided to try for a compromise with Gandhiji, who had been arrested and put in prison.

On 26th January 1931, Gandhiji was released from prison along with other Congress leaders. The Viceroy invited Gandhiji to Delhi for talks, and the result of these talks was the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.

 The pact was a political agreement that was signed between Mahatma Gandhi and the then Viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, on 5th March 1931. According to this agreement, it was decided that the Civil Disobedience Movement would be discontinued, and that steps would be taken for the Congress to participate in the Second Round Table Conference.

 The pact was welcomed as a triumph for the Congress, but there were many who felt that the demands of the Indians had not been given due recognition. 

 The three Round Table Conferences of 1930-32 were a series of conferences that were organized to chalk out the future constitution of India in the light of suggestions given by the Indian leaders.

 The First Round Table Conference was held from 12th November 1930 to 19th January 1931. The Congress boycotted the conference as its demand for a discussion on ‘Purna Swaraj’ of India was rejected by the British Government.

Continue reading “What were the Round Table Conferences?”

The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny, also known as the Bombay Mutiny, took place in 1946. The mutiny was sparked by the arrogance of the British officers. It started as a strike by the Indian sailors to protest against the hardships regarding pay, food, and racial discrimination.

 It began on board the ships as well as the shore establishments at Bombay harbour on 18th February 1946. From the initial flashpoint in Bombay, the revolt spread, and found support throughout British India, from Karachi to Calcutta.

 It ultimately involved 66 ships, shore establishments, and 10,000 sailors. The mutineers hoisted three flags tied together on the ships which they had captured -one of Congress, one of Muslim League, and the third, the red flag of the Communist Party of India.

 The mutiny was ended by the intervention of Sardar Patel. 

Soon after India won her hard earned independence, the celebrations were cut short by the tragedy of communal riots that followed the partition of India.

The actual transfer of power to India and Pakistan proved to be bloody and bitter. Hindus living for generations in what was to become Pakistan had to flee their homes overnight.

At the same time, millions of Muslims abandoned their homes to cross the border into Pakistan. In the chaotic days and months following the independence of India and Pakistan, violence multiplied as religious sentiment intensified, and there was little in the way of police or military to maintain law and order.

Continue reading “What was the tragedy that shadowed the joy of independence?”

In the year 1950, the Republic of India was born, the year that India took its rightful place among the sovereign nations of the world. India, under Gandhiji had struggled through decades of passive resistance, before Britain finally accepted Indian independence.

On August 15th 1947, what should have been one united nation became two separate, independent nations of India and Pakistan.

After independence was won in 1947, India’s Parliament wrote a constitution that changed India’s status as a dominion of the British Empire to a fully independent republic, a federated nation, and a union of states.

 This constitution became the law on 26th January 1950, which is celebrated as India’s Republic Day. The new nation faced many challenges. These included the integration of the former princely states into the Indian union, and dealing with movements for greater autonomy in some states. Yet, it could hold up its head with pride as having emerged as the world’s largest democracy- and one that has inspired others to seek freedom through a non-violent revolution. 

Writers and poets played an important role in India’s independence movement for them breathed life into the concepts and visions of freedom. The Movement, just like the French revolution, witnessed a lot of literary works that motivate the Indians to fight till the end.

 Both known and unknown poets kept the spirit of freedom alive even during the bleakest hours of the struggle with their immortal words.

Rabindranath Tagore, Muhammad lqbal, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Subramania Bharati, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Sri Aurobindo, and Gandhiji himself are just some of the names that come instantly to the mind. These writings were not only in English but in the regional languages as well.

 As the freedom movement strengthened and attracted more sections of the people, it was the poets, writers and journalists who cemented the people’s resolve never to give up till freedom was won.