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Independence day special 15th August 2008 |
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History - The Struggle for Freedom
The day when India woke up to freedom back in 1947 was
a day of great celebration. A country got rid of her foreign yoke and became a sovereign
nation, she celebrated her sovereignty on this day - the triumph of numerous martyred
souls. It was a day of fulfillment, it was the day of a new beginning, a birth of
a nation.
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The India's freedom struggle includes a series of revolutions. Various regional
revolutions that rose against the British Empire were Kittur Rebellion in Karnataka,
Sannyasi Rebellion in Bengal, Santhal Rebellion in Bengal, Kutch Rebellion in Saurashatra.
The main Indian freedom struggle began with the Revolution of 1857. The revolt started
because of the growing difference between the Indian soldiers and their British
officers. On March, 1857, Mangal Paney a soldier of the Indian army attacked a British
Sergeant. For this he was hanged to death. After that the revolt broke out in other
places such as Meerut, Lucknow, Jhansi, Kanpur.
Then India's freedom struggle took a new turn. Organized movement started in India.
In the year 1867, Dadabahi Naoroji established East India Association. Surendranath
Banerjee formed Indian National Association in 1876. The organization was inspired
by A.O. Hume who was a retired British civil servant. Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj and
other socio-religious groups were also formed. Great men like Rabindra Nath Tagore,
Sri Aurobindo, Dadabhai Naoroji, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Subramanya
Bharathy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan ignited the passion
of freedom in the minds of the common people of India.
The Indian national movement took a major turn with the help of the members of the
Indian National Congress. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first person to demand for
Swaraj which means freedom. His famous sentence “Swaraj is my birthright, and I
shall have it” inspired many Indians. In the year 1885 the first meeting of the
Indian National Congress was arranged in Bombay. In the year 1907 the Indian National
Congress got split into two halves – The Extremist and the Moderates. The prominent
leaders of the Extremist group were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin
Chandra Pal. The moderates included Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and
Pherozeshah Mehta.
India's freedom struggle gained a new momentum with the entry of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi. He is a popular Indian leader and joined the Indian freedom struggle after
returning from South Africa. Gopal Krishna Gokahale became his mentor. Gandhi's
ideas and views about conducting non-violent struggle against the British appeared
baseless to some Congressmen.
The first non-cooperation movement urged the common people of India to use Khadi
and Indian made goods. It also urged the Indians to boycott everything which has
British connection. It became very popular but Gandhiji withdrew the movement after
the Chauri Chaura incident which killed twenty two police men. On 12th March, 1930
he started Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha.
In the 1900s many revolutionary activities also started in different states such
Bengal, Orissa, Maharastra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab. India's freedom struggle
reached its climax with the formation of Indian National Army or INA in the year
1942 by Subhash Chandra Bose. In 1942 Gandhiji launched another movement called
the Quit India movement. However, the movement failed and many important leaders
were arrested. Then series of India's freedom struggle continued to till independence
and finally in the year 1947 India became
independent.
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