Indian Independence Movement

The Indian Independence Movement was a series of revolutions empowered by the people of India put forth to battle the British Empire for complete political independence, beginning with the Rebellion of 1857, reaching its climax with Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Movement (1942-1945), and Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army invasion of British India during World War II, and freedom came on August 15, 1947.

Independence, 1947 to 1950

World War II not only changed the map of the world, it also helped mature British public opinion on India.

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The Labour Party's election victory in 1945 helped reassess the merits of the traditional policies. While the British was negotiating to transfer power to India, the Muslim League renewed its demand for the formation of Pakistan. Jinnah was opposed to sharing power with the Indian National Congress, he declared 16 August, 1946 as Direct Action Day, which brought communal rioting in many places in the north. Over 5,000 people were killed, mostly Hindus. On 3 June, 1947, Viscount Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, announced plans for partition of the British Indian Empire into secular India, and Muslim Pakistan, which itself was divided into east and west wings on either side of India.

Related Topics:
Labour Party - Election victory - 16 August - 1946 - Direct Action Day - 3 June - 1947 - Louis Mountbatten - Pakistan

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For more detailed information, see the Partition of India.

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At midnight, on August 15, 1947, amidst ecstatic shouting of "Jai Hind" (Victory to India), India became an independent nation, with its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru delivering his famous speech on India's tryst with destiny. Gandhi did not support the idea of partition of India, so he did not participate in the celebration of Indian Independence. He spent the day fasting and praying in Kolkata. Concurrently, the Muslim northwest and northeast of British India were separated into the nation of Pakistan. Violent clashes between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs followed this partition. The area of Kashmir in the far north of the subcontinent quickly became a source of controversy that erupted into the First Indo-Pakistani War which lasted from 1947 to 1949.

Related Topics:
August 15 - 1947 - Jai Hind - Prime minister - Jawaharlal Nehru - Tryst with destiny - Kolkata - Hindu - Muslim - Sikh - Kashmir - First Indo-Pakistani War

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Both India and Pakistan were Dominions within the Empire, granted full self-rule, but with the King of England as their titular head of state, and the Governor General as the King's representative. Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel invited Lord Mountbatten to continue as Governor General of India. He was replaced in June 1948, by Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, a veteran Congress leader. Mohammed Ali Jinnah took charge as Pakistan's Governor General, and Liaquat Ali Khan became the Muslim state's Prime Minister. The Constituent Assemblies of both Dominions would serve as their respective legislative bodies.

Related Topics:
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel - Chakravarti Rajgopalachari - Mohammed Ali Jinnah - Liaquat Ali Khan

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One man rose to the challenges faced by the tumultuous birth of a gigantic nation like no other: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

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As India's Home Minister, Sardar Patel was the leader of all-out efforts to stop communal violence; caring and rehabilitation for the 10 million Hindu and Sikh refugees pouring in from Pakistan.

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As Minister for the States, Patel had the awesome responsibility of welding 565 princely states, not parts of the India that would become free on August 15th, 1947, leaving it half its natural size of today. Patel nevertheless managed by ingenious velvet glove and fist diplomacy to obtain the accession of 562 states, appealing to the patriotism of the kings and if necessary, pointing out the insurmountable and rising threat of the people's thirst for democracy and a united nation to live in. Patel also established democratic governments to rule those states while the Constitution was being prepared.

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Sardar Patel however, had to use force to obtain the accession of Hyderabad state. Its Muslim ruler was holding out, and even threatening to accede to Pakistan. Its 85% Hindu majority population was being oppressed, entirely shunt out of political participation, and a Muslim terrorist group propping the ruler up, called the Razakars, attacked towns and villages in India. The growing danger to India's stability, security and future by Hyderabad's oppressive monarchy could not be tolerated, and Indian forces were sent in by Patel to liberate it in May of 1948. The state of Junagadh in Gujarat was similarly liberated, after its Muslim nawab acceeded to Pakistan despite a formidable geographical separation from it, and an 80% Hindu majority population.

Related Topics:
Hyderabad - Junagadh - Gujarat - Pakistan

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India's Constituent Assembly, under its President Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Chairman of the Drafting Committee B.R. Ambedkar, began the work of drafting the Constitution. On January 26 1949, the work was officially completed and on January 26 1950, the Republic of India was declared. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected by the Constituent Assembly to be the first President of India, taking over from Governor General Rajgopalachari. India thus officially left the British Empire, but opted to join the newly-formed Commonwealth of Nations.

Related Topics:
Rajendra Prasad - B.R. Ambedkar - President of India - Commonwealth of Nations

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But before the full culmination of the sacrifices of a generation of Indians, terrible tragedies had occurred. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30 1948, by a Hindu fanatic who held him responsible for partition. The whole nation trembled in shock, and literally millions of people poured out in Delhi to follow Gandhi's funeral caravan. Fond eulogies poured in from men like Albert Einstein and U.S. President Harry Truman, and even the mighty British nation, the beaten adversary of this frail old man, joined in grieving and genuine sorrow. On December 25 1950, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Iron Man of India, the strongest Congress leader and Gandhi's loyal lieutenant died of a heart attack. Patel had suffered his first heart attack within a month of Gandhi's passing, as the bottled-up grief over the Mahatma's passing exploded and nearly killed him. Sardar Patel's most enduring contributions had come just after independence.

Related Topics:
Mahatma Gandhi - Delhi - Albert Einstein - Harry Truman - Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

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The India which stepped into the latter half of the 20th century, free and sovereign, did not include Goa, until it was liberated from Portuguese control in 1961, and Pondicherry, which the French ceded in 1953-54.

Related Topics:
Goa - Pondicherry

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In 1952, India held its first democratic General Elections, with a turnout of voters exceeding 62%, making it in practice the World's Largest Democracy.

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