The disappearance of the British Raj in India is at present, and must for a long time be, simply inconceivable. That it should be replaced by a native Government or Governments is the wildest of wild dreams … As soon as the last British soldier sailed from Bombay or Karachi, India would become the battlefield of antagonistic racial and religious forces … [and] the peaceful and progressive civilization, which Great Britain has slowly by surely brought into India, would shrivel up in a night.
J. E. WELLDON, former Bishop of Calcutta, 1915
I have no doubt that if British governments had been prepared to grant in 1900 what they refused in 1900 but granted in 1920; or to grant in 1920 what they refused in 1920 but granted in 1940; or to grant in 1940 what they refused in 1940 but granted in 1947 – then nine-tenths of the misery, hatred, and violence, the imprisonings and terrorism, the murders, floggings, shootings, assassinations, even the racial massacres would have been avoided; the transference of power might well have been accomplished peacefully; even possibly without Partition.
LEONARD WOOLF, 1967
Before I picked up this book, recommended by Sameera, I had never realized how little Indian history do I know. We had chapters on the Indian Freedom Movement but we never studied the events that unfolded after the independence. By reading this book I hope to start my journey into the vastly complicated history of India.
India is an amazing medley of culture. There are over 20 officially recognized languages spoken in India. Travel north to east, or south to west and you’ll find different cultures, festivals and beliefs. And yet we all identify ourselves as citizens of India.
What unites us? Some parts of India has always been under conflict. The author says that if you were to color the conflict areas and play it chronologically you could see the story of India unfold. Yet, the conflict area has never been more than 50%, which means more than half the country has always been at peace with itself. And no state has managed to successfully break apart from India. None except Pakistan and that story is in a later chapter.
26th January 1930 is when India celebrated its first Independence day. Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of an Independence day was to come together at a predetermined time to celebrate by hoisting the national flag. The rest of the day would be spent in doing constructive work – spinning, service of untouchables, reunion of Hindus and Mussalmans, prohibition work or even all these together. It was also the day when Jawaharlal Nehru was chosen as the President of Indian National Congress.
26th January was the day we had chosen for our Independence.
Every year after 1930, Congress-minded Indians celebrated 26 January as Independence Day. However, when the British finally left the subcontinent, they chose to hand over power on 15 August 1947. This date was selected by Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, as it was the second anniversary of the Japanese surrender to the Allied Forces in the Second World War. He, and the politicians waiting to take office, were unwilling to delay until the date some others would have preferred – 26 January 1948. So freedom finally came on a day that resonated with imperial pride rather than nationalist sentiment.
Mahatma Gandhi, or Bapu as he was more affectionately known as, had played the biggest role in the freedom struggle, and yet how little do I know about him. When the entire country was celebrating the Independence Day Mahatma Gandhi was fasting.
Gandhi marked 15 August 1947 with a twenty-four-hour fast. The freedom he had struggled so long for had come at an unacceptable price. Independence had also meant Partition.
The rest of the chapter was too emotional. It tells you about a man, who at the age of 77, wanted to travel from the East in Bengal to the West in Punjab and reconcile the Hindus and the Mussalmans. Communal violence flared up in both the states after the announcement of Partition was made. Mahatma Gandhi’s final fast was addressed to three different constituencies:
- To the people of India that if they did not believe in two-nation theory then they needed to start showing it. He wanted people from all religions to live peacefully in a united state. Even till the day he died he believed that India and Pakistan would be like brothers helping out each other, after all they had shared hundreds of years of history being together as one.
- To the government of Pakistan to put an end to the driving out of minorities from their territory. Even after the partition Jawaharlal Nehru had visited Lahore and spoken to the people to get the situation under control, while all that Jinnah could do was to visit Lahore under a veil surrounded by heavy security.
- To the government of India to release the funds they had withheld from Pakistan.
And being the super-human that Mahatma Gandhi was, everyone decided to stop the violence and declared a pledge to protect life, property and faith of Muslims and that the incidents of Delhi would not be repeated anywhere else.
But India has such a diverse population. Even the most optimal solution would leave lot of people pissed at you. So was the case with Nathuram Godse. Yes, he has given a very convincing speech of why he killed the Mahatma, but having read this chapter I think India would have done much better with Mahatma Gandhi than it has done without. Even with his death Mahatma Gandhi achieved the near impossible –
Gandhi could not reconcile, in life, Hindu with Muslim, but he did reconcile, through his death Jawaharlal Nehru with Vallabhbhai Patel. It was a patch-up of rather considerable consequence for the new and very fragile nation.
I am now beginning to understand what the author meant when he said that although we are talking about the economic development of the country the story of India’s achievement is the political magic that has managed to keep the country united despite unfavourable predictions.
Indians can be divided up into groups based on their religion, caste, rank and the class with women in each group being the most mistreated ones. But I think, and have real hopes, that the new generation of a new Young India is starting to slowly bridge the differences and unite together. The year of 1947 seems like the Dark Ages compared to the peace we have in our present time. Unofficial records puts the count of casualties in Partition of India at around 2 million! The impossible feat of greatest migration of people in world history was accomplished in less than 6 weeks!