The most common misconception is that
The Indian Independence Struggle started with The Mahatma, or with The
Lokamanya, or indeed with Gopal Krishn Gokhale; a rising stream of thought
credits Netaji, with another stream adamant on crediting The Mahatma; nothing could be more simplistic; and
nothing could a more incomplete picture of the true story.
The events leading upto and of 1857
were integrally connected with the Independence Struggle in the latter period
of 1900-1947, and deserve equal credit. Furthermore, crediting any one single
event or source is also not advisable. Such an attempt assumes history to be a
standstill pond – rather than the river it is in reality. Let us look at the
full picture in a relative short panoramic and simplified view, focussing on
key factors that will hopefully place the entire scenario in front of everyone’s
eyes
FACT NO 1 : THE INDIAN NATIONAL
CONGRESS {Let us first
settle this, as it is at the center of the current debate}
No Indian could have started The
Congress; If an Indian had come forward... the officials would not have allowed
it to come into existence - Gopal Krishna Gokhale... [ISFI / Bipin C Pal et al]
The INC was not formed by the
British; it was not a sudden event, as the entire sequence traced from around
mid 1860s shows. Please read the truncated article for more - ideally the
referenced book for detailed evidence and proof. The reason was simple - at
this stage, there was no struggle as we know it; it was all about getting
greater concessions and better life for the people within the Raj. The
Lokamanya and Poorna Swaraj lay all in the future at this juncture. This stage
was all about fighting court cases, and more court cases.
Why this was so? Why was there no
demand for more? And where did these leaders arise from? Read on further for
the truth.
FACT NO 2 : INDIA
{Before
we dwell on the above questions – it is imperative that we dispel the myth that
India was one political entity}
"So, we are looking at a people
in a state of flux, a people in whom the first stirrings on national thought
had begun to awaken. For example, the family of the Authorrefers to the trip
to Gwalior as a trip to "Hindustan", "their women are full
of wiles and entice an innocent man" . We are looking at our India in
a proto-nationhood stage of its lifecycle, and that is the prime take-away from
this book... " [Italics from : TRSOTGU, M Pande / Vishnu Bhatt Versaikar
Godse]
Despite the many claims of United
India going back eaons, the fact is that there was no concept of a politically
united India as late as 1885 - the date the above book was penned. There was a
realisation of a strong cultural union; of the concept of Bharat; of an
interdependent economic and socio-political concept [ORL - Parag Tope / EI
- Romila Thapar / TLOTSR - Sanjeev Sanyal] - but politically the people were just
stirring in the mid-to-late 1800s. When and how did this stirring happen? Read
on...
FACT NO 3 : THE START OF THE FIGHT
It is commonly assumed that the real
struggle started around 1905 - 1915; this is counter factual for the following
reasons :
The anti British sentiment was
building up rapidly due to socio-cultural, religious, political and economic
reasons from the early 1800s almost like a tidal wave, with a series of
movements and revolts, and wars being fought against the British - culminating
in the grand-daddy of them all, the First War Of Independence. The origin of
these feelings lay in the period from 1757- early 1800s, with a series of
events that rocked the foundation of life in India. The full-on attack on
Religion, Arts, Language, Culture, Society, Economy in India was stinging,
brutal, forceful- and hard. That is what kindled the War of 1857.
The evidence of this attack from 1757
till 1857 is aplenty – from the denigration of traditional education, to the
virtual destruction of our handicrafts and arts; from the wrecking of the existing industrial strength [TCOI – Will Durant; IEUBR – Irfan Habib] to full-on targeting
of religion with open targeted attempts at conversion and clear targeting of
Sanaatani as well as Islamic people [ORL – Parag Tope; TSOMEWTT – Mahatma
Gandhi], to the destruction of the agricultural backbone, to the
targeting of our beliefs and degradation of our dramatics and culture.
We can see the impact as late as the 880s
– 1890s in The Mahatma’s autobiography
of open conversion pressure; other sources above make the picture crystal clear.
Given the first-person account of [TSOMEWTT – Mahatma Gandhi],
it is a valuable window into those tumultuous times, despite it being dated
some 40 years afterwards. . Thus, by the turn of the 1840s, the situation was
ripe for major upheaval, with every aspect of life in India being under a
vicious attack. That lead to a solidification of forces, and perhaps a first
stirring on oneness, of us versus them on a relatively national scale
The evidence is catergorically clear
- The Rani of Gwalior, with the Pune rulers sent letters to a series of local
rulers from mid to late 1840s, culminating in the Bahadur Shah Zafar
Decleration [ORL, Parag Tope]. The contents of that
Decleration, given in the references, make the matter clear, and virtually
beyond debate. Thus, by the time we reach 1857, we have a set of rulers aligned
against the British, smarting under the insults and the damage; we have a
people whose entire life – earnings, eating, music, life, culture, religion
everything was under direct external attack. The combination proved deadly,
almost – as they rose as one... [ORL-Parag Tope]
This was the start of the fight
against the British - a common, massive uprising - one that was brutally
crushed in what is one of the most heinious genocides ever conducted in Human
History [ORL - Parag Tope, TRSOTGU - Pande-Godse], when
villages, towns, cities were exerminated by the British - it stands as one of
the largest targeted war on civilian non-combatants conducted with the express
purpose of bludgeoning a people into hopeless surrender. And that is where
things stands as the year 1859 turns to 1860...
[culture - extrapolated from BI:TURCI
- Pavan Verma; also in ORL - Parag Tope; full research in VST - Maria Misra,
FTROE-Pankaj Mishra, rising anger in ISFI / Bipin C Pal et al, Economic
Destruction in IEUBR - Irfan Habib, AEHOI - RC Dutt, and in Tope book]
FACT NO 4 : THE LINK FROM 1857
By the beginning of the 1860s, India
lay in a total shambles; the old order had crumbled fully, and there was a
void; the people were shocked into senseless surrender - leaving no question of
an independence struggle, The combined fight against the intruder had been
brutally crushed, and not by courage & war, but by brutality, fighting
civilians and crushing the people, and mass genocide. In such an atmosphere,
there was no question of a struggle.
It is from this void that arose the
first set of leaders, people who went on to create the Indian National
Congress. This was the link; without 1857, 1947 was a pipe dream. 1857 is what
caused and practically assured 1947 - in almost every way you can think of.
This period also made clear one thing - the fight had to be done differently,
an armed war was out of the question.
That is why you have the lawyers
fighting in courts for greater amenities from 1870s-1900s - which the British
gleefully allowed in their short-sighted myopia. That is why you have the
rising local groupings, that went onto become almost one by the 1930s.
1857 was lost due to treachery - as
some Indians supported the British; this was a learning well learnt- as
the first task became eradicating treachery and building a consensus - a
feeling of nationalism. The next large scale uprising was also similarly lost,
as the plans were in British hands within minutes of finalisation, by two
treachorous swines in our midst.
1857 also lead to the communal
problem, as the British that there was a need to divide the two communities.
Enter Divide and Rule. End of United India dreams. From this point onwards,
United India was impossible.
1857 was thus the prime mover and causative in
1947...
[ORL - Parag Tope; ISFI - Bipin C Pal
et al; BD:TUOAN - Nitish Sengupta]
I have attempted to trace the
Independence struggle as one continuous flow right from the 1700s till 1857, as
well as lay bare the reality that Independence was only feasible the way we had
it; and that one cannot lay the laurels on any one person alone. As we stand on
the cusp of the 1900s, we see a fledgling INC debating in the courts and
fighting for greater rights, and a rising tide on two fronts – the bolder
leaders who started to desire more than just rights... and the second front
being... the rise of communalism as the British policy of Divide and Rule began
to pay rich dividends, culminating in what I and [TSOTGG - Narendra
Singh Sarila ] call the Anglo Muslim League Alliance... this is what
we look at in the second and concluding article on The Independence Struggle
REFERENCES {consulted and read during the past 7 years of study; the article above is a collective result of the following. Where stated above, the relevant sections were basis some facts stated in the referenced book enabling me to understand or to extrapolate} :
1.
[IFSI Bipin C Pal] : India' Struggle for Independence, Bipin C Pal et al
2.
[TRSOTGU, M Pande / Vishnu Bhatt Versaikar Godse]: The Real Story Of The Great Uprising,
written by Vishnu Bhatt Versaikar Godse, translation by Mrinal Pande
3.
[ORL, Parag Tope] : Operation Red Lotus, Parag Tope
4.
[TLOTSR, Sanjeev Sanyal] : The Land Of The Seven Rivers, Sanjeev Sanyal
5.
[IE, Romila Thapar] - Early India by Romila Thapar
6.
[BI:TURCI - Pavan Verma] : Becoming Indian - The Unfinshed Revolution Of Culture And Identity,
Pavan Verma
7.
[VST - Maria Misra] : Vishnu's Crowded Temple, Maria Misra
8.
[FTROE-Pankaj Mishra] : From The Ruins Of Empire - The Revolt Against The West and The Rise of
Asia - Pankaj Mishra
9.
[IEUBR - Irfan Habib] - Indian Economy Under Early British Rule, Irfan Habib
10.
[AEHOI - RC Dutt] : An Economic History Of India, RC Dutt
11.
[BD:TUOAN - Nitish Sengupta] - Bengal Divided - The Unmaking Of A Nation, Nitish Sengupta
12.
[F : Arun Shourie] - Fatwa by Arun Shourie
13.
[Jinnah : Jaswant Singh] : Jinnah : India, Partition, Independence by Jaswant Singh
14.
[TSOTGG - Narendra Singh Sarila] - Partition : The Shadow Of The Great Game by
Narendra Singh Sarila
15.
[TCOI – Will Durant] – The Case For India by Will Durant
16.
[TSOMEWTT – Mahatma Gandhi] – The Story Of My Experiments With The Truth by Mahatma Gandhi
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