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The founder of the Kuka Movement was believed to be Bhagat Jawahar Mal. It started as a religious movement with a view to reforming the Sikh religion.

The Kuka Movement sought to abolish the caste system in the Sikhism, and create a society based on equality. It advocated woman's freedom, and discouraged non-vegetarianism.

In time, the Kuka Movement turned into a political struggle against the British. Ram Singh Kuka, one of the famous leaders of the Kuka Movement, believed in the policy of non-cooperation with the British. He gave a call to his followers to boycott British goods, government schools, and government posts.

As the movement picked up momentum, the British reacted violently, crushed the movement, and killed many Kuka freedom fighters. Ram Singh, known to his followers as Satguru, gave a call to his followers for boycott of British goods. He was deported by the British to Burma, where he died in 1885.

 The Kuka Revolt is also known as the Namdhari Movement. 

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. 

 The colonial period in India set off an explosion of poetry, both in English and the regional languages. The poems were revolutionary, and brimming with nationalism.

 In the North, the poetry of Ajit Singh, Nandal Noorpoori, and others inspired mass movements and revolutionary activities.

From Bengal, two immortal songs- Vande mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore's Jana Gana Mana- are just some of the works that stir our hearts and souls to this very day.

In the South, Subramania Bharati's first collection of poems was titled ‘Songs of Freedom’ and his words consolidated the spirit of devotion and patriotism, struggle and sacrifice. The poetry of Wajid Ali Shah in Lucknow and Ghalib and Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi, along with many others, all lyrically ushered in the dawn of freedom.

Rabindranath Tagore was a scholar, freedom fighter, writer and painter, but above all, he was a patriot. He wrote poems, songs, and stories about different aspects of India's culture and society.

Tagore had a profound influence on Bengali literature and music and he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his collection of poems titled ‘Gitanjali’. He wrote both in Bengali and English, and his works proved to be path breaking and revolutionary.

 The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre filled him with such anguish that he returned the knighthood that the British Government had bestowed upon him. Two of his poems have become the national anthems of two countries- India and Bangladesh-while many others are so charged with emotion and patriotism, that they inspire millions to this very day. 

 Subramania Bharati is considered to be one of the greatest Tamil poets. Most of his works were on religious, political, and social themes.

 The Partition of Bengal on 28th September 1905 brought Bharati, like many others, more actively in the public and political life through movements of boycott and Swadeshi.

 He attended the Congress session at Benares in 1905, with Gokhale as President, and also the next session at Calcutta, with Dadabhai as President. He became a champion of women's rights and welfare and wrote ‘Nations are made of homes. And so long as you do not have justice and equality fully practiced at home; you cannot expect to see them practiced in your public life’.

 Bharati believed in equal freedom for all without distinction of caste, class, and creed, as is evident in his poetry. In fact, for Bharati, poetry was life, and his life was poetry. 

Muhammad lqbal was a great poet, and philosopher. He is commonly referred to as Allama lqbal.

Iqbal attacked both Hindu and Muslim fanaticism, ridiculed orthodox mullahs and pandits, and exhorted not only Indians but Asians against western imperialism. Iqbal's vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India was to inspire the creation of Pakistan.

Iqbal will always be remembered for his most famous poem – ‘Sare Jahaan Se Achha’. This poem became a symbol of resistance to the English rule of British-occupied India.

 It is one of the enduring patriotic poems in the Urdu language. The lyrics are so simple, elegant, rhythmic, and beautiful.

The musical composition is so melodious that lqbal's ‘Sare Jahaan Se Achha’ moves and inspires everyone who hears it. 

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, a great Bengali novelist, poet, and nationalist of the 19th century, had the exceptional gift of being able to communicate with, and arouse the masses.

A nationalist to the core, his goal was to revive national pride and by doing so, to fight for freedom from the British.

 In 1882, he published a novel Anandamath that became his most famous, as well as his most political novel. It proved to be a source of inspiration for patriots fighting to throw off the yoke of British rule, and the chant of Vande Mataram was coined from this book.

 

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Known as the 'Nightingale of India', Sarojini Naidu was a distinguished poet and renowned freedom fighter. She joined the Indian national movement in the wake of the Bengal Partition in 1905.

 During the freedom struggle, she became a follower of Gandhiji, and devoted herself to emancipation of women, education, Hindu-Muslim unity, and other patriotic and social causes.

 

Continue reading "What was the role of the poet Sarojini Naidu in the freedom struggle? "

Vallathol Narayana Menon is one of the greatest poets of Kerala, who was also a nationalist and patriot. He participated in India's freedom struggle, and reawakened our pride in our national heritage and identity.

A follower of Gandhiji, he was a participant of many national movements. Vallathol, as he was lovingly called, attended the All India Conferences of the Indian Congress in 1922 and 1927. His beautiful verses urged the masses to hold aloft the torch of freedom.

 Vallathol's songs in praise of his country also depicted her suffering under the British rule, and awakened millions of Indians to the glory of their motherland.

He also wrote against caste restriction, tyrannies and orthodoxies.

Through him, Kerala's voice could be heard loud and clear during the protests against the British.

 India awoke to freedom on 15th August, 1947. The journey to freedom was one filled with sacrifice and suffering, but the people of India never lost heart. Whenever their steps faltered, their leaders were there to urge them on by example, and with stirring slogans.

The most famous of these was ‘Jai Hind’ which was first used by Subhash Chandra Bose. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's ‘Vande Mataram’ was also a war cry for the freedom fighters. ‘Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it,’ said Lokamanya Tilak.

 

Continue reading "What are some of the slogans of the freedom movement?"