Independence of India

One of the most important days for each Indian citizen is 15th August. A day that is celebrated with pride and patriotism by each Indian national, no matter what the age. What is special about this day? It was on this date that India was declared a free and independent nation in 1947.

What preceded Indian Independence Day – 15th August 1947? The Indian independence movement… This movement was a diffusion of nationwide campaigns against British rule over India. There were innumerable freedom fighters - males, females; youth, middle age, senior citizens. They all worked and walked their way to freeing India from the British domination.

No matter how much violence the British soldiers inflicted on the Indian warriors, they relentlessly marched towards freeing their beloved motherland non-violently. They bore the brunt of whips and long tenures in jail. Finally, the British sovereign was left with no choice but to declare India a free nation.

And, as the clock struck 12 am, and a new day began – 15th August 1947 – India stepped into her independent status. This celebration was preceded by a speech made by the first Prime Minister of free India – Jawaharlal Nehru. Below is a famous extract from his speech titled ‘Tryst with Destiny’…

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.

Biography Of Mahathama Gandhi :

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the 1900's. GandhiJi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by Indians as the father of the Indian Nation. 

The Indian people called Gandhiji  'Mahatma', meaning Great Soul. At the age of 13 Gandhi married Kasturba, a girl the same age. Their parents arranged the marriage. The Gandhis had four children. Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he took on a one-year contract to do legal work in South Africa.

At the time the British controlled South Africa. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people.

He developed a method of action based upon the principles of courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals. In 1915 Gandhi returned to India. Within 15 years he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement.

Using the principles of Satyagraha he led the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Gandhi was arrested many times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India. He believed it was honorable to go to jail for a just cause. Altogether he spent seven years in prison for his political activities.

More than once Gandhi used fasting to impress upon others the need to be nonviolent. India was granted independence in 1947, and partitioned into India and Pakistan. Rioting between Hindus and Muslims followed. Gandhi had been an advocate for a united India where Hindus and Muslims lived together in peace.

On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed. After 5 days the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Godse who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religion assassinated him.

Biography of Jawaharlal Nehru:   

Jawaharlal Nehru, often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who was the first and longest-serving Prime Minister of India (1947–1964). One of the leading figures in the Indian Independence Movement during the 1930s and '40s, Nehru was elected by the Indian National Congress to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952. Nehru contributed to the establishment of a secular Parliamentary democracy in India and was one of the founders of the international Non-Aligned Movement.

The son of moderate nationalist leader and Congressman Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress when fairly young. Rising to become Congress President under the mentorship of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete independence for India from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru advocated Fabian Socialism and a strong Public sector as the means by which economic development could be pursued by poorer nations. He was father to Indira Gandhi who was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

Independence Day of India

"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again."

- Jawaharlal Nehru
(Speech on Indian Independence Day, 1947)

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