Independence war For India

When we as humans see something bad happening our first instinct is

usually to respond in violent behavior. But in the 1900’s one man saw the world

differently even when his home country was being destroyed and most of its

citizens were enslaved by the British. That great man’s name is Mohandas 

Karamchand Gandhi but most of us know him as Mahatma Gandhi. Throughout 

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his life he struggled and fought for India’s independence in a very calm and 

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peaceful manner, because he didn’t believe that violence should be fought with 

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violence instead he believing that violence could only be stopped with love and 
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peace. During the war he joined the National Congress party as a  political leader

and was introduced to all the politics in India. Through his unique methods and 
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using the idea of Satyagrha and Swaraj , Gandhi and the National Congress 
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were able to get independence for India with help from Communist party, 
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Muhammed Ali Jinnah, leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. In the process to 

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convince British army of their wrong doings he faced many hardships such as he 

was prisoned along with the other political leaders in the National Congress 
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Party, but he won civic rights and eventually independence for India. 

Most people are aware of India’s Independence war but most don’t know
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how, when and why it all started and got there. Long before the British came to

India and colonized, it was ruled by the Mughal Empire. Britons first came to

India in the 1600’s to trade all the useful resources such as gold, diamonds, and

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 spices and they established the East India Company to oversee all the trade

happening with the consent of the Mughals. When the East India Company

defeated the French and they were not able to trade anymore, so British took

over the French trading companies too which made them more powerful and they

had most of the control over India. Over the 200 years of period of time Britain

slowly kept taking land under their control to grow crops, which were not possible

to grow in Britain. They started exporting those overseas too, and by the early

1840’s Mughal empire had very little to no control. The East India Company was

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able to take the management and made India one of their colonies. This time

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period between 1857-1947 in history came to known as British Raj (British rule).

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After many years of war, bloodshed and protests, India was finally declared an
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independent country from the British in 1947. This independence came with a big

price. It spilt the country in two parts, one was called India and the second part is
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now known as Pakistan. This partition was because of religion the Sikhs were to
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India in the State of Punjab and all the Muslims were to go to Pakistan. Even

though Independence ended all the slavery from the British, partition brought
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riots between India’s own people causing millions of innocents to die in both

countries, even today this issue has not been resolved.

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There were many political parties involved in India’s independence. Before

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independence, the party that played a big role was the National Congress Party

especially because Gandhi’s involvement and him promoting the weapon or idea
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of non-violence and freedom which in Hindi is known as Satyagraha and swaraj.

One source says that idea of swaraj changed over time, in the late 1800’s and

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 early 1900’s National congress party was following it and it went along with

colonialism of British Empire, but later on when the campaigns were held for

liberation, there was rebellion, which led to battles in the name of swaraj (panter-

brick 23). Another source claims that Gandhi’s idea swaraj and satyagraha

cannot be separated, one shouldn’t just ignore the idea of non-violence

(satyagraha), then take the idea of freedom (swaraj) and do whatever necessary

to get it. Both are meant to exist together only then Gandhi’s weapon is useful

(Dalton 42). When the party was established in the late 1800’s one of their goals

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was to inspire enough people to be on their side to help them be strong against

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British Government, which led to start doing protests against British goods such

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as laundry men not doing the laundry if the clothes were imported, shopkeepers
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stopped selling if the food wasn’t local. The whole idea was to encourage people

to buy local goods. This movement inspired many Indians, but the British weren’t
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happy to see that their goods are being protested against. Since they had army
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and police under their control, these protests led to imprisonment of anyone who

followed the idea swaraj and satyagraha, beatings against who wouldn’t sell
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British import and flogging those who bought local goods. Even though some

Indians who were following Gandhi and National Congress party believed in
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Satyagraha and remained patience despite the punishments, others who got
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tired of getting beaten up, decided seprate satyagraha from swaraj, so they left

the out the idea of nonviolence (satyagraha) and just followed swaraj, did
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whatever necessary to get their freedom which meant fighting back.

When the brutality was too much to take for some leaders they decided to

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 convince others to fight back and forget the idea of Satyagraha and swaraj, but

few were not ready to give up yet. Which led to the partition between the party,

one group still believed in Gandhi’s idea and they followed by Dadabhai Naoroji

and Gopal Krishna Gokhale who still believed that they could get freedom while

abiding the British rules “ he did not bend the rules of political engagement.

Rather he tested cleverly strength of home support in affiliating his Natal Indians”

(panter-brick 44). This quotes shows that Gokhale believed in his fellow citizens

to do the right thing, which was come together as one and keep believing not

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spread violence. But the part of the National Congress which was name

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Congress Independence Party was very tempting which was supporting the idea

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of fighting back and freedom; this group was lead by Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin
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Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, they didn’t want to sit back and watch

Indians get beaten, enslaved, flogged or get imprisoned. A lot of people believed
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in Lajpat Rai’s group than they in Gokhale’s group, because they were tired of
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not doing anything about it. Lajpat Rai’s belief and protests inspired many all over

the country, with his movement people in states like Bengal (state at the time of
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the war), Maharashtra, and Punjab decided to fight back the British Army and

started taking control of their lives. But since Lajpat Rai was from the state of
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Punjab he was most influential there. Now that both of the parties were split off, it
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was for the better, because both of them were influencing people in both ways.

People who believed in Gandhi could follow Gohkale and other who believed in
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fighting back can be with Lajpat Rai.

For Indians to get their Independence it was important to work with one

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 another without discriminating of religion. One of the men who supported this

idea was Muhammed Ali Jinnah, he was leader of group of Indian Muslims

known as Muslim league. He stepped up to work with Indian National Congress

Party to help India get Independence, they believed that we all are Indian citizens

firsts then we belong to religions (Panter-brick 36). Its entirely possible to work

together as one and put our differences aside when we all are heading for the

same goal, in this case was it was Independence. Later on Jinnah stopped

seeing eye to eye to with National congress party, because Jawaharlal Nehru told

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him “there are only two forces in the country, the congress and the government,”

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Jinnah replied “ there’s third party in this country and that is the Muslims” (Panter-

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brick 42). Nehru tried to push Jinnah aside and tried to take control of the Muslim
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League to bring everyone together without religion being a factor. Even though

Jinnah was the first one to approach the national congress party to give the
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support his people, his ideas had taken different direction now. Later on in the
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1940’s this all lead Jinnah to demand for separate state for Muslims after winning

his elections. Since he had lots of followers he campaigned and protested to get
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Pakistan, which lead to battles and violence. To finally to end violence, and the

strikes party agreed to have India Partitioned and give Muslims of India their own
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land.
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National Indian Congress wasn’t the only political party that was involved in

India’s Independence another party that was involved was Communist Party of
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India. This group was founded by Manabendra Nath Roy, Muzaffar Ahmed and

Shripad Amrit Dange, they didn’t get as much respect in the 1920’s as much as 

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 Gandhi or Nehru because they were trying to come up with new ways fight the 

British and starting something is always the hardest thing. According to Hackett

this party was formed after the independence in early 1960’s but during the war

they existed as a small political group who were inspired by the idea of Marxism.

“Class war is foreign to the essential genius of India which is capable of evolving

a form of communism broad-based on the fundamental rights of all and equal

justice to all. The Ramarajya of my dream ensure the rights alike of prince and

pauper” (Judd 67). This quote says that during the war class didn’t matter, didn’t

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matter if one was prince or peasant Communism will treat them both equally.

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Most of the population was following National Congress of India and Muslim

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league, Communists party tried to get people to follow their methods of Marxism
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by putting up posters, daily newspapers and journals. Their methods lead to

imprisonment and death of many by the British army, though they failed to come
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together in mass numbers, their methods inspired many slaves, underpaid

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workers, Indian soldiers (who worked for the British army), and young students

and children, despite their class or status to come out together to protest, on
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strikes and defend one another against the brutality of the British. Which wasn’t

easy due to less members of the group and not well established party many of
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the sacrifices by the communist party wasn’t recognized. Even though they didn’t
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had any direct big impact on the war, but their efforts and contributions definitely
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help to win the independence for India.

One goal that all political parties or every Indian shared before 1947 was

getting independence. Another Political Leader who fought alongside with Gandhi

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 and shared the same goal was Jawaharlal Nehru. He believed that “ Imperialism

and the domination of one people over another is bad, and so is racialism. But

imperialism plus racialism can only lead to horror and ultimately to the

degradation of all concerned with them” (Hackett 18). His fear was that once

imperialism and racialism come together it would be massacre. However Gandhi

had a plan to execute which lead to get India’s identity back, but it was going to

take 28 years to execute which meant Nehru had to be very patient to execute

these plans. According to Panter-brick First campaign took three years to

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execute and was named nonviolent noncooperation campaign. Second was the

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mass civil disobedience or also known as salt satyagraha which took two years.

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And the third and the final campaign was Quit India movement that took two
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years to complete. These campaigns were very successful which not only

shocked the British, but the whole world. Many leaders stood againt Gandhi to
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execute these plans but Nehru knew the sufficiency of Gandhi’s plans so he
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supported him throughout. Which even led to him imprisonment, while he was in

jail with other leaders to give them hope he says, “ Victory is complete if non-
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violence reigns supreme in spite of the arrests. Disastrous defeat is a certainty if

we cannot control all the elements so as to ensure peace” (Hackett 45). This
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quotes says that since they campaigning peacefully, which made the British
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angry because they weren’t fighting violence with violence, they must accept the

fact that they are to be arrested without feeling angry or upset. With Gandhi’s
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plans and Jawaharlal Nehru’s leadership in the National Congress Party India

was able to achieve independence, after the independence Nehru became the

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 first prime minister of the free country.

India was very rich in resources when the Mughals ruled, which lead to

British and French setting up trading companies. Eventually British taking control

of the country which led many innocents to die, but his unique methods and 

using the idea of Satyagrha and Swaraj Gandhi and the National Congress were 

able to get independence for India with help from Communist party, Muhammed

Ali Jinnah, leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. Political parties played a big in the 

war, didn’t matter if they were small or big, well established or not. Every single 

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contribution meant something; every single life lost or sacrificed had a ripple 

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effect. We only know the name of the people who were leading and were front of 

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the group, but there were many not so famous men and women who gave up
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their lives to ensure they future of the country. “Non-violence is the greatest force
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at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction

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devised by the ingenuity of man. I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and

Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both
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on as vast a scale as I could” (Gandhi). Even though British army was armed
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with many great weapons, but Gandhi was one weapon they did not account for;
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non-violence.
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