IN D I A ’ S I N D E P E N D E N C E

AND PA R T IT I O N E …
TRUGGL E AND SACRIF IC
CASE STUDY OF S
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 BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE
Though Babur invaded India in 1524 and the Mughal ruled India for centuries (from 1524 to 1850), there were some
states which were under Indian control. Whether it is Maharana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji or The Peshwas, somehow
the entire Indian Continent was not under a single power. But, the arrival of the EAST INDIA COMPANY ON 24
August 1608 changed the entire history. At that time, the Mughal ruler Jahangir was on the throne. He permitted the
company to trade in India. During that time, India established trade links with Britain and France. They had the link
with the Portuguese since 1498. from then, the East India Company started observing the lack of unity in the people
and the monopoly of the Mughal Empire. So, to defeat the French, the East India Company fought the Battle of
Plassey and Buxar where Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last Nawab of Bengal with few of his French allies was defeated. In
the south, three wars in the region of Carnatic was fought. This Anglo French Struggle was known as the series of
CARNATIC WARS between 1746-1763. It resulted with the defeat of the French . The British then understood the
interests of the Mughals so they started making them the head of the state(Nawab or Nizam) and pensioned them.
They were offered money and comfort in return with the administrative and market control of that region. By this
way, first they conquered the territories and later they removed the nawab or nizam. Further, we will learn about the
weakness of India which resulted the rule of foreigners in India.
 WEAKNESS OF THE INDIANS:
 Lack of Unity: the Indians, whether rulers or public; they all lacked the spirit of unity. Taking its
advantage, invaders attacked and ruined the territory. Whether Prithviraj vs Jai Chand, Maharana Pratap
vs Todar Mal or Mir Jafar vs Siraj- ud-Daulah.
 Rigid Society: since the LATER VEDIC PERIOD, caste system and the distribution of society was
cruel to all. Despite of the introduction of Jainism, Buddhism etc, the upper class (brahmins and rajputs)
continued to work for their personal interests.
 Lack of Confidence: the Indians lack confidence for doing any work themselves. This is why, despite
of working with the neighbours, they decided to support the foreigners. It is a fact that in the British
Indian Military, there were around 50K British and 250K Indian soldiers and this was unrealized for
years.
 Greed of Power: there were many rulers who wanted a life of comfort with money and joy all around.
This is why the company pensioned them and got the permission to work and regulate the market.
 Incompetent Leadership: the later Mughal rulers were incapable of ruling the administration. After
Aurangzeb, the empire hardly got any stable monarch.
 WAYS BY WHICH BRITISH RULED INDIA:
 Subsidiary Alliance: British established their military in few of the
accepting states and forced the state to consider the company as their
supreme power.
 Doctrine Of Lapse: the British disagreed to pension and consider the
(adopted)successor of any heirless ruler.
 Conquest at Awadh: Awadh was conquered on the grounds of
maladministration. The taluqdars and zamindars became very upset with this
move
 Biased Administration: in the higher offices Indians were not posted
whereas they were not salaried in proper manner.
 THE REVOLT OF 1857
The inhuman treatment of the British resulted to a mass revolt against them. All over in India, from
the general crowd to the recognized leaders, everyone was against the policies of the British. The
last Mughal Emperor Bahadur shah Zafar revolted at Delhi against Lord Canning who refused to
consider his son as the prince and denied him to use the Red Fort and shifted him near Qutub Minar.
Rani Laxmi Bai fought for his son Anand Rao’s consideration to the throne since he was adopted.
She was supported by Tantia Tope. Nana Saheb had the same grievance as he was the adopted son
of Baji Rao II. He revolted for his right in Kanpur. Mangal Pandey, a Brahmin( higher class Hindu)
soldier revolted against the introduction of Enfield Rifles as it was believed that the cartridge of the
rifles was made out of the tallow(fat) of cows and pigs. Since cows are worshipped by Hindus and
pigs are considered untouched by Muslims, this matter was highlighted like a bushfire. Mangal
Pandey, was trialed and executed for he shot a British Officer after his several requests and
peaceful revolts. The reason for the revolt at Lucknow was the capture of Awadh. Under the
leadership of Begum Hazrat Mahal, Lucknow was successfully recaptured.
 EARLY NATIONALISTS
People in India, after the revolt of 1857 understood the reason of their defeat. Though they troubled
the British, they were not able to achieve their major goal. Thus, the new leaders or the early
nationalists followed new ways for achieving the goal. The first step they took was to uplift the
weaker sections of the society who were mistreated by majority. Raja Ram Mohan Roy advocated
for the abolishment of the practice of SATI( where a widow has to be burnt with the dead body of
her husband). Also he established BRAHMO SAMAJ to work against the caste system and the
mistreatments with children and women. Ishwarchand Vidyasagar and Jyotiba Phule worked in the
same direction. The second and the most important work they did was writing and publishing.
People like Dadabhai Naoroji, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotiba Phule , Bal Gangadhar Tilak etc wrote
books, published articles and provoked the Indian Mass to be a part of there revolt. Some of the
newspapers are SAMVAD KAUMUDI, MIRAT-UL-AKHBAR, GULAMGIRI, DHARM
MARGDARSHAK, STATESMAN, THE TIMES OF INDIA etc. Their motive was to follow the
path of non violence and by using constitutional methods, awake the public against the British
without harming anyone.
 LATER NATIONALISTS
The Later Nationalist Leaders were just opposite of the early ones. They were bold, aggressive and extremists in nature and
did not want any cooperation except total freedom. Leaders like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Ramprasad Bismil, Lala Lajpat Rai,
Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose etc were in this category. Since a large mass was awaken but they were unguided.
So, this work was properly done by the later nationalists. MAHATMA GANDHI played an important role in this field. A
lawyer who practiced in Africa returned India and here, silently and non violently, he guided the aggressive crowd on the
path of SATYAAGRAH which in hindi meant holding onto truth. First he conducted NON CO-OPERATION MOVEMENT,
where boycott of the British was done and SWADESHI was prompted. This movement was dismissed by Gandhi due to the
CHAURI-CHAURAH incident. Here, a large mass boycotting the British goods was present infront of a police station. An
officer came out and shot few of them. The crowd was then went out of control and burnt the entire police station. Lala
Lajpat Rai was one among the people who were killed. Then CIVIL DISOBIDIENCE MOVEMENT was carried out to
break the SALT LAW(imposing high taxes on salt and prohibit the manufacturing of salt).During the second world war, the
British Government wanted the support of the Indians. This time, because of the QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT, they offered
Dominion Status to the Indians which gave us the permission to make our government but the supremacy would remain in
their hands. Now this time Gandhi became aggressive and declared “DO OR DIE” condition for all. As a result the British
agreed to do so! The Indians in return sent their soldiers in the war.
 THE MUSLIM LEAGUE
Prominent Muslim leaders supported the fact that the muslims are not going to be considered by the British
as a part of the crowd. It was said by Syed Ahmed Khan that “the British rule in India is permanent and
irremovable, and therefore, the community could only flourish if it could win the favors of the British
Government. It logically followed that the Muslims should place all their interests in the hands of the rulers.”
This Separatists trend grew in the Aligarh University . Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk carried out the Aligarh
Movement . The main motive of it was to establish Urdu as an official language. For it was opposed by the
Hindus, it got the lime light . The Muslim League demanded for the separate elections in the Provincial
Council. The league wanted weightage in their representation, separate representation in the Municipal and
university bodies, civil, military and judicial service. Finally in 1909, Morley-Minto Reforms provided a
separate representation of Muslim League under the chairmanship of Nawab Salimullah of Dhaka.
Later, this community, under the presidentship of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, demanded for a separate nation for
his Muslim Community. This region was the North-Western part of India and the East Bengal. The North-
Western part had Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Kashmir, Lahore etc. It was collectively called as PAKISTAN.
Around 584 provinces were there in India( after partition of Bengal). Among these, Pakistan got 16 and India
retained 568. And in this way, the partition took place.
THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT, 1947
The Indian Independence Bill was passed by the British Parliament on 15 th July 1947. It received the Royal Assent on
18th July. It was a short document, consisting of less than 20 Sections and 3 Schedules which declared:
• The existence of new dominions, INDIA and PAKISTAN, where Baluchistan, Sindh, West Punjab, and North-
Western Frontier Provinces were given to PAKISTAN and the rest including the British India was given to India
• That both the dominions would have their separate Governor General
• That Constituent Assemblies would serve as Central Legislature
• That the office of the secretary of the state would be abolished
• That the previous assets and liabilities would be shared between the two dominions
By this way, PAKISTAN was separated from India and at last, Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of the British India
administered oath to the first Prime Minister of India, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on 15 th August 1947.
Further in 1971, the East Pakistan was separated from Pakistan and became an Independent nation called
BANGLADESH.
Also in India, four states ( JUNAGARH, HYDERABAD, KASHMIR AND JAMMU) got united with bit struggle
and Sikkim became a part of India in 1975. This brought a great struggle to an end.
THANK
YOU Made by: Rushil Mishra
Class: 10th B