story of swarajya 2 by vishnu prabhakar

8/13/2019 Story of Swarajya 2 by Vishnu Prabhakar

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Nehru Bal Pustaka/ya

STORY OF SWARAJYA(Part II)

SUMANGAL PRAKASH

l/Iustrations

P. KHEMRAJ

Trans/ated into English by

H.C. SARASWAT

.. -JNATIONAL BOOK TRUST, INDIA


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I B 81 237 15 4 8First Edition 1973

FighthReprint 2006 >aka 1928) C l C;umangal Prakash.1973PhotompByl.ourtesy otPublicatIon DIvIsIon

~ l l s t r y ot IntormatIon and Broad asting

Published by the Director, National Book [rust, IndIa


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VANDE MATARAM!

It was the year 1921 and Gandhiji had launched the

movement for non-cooperation. The streets of Benaras

were crowded Thousands and thousands ofpeople defiantly

shouting 'Long Live Gandhi" and 'Vande Mataram I'

surged forward in a huge processIOn. Two years earlier,1919, the massacre of Jallianwata Bagh had taken place

Unarmed men, women and chIldren had been shot down

incold blood. The Government's cruelty, however contInuedunabated. As news of these brutalities spread the people's

anger was roused. Now the rage in their voices seemed torock the sky. Suddenly the police charged with lathis. They

beat up people and began making arrests. In the crowd was

a young boy, barely thirteen or four teen year sold,who wasshouting 'Vande Mataram !' loudly and enthusiastically.Thepolice arrested him too .

This young boy's name was Chandrashekhar. But when

he was brought before a magistrate and asked his name ,heanswered proudly, "Azad"-free.

H e was strippedand fl

ogged.Each timethe lashcamedownon his bare backhe winced with pain but shouted the words'Vande Mataram" till at last he fell down in a dead faint.That first flogging really freed the boy, for ever after that

the severest hardshIps and torture had no effect on him.You have already read in Part I ofThe Story ofw r jv

how Bengal had beenp rtitione 1905 and how thISdivision had greatly angered the people.

One result ofthe Partition ofBengalw s that the Influenceof the leaders who believed II I the goodwill of the Boush

began to dechne. Leaders like Lokamanya Tilak, LalaLajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, who advocated revolt


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and revolution against the foreign rulers, had become very

popular an d the activities of revolutionaries who believed

in violence and in killing British officers known for theircruelty began to incrr.ase The British therefore, began astrong campaign

ofrepression. One byone all the top leaderswere imprisoned. This led to a storm ofprotest all over the

country So on the occasion ofKIng George V's coronatIOn

at the Delhi Durbar in 191 I to pacify the people the Govern-

ment set aside the partition ofBengal.

In 9 4 World War I broke out This war lasted fouryears. India had to contribute heavily to meet its cost.

Some Indians gave money willingly, but large sums were

also extracted byforce. Prices rose sharplyand

food began tocost three to four times more than before.Indian revolutionaries tried to take advantage of the

situation created by the war. Revolutionary leaders likeLala Hardayal ,Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh andObeidullah,

who were in Europe at that time, began to make plans to

supply arms secretly to their sympathisers in India. In the

United States some Punja bishad alre \dy formed the GhadrParty. A secretcampaignwas begun to enrol IndiansoutsideIndia as members of this revolutionary group. Moneywas collected to buy arms abroad which were then sent to

revolutionaries in Bengal and Punjab.A revolution against the British in India was planned

for February 1915. The leaders behind this move were

Rashbehari Bose and latin ~ u k h r j With the outbreakofthe war, the strength ofthe army India had been greatly

reduced as contingent after contingent was sent abroad

.Very few British soldiers were left IndIa The revolu-tionary leaders felt that this was the Ideal moment for

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and was a great admirer of the religions and philosophy

of ourcountry. She formed an organisation called theHomeRule League to press for Home Rule for India. Tilak had

established a similar organisation. Anme Besant toured thecountry to plead the cause of self-rule. The Nationalists

felt greatly encouraged that the Home Rule movement forIndia had been started by a woman from the British Isles .

nni Besant


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By 1917 the war in Europe had already lasted threeyearsand the British had suffered many reverses. Meanwhile, the

demand for Swaraj had gained strength. The Govemment

tried its best to curb the growing influence of Tilak andAnnie Besant but with little effect.

In August 1917, the British Government announcedthat It would give Indians some share in the admmistralion

This did not fully satisfy the Nationalists but it somewhat

cooled their anger.World War I ended in 1918. The British were victorious.

Although thescheme offeringIndians ashareinthe administration had caused disappointment, the Nationalists decided

that every concession was a step forward.

THE ROWLATT ACT AND THE JALLIANWALA

BAGH MASSACREThe British in India were angry with the people for the

trouble the Nationalists and the revolutionaries had caused

them while thewar was on. To suppress the activities of

therevol utionaries, they passed the Rowlatt Act. This Actgave the administration power to detain people in prison

without trial. Naturally, the entire country united in opposing

the Rowlatt Act which cameto be knownasthe 'BlackAct'In 1914, Gandhiji returned from South Africa where he

had successfully used the weapon of non-violence and

salragraha. He now began to persuade the people in India

to use the same weapon their struggle for freedom .Whatdoes l lragraha mean ') It means that you must have nofear ofthe oppressor, that you must always stand up firmly

for your fights and that you must not hit back even when

struck By the use ofthis weapon Gandhi]i wanted to awaken

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the conscienceofthe British.

Many people laughed at Gandhiji. They said that this

was no way to fight the might ofthe British. But, Gandhiji

argued, that this was how he had fought theinjusticesuffered

by Indians in South Africa. He had collected an army ofsatyagrahis who had cheerfully faced police batons and

without protest gone to jail. The authorities had been

astounded to see unarmed satyagrahis bravely resisting

violence without any sign offear.

Gandhiji had returned to India while the war in Europe

was still on. With the help of some people who believed

in his movement of satyagraha. he opened a Satyagraha

ashram in Ahmedabad which later became famous as the

Sabarmati Ashram.

Gandhiji decided to use the new weapon of satyagraha

agains t the might of the British Government in India.

is first experiment was in the Champaran district ofBihar.T he European indigo- planters there were ill-treating their

tenant farmers. When Gandhiji heard of this he went to

Champaranto fight for therightsofthefarmers. TheGovern

ment ordered him to leave the district. He refused to do so

and was arrested. This happened on April 18, 1917. When

tried by a court of aw incidentally this was the first ofhis several trials-he pleaded guilty. He told the court

that he could not obeythe order ofthe Government because

he believed in a Power whIch was much greater than the

Government.

The Indian Government was aware ofGandhiJi's success10 South Afnca. It did not want to provoke the people by

Impnsomng him He was, therefore, set free. GandhlJi

toured the entire area to find outfor hImself what the farmers'

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Salyagraha lhramgrievances were. The Government eventually-acted on hisfindings and suggestions and framed laws to prevent the

farmers from being exploited and oppressed.Thus the weapon of satyagraha had proved successful.

But it had been so far used only on a minor issue.Gandhiji

had yet to try it an issue which would involve the wholecountry. The passing of the Row/att Act gave him thisopportunity. With a few ofhis followers Gandhiji decidedto la unch a countrywide satyagraha to oppose the Act.To obtain the supportofthe entire country, he asked Indians

to observe a fast on April 6, and hold meetings everywhereto voicetheir opposition to the ' Black Act' . April 6 was tobe Satyagraha Day.

A wave ofenthusiasm swept through the country But thepeople forgot Gandhiji's plea that they should keep calm even

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when greatly provoked. xcitement mounted and peoplebecame unruly. The police opened fire on the o w ~Some were killed, many were wounded. This happened

several Indian CitIes . The severity of

the Governmentmeasures increased. particularlyin Punjab where the Govern

ment was most afraid ofan uprisIng. urIng the war Punjabhad supplied the largest number of recruits to the IndIan

Army whose valour and bravery on the field of battle hadeven impressed the people of Europe. The British Govern ment, however, did not want to encourage and praise the

Indian soldier. They were afraid that if the Indian soldier

asked for equality with the British soldier, the Nationalistsin India would take advantage of this demand. They, there

fore,arrested all the top leaders in Punjab.Thi s angered the people more. Meetingswere held which

attracted large crowds, and when the Punjab Government

took still harsher measures, the crowds got out ofcontrol,

took revenge on the Engli sh and damaged va lua ble G overn-

Policeus t rg s on the mob


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ment property.And then came the terrible massacreofJallianwala Bagh .On April 13, the day of the Balsakhi festival, a meeting

was being heldonthe grounds of JallianwalaBaghin Amnt-sar. There were about 20,000 people at the meeting, allunarmed. Amongst them were old men, women and children.A British officer, General Dyer, arrived with 100 Indianand 50 British troops. Without any warning and withoutgiving the meeting a chance to disperse, Dyer ordered histroops to open fire . It appeared as though the General hadcometo Jallianwala Baghdetermined to shootdowninnocent

people and opportunity had favoured him.The JallianwalaBagh ground was surrounded on all sides by the high walls

ofhouses and had only one very narrow exit. This was sonarrowth t General Dyer had not been able to bring hisarmoured vehicle inside. Theguns blazed away as the crowdtried helplessly to.escape. But where could they go? Thefiring stopped only when there was no ammunition left.

By then 1,600 rounds had been fired .

Hundreds of people had been killed andthousands wounded. But what was evenworse was that sentries were posted allthrough the night and no one was allowedto remove the dead or tend the wounded.

But more was yet to follow The Bntlshofficersseemed tolosetheIr headscompletely10 their wish to crush Punjab. Indians weresubjected to unspeakable hardshIps for

weeks.

AU communic1tion with the rest of thecountry was ordered to be cuto so that


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news of the massacre would not leak out. Under strictGovernment orders no one was allowed to enter or leave

the province. When Gandhiji tried to go to Punjab he was

arrested at Delhi and sent back to

Ahmedabad.But how could the news of u h a

tragedy be kept secret? It graduallyspread throughout the country andthe people's anger and shockknew no bounds

GANDHIJI AND THE SATYAGRAHA MOVEMENT

In April 1919, Gandhiji hadwithdrawn his threat of satya-graha against the Governmentbecause he felt he had not hadenough time to prepare the people for a non-violent struggle.

Now the time had come for it.Gandhiji, therefore, decided tobegin the non-cooperation

lallianwala Bagh Memorial


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movement. TheCongress had already elected him its leaderin 1920 after the loss ofits much loved leader, LokamanyaTilak who had died recently. Just when the country wasmourning Tilak's death, it received new hope in the person

ofGandhiji .Once again a wave of enthusiasm swept the country

People were filled with a desire to do their share for IndiaIf necessary, they were willing to sacrifice themselves tosecure the freedom of the country.

Sarfaroshi ki tammanna abhamaredilmen hai

Dekhna haizor kitnabazu-e-quatil men hai

The urge tolay downourlivesisnowin our hearts.Come let ussee howmuch strength the enemy has.On the advice of their leaders; thousands of students

left their schools and colleges and'joined the fight for freedomorenrolled themselves in the national schools and vidyapithsthat had just been started. Many lawyers gave up theirpractice and took a pledge to serve the nation. Amongthem were eminent lawyers like Motilal Nehru and

Chittaranjan Das. Younger men like JawaharIal Nehru,who hadlived in luxury, gave up their comfortable life andwent round the villages campaigning for non-cooperation.Following Gandhiji, people boycotted the elections to theassemblies, which had been formed by the Governmentto give the Indians some sharein ruling the country .

Gandhiji called on thep opl to bcycott foreign cloth .This was a great blow to the Britishtextile industrybecause

most ofthe clothus in India was Imported from Englal'dand the exportofclothtoIndia was a verylarge and profitablesource ofincome. In answer to Gandhiji's call, women andchildren went round collecting foreign cloth and making

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huge bonfires of it in the open streets. Gandhiji took to

wearing a khadi kurta and dhoti and an ordinarywhite cap

instead of the usual turban on his head. This cap came to

be known as the 'Gandhi cap'. Khadi at that time was not

the fine, snow-white material we see ~ o d y All nationalists,however, began using coarse, thick khadi, thus doing away

with the distinction between the rich and the poor.Gandhiji was overjoyed by the response and enthusiasm

ofthe people and he promised Swara;va within a yearifthe


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people' would accept his terms. These terms were: contri-bution ofone crore rupees to the Tilak Swaraj Fund begun

in memory of Lokamanya Tilak; one crore persons to

enrol themselves as members of the Congress ; a minimumof twenty lakh charkhas to spin all over the country ; theend ofuntouchability and lastly unity among Hindus and

Muslims.Muslims had ,from the very beginning,accepted Gandhiji 's

leadership. But there was a special reason for this. DuringWorld War I, Turkey, alon with Germany, had been,defeated and in consequence had to surrender part of its

territory. The Caliph ofTurkey was also the religious head ofthe Muslims. Duringthe war, in order to get the support ofthe Indian Muslims, the British had promised that thepowers oftheCa" phwouldnotbe curtailed. They, however,forgot their promise once the war was ,over. Indian Muslims,therefore, started what is known as the Khilafat movementin support ofthe Caliph.The two movements,N on-coopera-tion and Khilafat, continued side side. The leaders oftheKhilafat movement, Maulana Mohammad Ali and MaulanaShaukat Ali, accepted Gandhiji's leadership. A feeling ofbrotherhood brought together the Hindus and'Muslimsthroughout the country. All differences were forgottenand the Muslims invited the Hindu leaders to addressmeetings inside their mosques.

Disappointed at this tum ofevents, the British Govern-ment now turned to the loyalists. The or iw rulers gavethem more powers and greater privileges in order to makesure oftheir support. And , to encourage them further , thePrince ofWales came on a visit to India.

But this had an elf.ect contrary to the one expected. The

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that, until the Constituent Assembly had completed ilstask, theViceroy wouldbe assistedbyan ExecutiveCouncilrepresenting the main parties in the country.

The Congress accepted this decision .But Jinnahrem inedadamant.Moreover,when he realised that the British mightleave India without meeting his demands in full, he calledon the Muslims of India to observe August 16, 1946 asDirect Action Day.The Direct Action was not really againstthe British, but against the Congress . This led to the greatCalcutta killing which, in turn, led to Hindu-Muslim riot sthroughout the country.

All the efforts made by Gandhiji and the Congress over

the yearstowards the establishmentof Hindu-Muslimul itywere wiped out ina single day .

Hindu-Muslim disturbances spread like wild fire. Theterrible killing in Calcutta was followed by Hindus being

massacred in districts of Bengal, suchasDacca and Noakhali,where the Muslims were in a majority. A similar massacreof Muslims followed in Bihar where there was a Hindu

majority.Jinnah stayed aloof. Only Gandhiji and Congressleaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajendra Prasad triedto dothei rutmost tosave the Muslims.

The Viceroy, Lord Wavell, faced with Jinnah's lack ofcooperation, announced the names of the members ilExecutive Council on the advice of the Congress alone.Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became its Vice-President, otherCongress leaders like Sardar Fatel, Dr Rajendra Prasad

and Rajagopalachari also joined the Council. Finding thatnone of his proposals was accepted, Jinnah at last relented.

Some changes were made in the Executive Council and afew Muslim League members were included in it.

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day the Prince ofWales arrived in

Bombay,there was

a total hartal all over thecountry. No harlal in

Indiah d ever been sosuccess-ful. Preparations had beenmade to hold black flag de-

monstrations in every city the

Prince of Wales was to visit .

To prevent these demonstra-

tions, the Government mademany arrests. All the import-

ant leaders in the country,

except Gandhiji, were in jail.

These included Lala jp tRai, Pandit Motilal Nehru,

his son Jawaharlal, Chittaranjan Das

and his wife Basanti Devi and many

others.Thousands of people had begun

to work in the villages and were

fulfilling the conditions laid down by

Gandhiji.In no time the Tilak Swaraj


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Fund had exceeded the one-crore limit. It appeared that

all the other conditions laid down by Gandhiji would be

fulfilled too. Pressure was, therefore, rou t to bear onGandhiji to stan a no-tax campaign by which the farmers

would stop paying land revenue.This would have hit the Government hard. The largest

source of its income would have been blocked Gandhiji

decided to try out his no-tax campaign in Gujarat first.

CHAURI-CHAURA AND THE KAKORICASE

The Government's acts of repression increased. This

provoked the people to resort to violence. After manyminor incidents, there was a major outbreak ofviolence atChauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur district. An excited crowd

set fire to a police station and burntseveral policemenalive.Gandhiji at once realised that the time for a no-tax cam

paign had not yet come. The Government was bent upontrying every possible meallS of crushing the movement,and with the people replying to repression with violence all

his efforts would bea waste. .The no-tax campaign was called off. This cast a gloom

over the entire country.Gandhiji was arrested and sentenced

to imprisonment for six years.This was in 1922 .By now Gandhiji had discarded the clothes normally

worn by a city man. Like the poo r villager , he too wasscantily clad. Hedid nothave a cap orwear a dholi or kurla .

Around his waist he wore only a piece of

cloth which barelyreached his knees.Dressed like this he was brought Into court. And yet, as

a mark of respect, everybody stood up as he stepped intothecourt-room

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Gandhiji injail

In words that have since become immortal, Gandhijiaddressed the court. He said:

"I know that I am playing with fire. But I am doing sodeliberately, and ifyou let me go unpunished, Ishall repeat

what I have been domg...

1know that my countrymenhaveat times committed insane acts. I am sorry for that. I am ,therefore, not asking you to be lenient. Mr Judge,you haveonly two alternatives before you.Either you resign from the

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office you hold, or award me

the severest punishment youcan.'t

The people felt lost withGandhtJi behind bars. They were

restless and unhappy but onGandhiji's advice, complete calmprevailed in the country The

Britishthought that their policyhad been a success and thatthe people's spirit had been

cr ushed An Englishman went sofar as to say: "After Gandhiji'simprisonment, not a dogbarked." It was only later thatthey realised how wrong theyhad been.

Gandhiji had been imprisoned

at the beginning of 1922.Barelytwo years after his imprisoliment

he fell seriously ill and had tobe operated upon for appendi-citis.

Gandhiji's illness caused greatanxiety in the country. Thisalarmed the British Government.Theyknew thatifGandhiji died

in Jail, they would not.be ableto control the fury ofthepeople.

Pandit Manlal Nehru


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The operation, however, was successful and Gandhiji was

released.During Gandhiji's absence in jail, differences had arIsen

among the Congress leaders. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhal Patel, Rajendra Prasad and others were still workmg

on the basis of the principles laid down by Gandhiji. But

some other leaders such as ChittaranJan Das and Motilal

Nehru wanted a change from the policy ofnon-cooperation.

They felt that in order to strengthen the desire for self-rulewhich the Non-cooperation movement had aroused amongst

the people, itwasnecessaryto do something that would make

the people conscious oftheir growing strength. Theysuggested that the coming elections to the legislatures should not be

boycotted. In fact, the

Congress, they felt, should

contest the elections and

send its representatives in

largenumbers to the legis

latures. Those elected

should oppose every

Government measure andnot allow the budget tobe

passed. They wanted toex

pose the hypocrisy oftheLegislative Council, and

to show that in fact it was

the Viceroy who ruled atthe Centre, just as the

Deshbandhu ChllaranJan Das


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Governors ruled in the provinces.

After his release from jail, Gandhiji let the leaders ofthe two groups act according to their convictions. He was

himself busy preparing for the next campaign. At the timefew could guess what sh p the campaign would take.

From the time of Gandhiji's arrest 1922 until 1929,the freedom movement lacked a posItive direction . During

this period the country's leaders seemed to be pulled II Idifferent directions. Some ofthem formed the Swaraj Party pd entered the legislatures. Others were drawn into revo-lutionary conspiracies. Conspiracy parties were very active

in 1924-25. Intense preparations were made from Bengal toPunjab for an armed revolt all over India. In East Bengal

Revolutionaries are hanged


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their leader was the well-known terrorist Surya Sen. Hisfollowers began making bombs. They obtained funds by

committing large-scale dacOlties. Several British officers

were murdered. It was during this period that the revolutionary Gopinath Saha was hanged for murdering an

Englishman.

DUrIng 1924, the revolutIOnary movement gamed strength

in C. Bihar. Delhi and Punjab. One group led by RamPrasad Bismil stole Government money from a movmg

train near Lucknow. Almost all those who took part in the

dacoity were arrested. Their trial came to be known as the

Kakori Conspiracy Case. Many of them, including RamPrasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan , were hanged. Others

were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

T herefore, when Gandhiji came out of jail in 1924, an

atmosphere of great gloom and tension prevailed in thecountry.

But what pained Gandhiji deeply was the fact that he

saw that the Muslims were gradually moving away from

the Congress. By the time the Non-cooperation movementhad petered out there had been a revolution in Turkey and

the leader of the revolution, Mustafa Kamal Pasha haddeprived the Caliph ofwhatever pO\\er he had sofar enjoyed .The Khilafat movement had, therefore. now lost all meaningfor the rndian Muslims

The British widened the rift between Hindus and Muslims

further by suggesting that SwaI'Q;ya for India would mean

' Hindu Raj and that the Muslims would be dommatedhy the Hmdus who were in a large majority Many Muslim

leaders left the Congress These mcluded not onlyMohammed Ali Jlnnah but also Maulana Mohammad l

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Maulana Shaukat Ali, popularly known as the AliBrothers. Hindu-Muslim quarrels began to break out over

small issues, and often these quarrels led to riots and blood

shed Even after Gandhlji's release, serious Hindu-Muslim

.riots occurredinseveral places. Gandhiji had never imaginedthat such a thing could happen. He had found a weapon tofight the foreigner, but what weapon could he use to stop

the fighting among his own people?

THE SIMON COMMISSION

At last extremely unhappy he announced that he would

undertake a twenty-one day fast. He began his fast in the

house .of his old friend, Maulana Mohammad Ali, whohad left the Congress. Gandhiji was already in poor health

as a result of his last illness, and no one expected him tosurvive the long fast. Once again Hindus and Muslims

drew together. Prayers were offered in temples and mosques

for him. Leaders orall communities came to Gandhiji withthe outlines of an agreement under which all communitiescould live togetherinpeace. .

Fortunately Gandhiji survived. As soon as the fast was

over he became whole-heartedly involved in finding a way

to restartsatyagraha.

Thegreatestneed ofthehourwas to extendthe movement

to every village so that Gandhiji's message was carried to

every comer of the country. With this III view, Gandhijistarted two organisations' one to spread the use of the

charkha and khadi, and the other to help in the removal ofuntouchability And Gandhi]! began collecting funds torun these two organisations.

Between 1928and 1929Gandhiji toured the entire country,

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travelling by third class in trains. He wanted to remove thedistinctionbetween the Untouchablesand the caste-Hindus.He opened workers' ashrams in various places. Branchesofthe Charkha Sangh wereopenedinvillages.Here educatedyoungmen began tolivea simple and disciplinedlife.Villagewomen were givench rkh s so that they could earn somemoney through spinniag.

Later, in 1930 and 1932, when the satyagraha movementwas launched on a large scale, these ashram workers werevery useful. Secretly printed handbills were distributeothrough them to the villages :

For

seven years people had been using the weapon of

satyagraha in their fight over minor issues with v ryingdegrees of success.

In 1928, two importantthingshappened. The Governmentrealised that it now had no alternative but to have people'srepresentatives in the Central Assembly and the ProvincialCouncils, because even the Moderates had begunto demandmore powers. In collaboration with the Congress, they hadsubmitted a Draft Constitution which was prepared , by aCommittee under the chairmanship ofPandit M.otilalNehru.With the exceptionof someMuslimleaders and a fewothers,this Draft was unanimously accepted.

However, before these proposals could be seriouslyconsidered, the British Government decided to send out a

-ParliamentaryCommission to India under the chairmanship

of Sir John Simon. This Commission came to be known

as the Simon Commission. It had no Indian member on itand the country expressed its opposition by observinghartals everywhere. Wherever It went, it was greeted withblack flags No representative ofthe people came forward

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Bhagal Singh

to give evidence before the Commission. The most activeamong the opponents were students and young people.

The Government tried to stop the demonstrations. Lachi-

charges were made and even firing was resorted to. In

Lucknow, JawaharlaJ Nehru and Govind Ballabh Pant

were injured. In Lahore, Lala Lajpat Rai, popularly knownas the Lion of the PunJab' was beaten up so mercilesslythat hedied ofhiS mjunes a few days later. Itwas to avenge

his death that a revolutionary, Bhagat Smgh shot down

Saunders, the police officer who had beaten up Lala Lajpat

Rai.

Although for a few

years after 1925 revolu

tionary activities had out

wardly appeared to

slacken, they had conti

nued secretly behind the

scenes.In Northern India ,

the leader of the revolu

tionaries was Chandrashekhar Azad - the same

youngster who had given

himself the title 'Azad' 1921. He had also beeninvolved in the Kakori

Conspiracy Case but had

escaped from the police.

ow with the brave andfearless Bhagat Singh he


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began orgamsmg a countrywide revolution. After the

assassination of Saunders, the'Government wreaked ven

geance on the people of Punjab. To keep up the people'sspirits and to gain their confidence, this revolutionary

organisation decided to do something spectacular. OnApril 8, 1929,BhagatSingh and BatukeshwarDutt obtained

passes to the visitors' gallery of the Central Assembly.

Once in, they threw a bomb on the floor of the House .

Then theyfired revolversinthe air, and dropped revolutionary pamphlets into the hall. After this they gave themselves

up to the police. The incident created a stir in 'the country.

Soon afterwards the police came to know of some large

bombfactories inLahoreand Saharanpur. Arrests followed

and some of those

arrested gave thepolice information

about the secret revolutionary organisa

t on Large-scalearrests were made.Many trials wereheld. The case came

to be known as the

Lahore Conspiracy

Case.

Shortly after this,the accused in the

Batukeswar DUll


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case went on hunger-stri ke in protest against the way they

were being treated and the conditions in the jail. They

said that since they were charged with waging war againstthe King, they should be treated as prisoners of war. The

sympathy of the entire country was with them. Finally theGovernment had to give in. It accepted many of their de

mandsThe hunger-strike lasted for about two months. One ofthe accused, latinnath Das, refused to break his fast. Aftera fast lasting for sixty-three days, he died in jail. With his

death the atmosphere inthe country was charged with tension.

The secret activities of the revolutionaries were at theirheight; and the country's youth even within the Congress

was being drawn more and more towards a revolution.

lawaharlal Nehru and Subhas C handra Bose had just

returned to India after a long stay in Europe. They had

both been impressed by the Russian Revolution in which

the people of Russia had overthrown the tyrannical Czar

and had taken steps to remove the inequalities between therich and the poor. The Russians had.for the firsf time es-

tablished a government of peasants and workers.The next session of the Indian National Congress was

held in 1929 at Calcutta. The All-Party Draft Constitution

prepared under the chairmanship ofPandit Motilal Nehru,

who had also been elected President of the Congress, las

placed before it. But both lawaharlal Nehru and the youth

leader. Subhas Chandra Bose, refused to accept the Draft.

The Draft had provided for only dominion status whereas

they wanted nothing short of Puma Swara} (completemdependence).Ultimately Gandhi]l suggested a compromise.

It was deci ded that if the British Government did not acceptthe Draft Constitution prepared by them within one year,

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the Congress would do all it. could to achieve completeindependence.

In Decemberofthe sameyear,the Congress metinLahore.Young Jawaharlal was elected President At this session,the Congress decided, amidst thunderous applause, that it

wouldriot rest until it had obtained Puma w r jTHE SALT SATYAGRAHA

January 26, 1930 was chosen as Independence Day. Onthat day, in every city and town, people took a pledge to

work for complete independence. The o n ~ r s s entrustedGandhiji with the task of starting a salyagraha campaignand gave him the responsibility of leading it. The organi

sation and date of the campaign were left to him to decide.

Gandhiji decided to start his salyagraha by breaking thesalt laws. This puzzled many people. What wouldt yachieve by breaking these laws, they wondered .Those whohad expected adramatic move were disappointed .But when

the salt campaign began, everyone was full of admiration

at Gandhiji's shrewdness.Gandhiji had wanted to build his campaign around some

issues which concerned the poor. He wanted to draw thepeople's attention to the fact that millions ofIndians could not

a ord even salt with their food. India has a long coastlineand on the sea coast salt is formed. When the sea-waterrises with the waxing of the moon and reaches its highest

level on a full-moon night, it covers large tractsof

the coastand sea-water collects in large hollows. When the moonwanes, the sea recedes. The water in the hollows dries up,

leaving behind clear wlute salt.Large quantities of this salt lay all along the coast but the

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collection ofsalt had been made an

offence. A. few Government go

downs along the sea coast stored this salt an d sent it for e

to the market. But the bulk of our salt su ppl y came from

England . The reaso n for this was th at the cargo carried by

English ships, though expensive. was light in weight. It was

necessary for the ships to have something ~ v y on board.English salt was, therefore , used as a ballast. People in India

were thus forced to buy English salt, althou gh free suppl yofsalt wasavailablefrom thesea.

Gandhiji decided to walktothe sea coast with a few followers and break the salt laws bycollecting salt. Fo rthis purpose,

he chose a place called Dandi in Surat district. It meant a

walk ofnearly 200 miles. It wasdecided to cover thedi stance

in twenty-five days. walking eight miles a day.

O n Ma rch 12, 1930, the party that set out on this historic

march consisted ofseventy-nine people including Gandhiji

On the night before, thousands ofpeople had started gather

9 along the road In front of the Sabarmau SatyagrahaAshram . In the morning, when the march began , crowds

of l eople Iined the road .Large crowds welcomed Gandhiji in the villages that lay

along the route.Women did arli. applied Ii/ak on his forehead

and offered flowers to him. During the day o r at night in


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Sabarmati Ashram

villages where the party stopped for food and rest, Gandhiji

talked to the villagers and addressed public meetings.

On Apnl 5, the party reached Dandi. The next day,April 6, was the day of satvagraha. On that day Gandhiji

and his enure party took a bath in the sea and collected

salt-water This was then heated and about five grams of

salt obtained ThIs salt was auctioned at a meeting A

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businessman from Ahmeda-

bad paid Rs. 525 for the five

gramsofsaltBy breakmg the salt laws,

Gandhiji had opened the way

for everyone to offer lr -graha .Thousandsof men and

women began to break the

salt laws. The pollee onceagain resorted to violence.

All over the country people

were arrested and bea ten up.But the G overnment had so

farnotdared to arrestGandhi-

ji .Gandh iji now took oth rdecision. He announced that

he and his followers would

raid the G ove rnmen t salt

godown at Dharasana from

where salt was sent to themarkets.

The G overnment's hands

were thus forced. Before the

raid could take place, Gandhiji was arrested . .

After Gandh iji the leadership of the Salt Satyagraha

party passed to Abbas Tyabjl and on hIs arrest to SarojlOl

atdu a well-known Indian poet who wrote m Enghsh .She belonged to a distinguished family and was a greatpatnot

ewspapers throughout the country earned reports that

armed pohce had stopped Saro)ini Naldu and her party in

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front of the Government salt godown at Dharasana In

the heat of May, she was made to SIt on the burning sands

without food or water all day long

Finally, she was arrested . But for weeks, batche of

satvagrahls continued to make attempts to raid the godown.

Mounted police charged. and lathisramed on their heads.Many satyagrahis were serIously injured and, wounded and

bleeding, theywere put injail.

THE GANDHI-IRWIN PACT

The number of satyagrahis, however, did not decline.

In addition to breaking the salt laws, foreign cloth shopsand liquor shops also were picketed. The youth of India

was full of enthusiasm and patriotic fervour. Thousands

went to jail, hundreds had their property confiscated, many

died and innumerable people were wounded.

A special feature of the movement was the participation

of women throughout India. In Gujarat particularly,Gandhiji s Dandi March had roused great enthusiasmamonl\ the women n a large number of them joined themarch and even went to jail. In spite of the prevalence ofpurdah in North India, particularly in Bihar and V.P.,hundreds of women joined the movement.

Summer was over; then came the rains, and then winter.

But the satyagraha battle continued unabated. In Gujarat ,

a powerful no-tax movement had been started bythe farmersofBardoli and Khera taluks. In V.P. and some provinces.

fanners began preparIng for a no-tax campaign.The Government got panicky. By the end of January

1931, the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, released all prominent Con

gress leaders and began negotiations for asettlement.

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Round TableCo nferen ce

Lord Irwin and Gandhiji had a series of talks. Ultimatelyin March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed. Both

sides made concessions. The Congress agreed to attend

the Round Table Conference in London and promised to

suspend the satyagraha movement till then. The Govern

ment, on its part, released all those who had been arrested

and anncllnced that people could collect salt from the sea

coast for their personal use.

Atthat time Englishmen were tw divergent views. thosewhom the success ofGandhiJi's satragraha movement had

convmced that India would have to be given mdependence

and those who stillhop that by strong arm methods andby the creationofdifferences among the various communities.

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India could be kept in subjection for a long time to come.Most British officials in India belonged to the second categoryThey tried to wreck the Pact. Using various pretextsthey tried

to

provoke the people into rebellion .In England too, the Government was dominated by menwho wanted to place every obstacleinIndia's path totreedom .Those invited to the Round Table Conference were mostlysupporters of the British rule in India. RepresentatIves ldifferent religious groups were invited too - representativesnotonly ofthe Christians, Sikhsand Muslimsbut also ofthe

Untouchables. This was done to create the impression that

the Congress represented only the caste Hindus.As a result, the Congress and Gandhiji began to feel that

going to London would serve no purpose.Then the British Governmentrelente alittle. It an nounced

that at the Conference nothing would be decided by amajority vote. Itwas inviting people ofall shades ofopiniononly toget to know their views.The Congress finall ydecidedto attend the Conference and to send Gandhiji as its sole

representiltive But the Round Table Conference was a

CentralJail, Yarvada


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complete failure. As soon as Gandhiji reached Bombay

after attending the Conference, he was again arrested.

Other Congress leaders were also arrested. By then a newViceroy, Lord Willingdon, had replaced Lord Irwin.

PROVINCIAL AUTONOMY AND WORLD WAR II

Once again all national organisations were banned . All

Congress committees were declared illegal. Large sums were

demanded as security from nationalist newspapers and

when they could not pay; they were compelled to close

down. In some presses owned by ionalists Congressbulletins were secretly printed. These were distributed invillages through Charkha Sanghs and ashrams.

Then theBritish PrimeMinister announced the Communal

Award. According to this Award , the Untouchables wereto be treated as a groupseparate from the Hindusand were

to have the right to elect their own representatives whenthe elections took place.

Gandhiji heard of this decision in jail. He had already

warned ~ British that if such adecision was taken,hewouldstake his life to undo it. Heimmediatelybegana fast.

The fast began on September 20, 1932. On that day

millions of people in the country fasted in sympathy with

Gandhiji and prayed for his life. This fast helped to clearthe differences between the caste Hindus and the leaders

of the Untouchables. In Gandhiji's presence, the leader ,.

signed an agreement and demanded the cancellation of the

British Government's deCISIOn , Under the leadership ofGandhiji, the caste Hmdus began a campaign for the removal

of untouchability The Government modified their deCISionand Gandhiji's life was saved .Gandhi]1 called the Untouch-

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ables, Harijans,that is 'the people ofGod'. Healso changed

the names of his English, Hindi and Gujarati papers and

called them 'Harijan' . That was not all . He converted his

Sabarmati Ashram into an ashram for

,he

workers

theHarijan movement.

Many of the satyagrahis joined the Harijan movement.

Some were still in favour ofcontinuing with satyagraha and ,

therefore, on Gandhiji's advice, group-satyagraha was

abandoned but those who WIshed to continue satyagraha

were allowed to do so individually Meanwhile, elections

to the Central Assembly were announced. The Congress

decided to contest the elections.In 1935, the British Government announced a newconsti

tutional scheme for India. On the basis ofthis,freshelections

were held inall the provinces inearly 1937. In these elections,

the Congress secured large majorities in all those provinces

where the Hindus were in a majority. In the North-West

Frontier Province too, where the population consisted

mainly of Muslims, the Congress secured a majority.

OJie the leaders of Galldhiji's non-violent satyagrahawas Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan . Although a Pathan. heproved to be among the most prominent supporters of

Gandhi]i inhis non-violent campaign,and cameto be known

as the Frontier Gandhi. He organised a non-violent move

ment amc ng the Pathans in Peshawar in 1930 and calledthem Khudai Khidmatgars. The country watched with

amazement as, without protest or attempt to defend themselves, the strong warlike Pathans let latMs rain on them

The Government's brutality exceeded all bounds Acontin

gent of Garhwali soldiers was court-martialled when they

refused to fire on the t rwe. unarmed Pathans tygr hl38


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The Congress decided not

to form governments in the

provinces unless the ritishGovernment gave them anassurance' that it would not

interfere with the decisions

they reached.The British Government

realised that if the Congress

did not form governments,

there would be more trouble.

The Viceroy and Gandhiji

tried to reach a solution but

theGovernmentwasunwillingtogivethe assurances demand-ed by th e Congress. It eventried to gets om minorityparties to form Ministries.The Congress rejected alllegislation broughtforward by Khan I\bduJ G haffar Khan

these minority governments.

Ultimately the Viceroy accepted the Congress demand .The British Government was compelled to grant virtualProvincial Autonomy. Congress Ministries were formedin most of the provinces.

Provincial Autonomy lasted only three years . Then the

country had to face another ordeal. World War II broke out.

and without consulting the elected representatives of the

people, England declared that India would Jointh war andfight on her side against Germany .

This was an msult to the country Following instructions

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from the Congress, all the Congress Ministries resigned.

In England, the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill

was against giving independence to India. Under pressure

from President Roosevelt of the U .S.A. , he did eventually

send out Sir Strafford Cripps WIth

some proposals forconstitutional reforms. The negotiations between him and

the Congress, however, ended in failure . In 1942, therefore,the Congress found itself with no alternative but to start

once again a countrywide s ty gr lul Gandhiji asked theBritish to leave India. The country would look after its

owndefence, hesaid AndifJapan attacked India, headded,itwoulddo so only because the British had made India one

of their military strongholds.Here it is necessary to mention Netaji Subhas Chandra

Bose. While under house-arrest after the outbreak of the

war he cleverly escaped and sometime later his voice washeard Oll Berlin radio. Subhas Chandra Bose stayed inGermany for a while, then he moved to Italy and finally

arrived in Japan. Here he tried to organise the liberationofIndia it the help ofthe Japanese.

THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY AND T HE Q UI TINDIA MOVEMENT

From among the Indian prisoners of war in Japanese

hands, Subhas Chandra Bose formed the Indian National

Army and became its Commander-in-Chief. The members

of this army called him Netaji. It was at this time that theslogan 'Jai Hind' became popular.

Thus, in 1942, in his broadcasts from Tokyo, etaji gavean assurance to the people of naia that Japan would helpthem to dnve the British out and at the same t ~ Gandhiji

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raised the 'Quit India' slogan against the British.

British troops had already received instructions that theyshould be prepared to retreat from Assam ,Bengal and Biharifthe Japanese threat to India became serious .The Congresscame to know that the retreating British army was planningto destroy all important factories, railways and ri gesso that they might not fall into Japanese hands. Gandhijiopposed this decision. He said that the British had no rightto destroy valuable Indian property.

Finally there was an open conflict between the Congress

and the Government in August 1942. Gandhiji asked the

people to do their best to drive out the British for the Britishwere determined to endanger the entire nation. At theCongress session at Bombay, the famoils 'Quit India'

resolution was passed asking Britain to tram;fer power toIndiaand leave immediately. This was the beginning ofthemost intense and widespread revolt the country had everknown.

Assoon as Gandhiji gave the word, the battle between the

people and the Government began. All the Congress leaderswere jailed. Without their leaders the people-students.workers and farmers ,men and women,boys and girls-tooK

the law into their own hands and began destroying railtracks, telegraph poles, roads and bridges. The police andthe army opened fire and many brave young fighters died .

Thousands were killed. In retaliation. thepeople set irtto several police stations. Rioting broke out all over the

country. Trains could not run as railway hnes had beendestroyed in many places. Roads had been damaged and

many small bndges destroyed. The movement of troopswas held up for many days. Army Jeeps and trucks were

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Subhas Chandra Bose

stranded. It

took the Britishm ny months to repair thedamage.Those arrested during this period weres v r ly tortured

in jail. This was done to extract mformation about theircolleagues w ho had gone underground Jayaprakash

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Narayan, who had escaped from a Bihar jail, was rearrested

and placed in a Lahore prison. He was made to sit on a

block ofice for hours and for many nights was not allowed

to sleep.

Bythe end of1942, over 60,000 men and women had beenarrested. The Government desperately needed the coopera-

tion ofthe Indian people but its own ngld policIes preventedit from getting any support from the Indians.

In Europe, the days of the German victories were over.Germany was now reeling under the brows dealt to its

forces by Russia. With the help of the Americans, a second

front in the West had been opened. In the East meanwhile,

Japan'sadvancewasbeing sto pped.

G andhiji was released from jail. Soon afterwards other

leaders were also released T he Government resumed it seffort s tog in their support. But now the leaders were notprepared to come to terms on anything less than complete

independence.

In 1945. World War " came to an end. Prior to this, the

Japanesehad begun losi ng ground on India's eastern frontier.Many members ofSubhas Chandra Bose's Indian National

Army were captured and brought to India. Some were

tried for treason. Then came the sadnewsofSubhasChandraBose's deathinan air crash.Thecountrywasfilledwithgrief

The trial of three I A officers General Shah Nawaz.

Colonel Sehgal and Major Dhillon began n the Red Fordat Delhi The attention of the whole nation was focused

on them. Some of the most emInent lawyers n the countrytook up theIr defence . Jawaharlal Nehru O ned the teamof defending lawyers

The press gave wide publiCIty to the proceedings of the

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trial. Netaji's bravery nd co urage were revealed d uring theproceedings and the people's admiration was roused . His

birth anniversary in January 1946 was celebrated with greatenthusiasm, particularly in-Calcutta. Many people refused

to believe that Bose was dead. The three officers on trial attheRedFord became nationalheroes.

The court sentenced the INA leaders to long terms ofimprisonment. Fear of the people's reaction, however,

made the Government release them. There were processionsin their hono ur all over the country.

'Jai Hind', Netaji's slogan, became popular throughout

India.

Once again the spirit ofviolence and revolution predomi-nated. In towns like Calcutta, it became impossible for l ishmen to go out on the streets. Jeeps belongingto thepoliceandthe army werestopped andset on fire. Thepeopleseemed tohavelostall fear ofthe army. Even youngchildrenwere no longer afraid oftauntingsoldiers on sentry duty.

The spirit of defiance was so prevalent that eveni n theIndian Defence Forces there were signs of rebellion . . In

fact, in February ~ 6 some Indian personnel of the Navymutinied and refused to take orders from their Britishofficers. A harla/was observed inBombay in sympathy with

themutineers,andGovernment buildingsandother propertywere damaged. The police opened fire and more than 200peoplewere killed. Had Sardar Patel not intervened, manymore lives might have been lost

After the end ofWorld War II, there was a general electionIn England. The Conservative party led by Churchill wasdefeated and the Labour Party was victorious. A socialist

government headed by ClementAttleetook office. In India,

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Provincial Autonomy was reintroduced and fresh elections

to the Provincial legislatures held. The Congress formed

Ministries inall the provinces where it had held office before.

The British Government was now aware that the people

ofIndia would not besatisfied by hall-wavmeasures. Underthese conditions. undue delay might turn India into an

enemy of Britain's for ever.

THE CABINET MISSION

Three members of the British Cabinet were sent to India toprepare the outlines ofa constitution for free India. But the

British policy of

divide and rule had borne fruit and nowthe situation was beyond anyone's control. The differences

between the Hindus and the Muslims could no longerberesolved.

The Cabinet Mission was sent to India in order to find away out ofthe difficulty into which the r i t i ~ Governmenthad landed itself after World War II. But when the Missionarrived it was faced with Jinnah's o bstinate demand that

if India was not to be divided, there should be an equalnumber of Hindu and Muslim Ministers in the Central

Cabinet and all the Muslim Ministers should be representa

tives of the Muslim League. In other words, they were to

be Jinnah 's nominees.How could the Congress accept this demand? It was not

pre'pared to represent Hindus only. nor could it let downthose Muslims who had stood by it all along.

The efforts of the three members of the Cabmet Missionproved fruitless. They were not able tochangeJmnah's mInd .

TheBntishGovernment decIded to establIsh a ConstItuentAssembly to frame a constitution for India. It also deCIded

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Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel


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linnah now adopted anewstrategy. He advised the Muslim

League xecuti le Councillorsnot to accept Nehru'spropo-sals and not to carry out the majority decisions ofthe xecu-tive Council. The Finance Department was under a Muslim

League member, Liaquat Ali Khan , and all Government

expenditure had to be sanctioned by him. He rejected allthe demands for grants made by the Co ngress members .

This brought their work to a standstill .The MusJim League

representatives also stayed away from meetings of the

Constituent Assembly held under the presidentship of

Dr Rajendra Prasad.

Jawaharlal Nehru explained this to the Viceroyand to theBritish Prime Minister. He threatened resign for withoutthe cooperation of the Muslim League, all his work was

coming to nothing.

Lord Wavell was replaced by Lord Mountbatten. And an

announcement was made that the British had decided to

leave India within a specified period . In accordance with

the proposals put forward by Lord Mountbatten, it was

decidedtodivide India into two separate dominions; thenthe British would leave. The Congress accepted the decision

with great reluctance. The idea of partitioning the country

grieved the entire nation. Gandhiji's dream ofa united India

in which Hindus and Muslims lived like brothers was

shattered . Even Jinnah did not get what he wanted. The

Pakistan he got - two fragments separated by Indianterri-tory - was somethinghehad not bargained for .

This was abittermoment for the Congress, but because ofthe Wide gulf that now eXisted between the Hindus and theMuslims, it had no chOIce but to accept the partition .

But what really upset the Congress was the fact that the

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Pathans ofthe North-WestFrontier Province were tobea part ofPakistan against

their wishes . The Congresscould do nothing toprevent

this.

India was divided into two independent dominions- India and Pakistan.

INDIA BECOMES INDEPENDENT

At midnight on August 14, 1947,all members of the Constituent Assem

bly, which was soon to become the

firstsovereig p rli ment of India,met In a histone sessIOn In the CentralHall of Parliament in New Delhi.And Jawaharlal Nehru, India's Prime


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t 1 dl J .. '

. I ' "\ j; l .

lord and lady \ fountbalten Jlh GandhI)'


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Minister-designate made his memorable speech. He began :

" Longyears ago we made a tryst with destiny ,and n ~ w thetime comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly

orm full measure, but very substantially."At thestroke ofthe midnight hour when the world sleeps,

Indiawillawake to life and freedom. A momentcomes,which

comesbut rarely in history, when he step outfromthe old to

the new, when an age ends, and when the soul ofa nation,

long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this

solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to theservice of India and her people and to the still larger cause

ofhumanity.Atthe stroke ofmIdn ight , all members oft he Constituent

~ s e m l stood up and pledged themselves to the serviceof India and her peo ple.

India was free.

Early on the morning of August IS , 1947, Jawaharlal

Nehru , India's first Prime Minister, hoisted the Indiantri colour on the Red Fort. Then, from the ramparts of th e

Red Fort, he addressed the mill ions of people who hadgathered to celebrate the coming ofIndependence .

There was rejoicing throughout the country. But in the

midst ofthis joy there was great sorrow. Gandhiji was notwith them to share their happmess. He was far away inNoakhali comforting the victims of the riots. Gandhl]1 hadvowed to devote hImself to creatmg friendshiJ and lovebetween the Hindus and the uslim of Indld ndPah tan-\nd afewmonth' later. on January 3 94R \\pe 1 (,dndhiJl

as on his way to conduct the evemng pra er n BlrldHouse where he was staymg. he was shot dead

It was a cntical moment for India We had L1sl lchleved55


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Rajagopalachari India's last Governor-General


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independence whenwe were deprived ofour beloved leader',Gandhiji. The country Was filled with sorrow and despair.But the other leaders tthe challenge with courage.

The Constituent Assembly set to work to prepare a newconstitution for India .And Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel workedhard to ensure that all the Princely States were made a partofthe Indian Union . By the time the new constitution wasready , India was an integrated unit under. one Government.

Thenewconstitution .came into force on January; 6 195Qand India became a Sovereign Democratic Republic.

Dr Rajendra'Prasad became the fifst President of the Re-public India. Jawaharlal Nehru continued as PrimeMinister.

Independent Indiahadnow tochoose its national symbols.

The EmblemAs the State Emblem it choSe a replica ofthe LionCapital

Gatewav ofIndia ofIndependence Day


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J Lof the A oka Pillar which four hons ares tt n withtheir backs to one another In the emblem , however, only

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The Republic of IndiaFederal and Secular

_0-_'" ~ . . . . . -~ _

..

-* - ..... -_.- _. : . ~ ~ fI- - -_ - ._ ....

-_ t


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I

Dr .Rajendra Prasad


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Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru


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three lions are seen.ThePillar had beenerected by Emperor

AsokaatSarnath t theplace where the Buddha had deliveredhis first sermon to his jisciples. In the centre is a wheel.Belowit in the Devanagri script is the inscription 'Satyamev

layate' The words mean 'Truth alone IS victorious'.

The FlagThe tncolour, which kept up the spirits of the people

throughout the long struggle for freedom. was adopted asthe national flag. Its design was slightly changed. The char

kha was replaced by Asoka's Wheel or Chakra. This was

taken from the carvingofAsoka's Lion Capital. The chakrais a deep blue and is in the centre of a white band. It has

twenty-four spokes. Above it isa band ofdeep saffron and

below it isa band ofdeep green.

The Song

Rabindranath Tagore's song Jana-gana-mana became thenational anthem. The song was first sung on December27,

1911 at a session of the Indian National Congress.lana-gana-mana-adhinayaka jaya he

Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Punjaba-Sindhu-Gujarata-MarathaDravida-Utkala- Banga

Vindhya-Hlmachala-Yamuna-Ganga

Uchchala-jaladhi-tarangaTavasubhaname Jage

Tavasubha asisa mange

Gahe tava Jaya-gatha.

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Jana-gana-mangala-dayakajaya heBharat .-bhagya-vidhataJaya he,jayahe ,jaya heJaya, jaya, jaya, jaya he.


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rinte at :Jupiter Offset Works, Shahdara, Delhl-110032


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story of swarajya 2 by vishnu prabhakar

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