“Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil me hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil me hai”
-Ramprasad Bismil
All Indians will celebrate their 75th Independence Day this Aug 15, 2021, across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.We will be upholding the Flag for celebrating the 75 years of independence and commemorate it as ‘Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav’.It's been so years since India achieved independence after around 200 years of British rule. Yet, most of us know quite little about the complexities of such a big freedom movement lasting for years. This Independence Day, let's curl up with a good motive and travel back in time to understand how our country achieved such an incredible feat by memorising our great writers and freedom fighters who have written their might and valour to show their patriotism.
On the great occasion of 75th Independence Day, we celebrate the Freedom Writers on India's freedom struggle:
-> ‘Hind Swaraj’ by Mahatma Gandhi was the most patriotic and diplomatic approach of Gandhi Ji since 1947.
Even though this book was banned by the British government under the pretext of being seditious. It is written in the form of a dialogue between Gandhi and his close friend, Pranjivan Mehta as they argue about beliefs based on civilization, conditions of India and England, passive resistance, and education and discrimination on the basis of race, caste, sex, religion and skin colour. How the Salt Movement changed the British rules in the favor of Indians and laid the foundations of Satyagrah on board.
->Bhagat Singh wrote' Why I am an Atheist’ indicating his rage on British Corporations:
It is Bhagat Singh's one of the most renowned creation. ‘Why I am an Atheist’ was written in 1930 while he was imprisoned in the Lahore Central Jail. The essay was a reply to Singh’s religious friends who thought he became an atheist because of his vanity and self-admiration.
->One of the most read novel ‘Gitanjali’ by Rabindranath Tagore :
It is a mystical collection of 103 poems selected by Tagore from his books of Bengali poetry. It has an introduction by W.B. Yeats. The poems are primarily devotional and have a mystic aura of the Indian essence.
->‘The Golden Threshold’ by Smt. Sarojini Naidu
Being published in 1905, the book is a beautiful collection of poetry. Its contents include "Folk Songs", "Songs for Music", and "Poems". Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India as well.Being a brave woman of all times she was also a great source of inspiration for the women of that time.
-> Dr. Rajendra Prasad wrote ‘India Divided':
Being born on 3rd Dec 1884. He traced the origins and growth of the Hindu–Muslim conflict and gave a summary of the several schemes for the partition of India which were put forth. He also showed how the suggested scheme of Partition was unfeasible and proposes a new solution to the Hindu–Muslim dichotomy.Unfortunately he died on 28th Feb,1963.
->Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had written ‘The Discovery of India’ :
During Nehru’s four years of confinement to solitude in prison and is his way of paying homage to his beloved country and its rich culture. He gave a broad view of Indian history, culture and philosophy in beautiful words and also elaborated the customs and beliefs of that time.
->Lala Lajpat Rai expressed his gratitude in 'Unhappy India' :
In this context , Lala Lajpat Rai gave a reply to Katherine Mayo, a journalist who wrote a biased book on India depicting only its problems. Rai basicallly compared Indian society with the USA and Britain of that time and pointed out that their situation is not much different than India's constitution.
->‘Annihilation of Caste' by BR Ambedkar
Mostly Known as the ‘Father of Indian Constitution, Ambedkar, in this book argues that the immorality of caste was sustained by the Vedas and Shastras, and without “dynamiting” them there could be no reform. In his writings he talked about the caste system and the need for its destruction.
-> 'A Republic in the Making: India in the 1950s' by Gyanesh Kudaisya
The 1950s were a momentous decade in India's contemporary history, marked by dramatic events and colossal challenges. 'A Republic in the Making' looks at India's uncertain trajectory as it evolved in the years after Independence.
The 1950s were a momentous decade in India's contemporary history, marked by dramatic events and colossal challenges. 'A Republic in the Making' looks at India's uncertain trajectory as it evolved in the years after Independence.
About the author:
Gyanesh Kudaisya was an Associate Professor in South Asian history. A specialist in contemporary history, he obtained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.
-> 'The Partition of India' by Haimanti Roy
Even after so many years of the partition of India, we continue to grapple with its histories, memories, and legacies within our contemporary society. It remains in the memories of those families and individuals who lived through the trauma of violence and uprooting, the loss of life, and the travails of survival.This short introduction provides a comprehensive account of the causes, experience and aftermath of the division and its legacies in the South Asian subcontinent.
The author highlights three aspects of the Partition: it was not a pre-destined 'clash of civilizations' between Hindus and Muslims; it was a long-drawn-out process spanning beyond a decade rather than confined to the year 1947; and third, there is no single template to understand the experiences of dislocation, rehabilitation, migration, and violence in Bengal and Punjab.
He brought together the contextual histories of causality, violence and loss, and of nation-making and introduces its readers to major scholarly debates in a brief but succinct manner. In so doing, it urges them to reflect on the multiplicity of meanings of 1947 and its relevance in framing and understanding the challenges faced in South Asia today.
The history of prisons and prisoners in colonial India has been focused more.Based on substantial archival research, it presents the conditions of the prisoners, their vision for the freedom movement and the various aspects of prisons in the subcontinent.
By focusing on lives and motivations of select prisoners, places their lived experiences within the larger rubric of Indian nationalism and explores the notions of political, protest, and resistance during the first half of the twentieth century.
His contribution also deals with issues such as the differences between Indian and European prisons as well as the conception of criminal classes in the colony. It, therefore, fills in a gap area in modern Indian history and provides a historical context to the contemporary Indian prison system.
He drew upon a wide range of sources including the records at the National Archives of India, private papers, native newspaper reports, memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies.
About the author:
Mushirul Hasan was a former Professor of History, Jamia Millia Islamia,Delhi. His previous positions include Director-General, National Archives of India, Delhi and Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia. He was also been awarded with the Padma Shri .
-> Kaushik Roy who had written 'Partition of India Why 1947?' gives us an impactful insight of what really happened at that time and realise how today we are able to breathe the air of Freedom :
The year of 1947 was a turning point in the history of South Asia. The independence of British India resulted in two sovereign states: India and Pakistan. This book analyses two important dimensions of the Partition deadly timing and causation.During that time the prominent scholars study the long- and short-term causes of the Partition, beginning with the elections of 1936-37 and the subsequent formation of Congress government in most provinces.
He had also outlined the major debates and their changing nature over time. The volume ends with the analysis of events that led to the acceptance of the Partition plan in 1947 by all major parties. The Introduction examines the contours of the debate and also situates the Partition in the context of current historiography.
He had considerable interest in scholars and students of modern Indian history and politics.
About the author:
Kaushik Roy was a Reader, Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He was also a Senior Researcher at, Centre for the Study of Civil War, International Peace Research Institute, Norway.
->'Indian Democracy' the authentic verse by Suhas Palshikar :
India's democracy often receives extreme responses of exaggerated appreciation or enlarged criticism. It is necessary that public debates on democracy in India are based on more informed analysis.
It dealt with the various debated issues in perspective and arrive at a critical appreciation of the endeavour called democracy.It takes the reader through a tour of key issues of contestations and mobilization that have occupied the terrain of democratic politics in India.
Calling India's democracy 'work in progress, this short track draws attention to the central paradoxes of Indian democracy. While taking a long term view of democracy, the book is alive to the more contemporary challenges as well.
Readers may agree or disagree, but they cannot ignore the central argument that while India's democracy wades through many paradoxes, it faces the challenge of distortion if majoritarian tendencies become pervasive and if the core feature of diversity is weakened.
He proposed the timely warning about the possibilities and distortions that the democracy in India contained at that time.
About the author:
Suhas Palshikar was a co-director of Lokniti, a research programme on comparative democracy, based at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, and chief editor of Studies in Indian Politics, a SAGE journal.
Thus,in this way our India's freedom fighter writers who explained us how we fought a long and hard struggle for the country's independence of the country from the British. And, for years their words have inspired us till date.