Independence Movement of India

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen and my dear friends. Today is the 15Aug2012 and is our 65th Independence Day. On this occasion we wish to share with you a few inspiring facts about the great people who made India’s independence possible.

The British Traders also known as ‘ The East India Company ‘ first entered ‘ The Indian Subcontinent ( and this includes India, Pakistan & Bangladesh ) ‘ in 1612 and from then over the next 200 years, they grew their influence on local politics by systematically defeating first the Portugese and Dutch militaries and then various princely states of India one by one. The decline of the Mughal empire gave them the power they were looking for and thus, they entered Indian politics.

The first real challenge to the British Empire was the rebellion of 1857. The Indian Sepoys in military service had to bite the top of the cartridges used in their rifles and these tops were made from pig fat!! This went against the religious beliefs of most Indians and upset the Sepoys. ‘ Mangal Pandey ‘ a 29 year old sepoy at Barrackpore inspired his companions to rebel against their British superiors and they killed a ranking officer. ‘ Mangal Pandey ‘ was sentenced to death for this. However the rebellion quickly spread to Meerut, Oudh and the North Western Provinces. This rebellion raged for almost two years and the last major battle was on 17Jun1858 in Gwalior where the brave and courageous ‘ Rani Laxmibai ‘ also known as ‘ Jhansi Ki Rani ‘ was killed.

In the decades following the rebellion Indian leadership finally emerged. Dadabhai Naoroji also known as ‘ The Grand Old Man of India ‘ along with Surendranath Banerjee founded the Indian National Association in 1876. This was the first attempt at getting all India under one umbrella. This was also a big challenge as India had a number of Princely states all running independently.

‘Swaraj’ means freedom and the great Bal Gangadhar Tilak also known as ‘ Lokmanya’, who was deeply opposed to anything British famously said ‘ Swaraj is my Birthright and I shall have it’. He was a great champion of freedom of expression and went to great lengths to have the voice of India heard.

No Independence Day speech can proceed without mention of ‘ Shaheed Bhagat Singh ‘ the young Indian nationalist who was considered one of the most influencial revolutionaries of the Indian Freedom Movement. At the tender age of 24 he along with Rajguru and Sukhdev laid down their lives for the cause. We salute you, oh great ones !

In 1915 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as ‘ Mahatma Gandhi ‘ returned to India from South Africa. Over the next 32 years he would tirelessly spearhead India’s freedom struggle against the British. He did this through ‘ Non Violence ‘ and economic independence . Some his great movements were ‘ The Civil Disobedience Movement ‘, ‘ The Quit India Movement ‘ and ‘ The Dandi March ‘.

Some of our other great freedom fighters were:
Dr Rajendra Prasad – Independent India’s first President
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru – Independent India’s first Prime Minister
Sardar Vallabhai Patel – The Iron Man of India
Rabindranth Tagore – Also known as ‘ Gurudev ‘ , author of our National Anthem
Lala Lajpat Rai – Also known as Punjab Kesari
Subhash Chandra Bose – Also known as Netaji
Lal Bahadur Shastri – Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan
Chandrashekhar Azad – The Liberated One
Abdul Kalam Azad – Also known as Maulana Azad

The list can go on , however India’s freedom would only have been possible because each and every Indian decided that Freedom was his birthright.

We take this opportunity to salute each and every great soul who contributed to the freedom of our great country. JAI HIND!!