A few days ago, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi made various claims about India’s freedom struggle while speaking at a public event hosted by United Democratic Front (UDF) activists in Kerala’s Wayanad, one of which was that India was founded on “non-violence.” She stated that “when the institutions are failing to be the checks and balances for the government, It is the job of the people of India to do so” since “our nation was built on the foundation of truth, non-violence, equality, and justice.” Like her brother, she too has decided to make statements that are false or funny.
Contrary to what Priyanka claimed, non-violence was not the basis upon which independent India was founded. Even in our school textbooks, it was stated that ‘Baapu’s’ nonviolent struggle was what ultimately won us freedom from the British colonialists. But it has a bloody past that is rarely talked about. In any case, it is incomprehensible that a nation that fought in two world wars would be dissuaded by non-violence and cede control of its prize, India. History books have been manipulated since independence and the reality of how India has suffered is suppressed from passing to generations.
While the focus was always placed on the “Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb” and other fictitious conceptions that were convenient to Congress, the genuine history and horrors of Direct Action Day, the Khilafat Movement, and many other relevant episodes related to the Indian liberation movement may not have found a place in the popular discussion. The Indian Independence War was grossly understated in our school history texts, which also romanticised the idea that a man with a stick won us freedom.
Here are some of the Independence-era episodes that have been painstakingly diluted for the interests of a few.
The Two-Nation Theory: The original “Tukde-Tukde Gang” were the “Two-Nation Theory”‘s proponents. The Aligarh Muslim University’s founder, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, originally advocated the Two Nation Theory. Khan had stated in 1876 that he believed Hindus and Muslims could never form one nation because of the differences in their religion and manner of life. Years later, in 1888, Khan stated that Muslims and Hindus cannot share the same kingdom and that one must subjugate the other. He said that if the British left India with all of their cannons and weapons, then who would rule this nation? “It is essential that one of them overthrow the other. It would be impossible and unthinkable to wish for both to remain equal. However, there cannot be peace in the land until one nation has subjugated and conquered another.
In addition to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Allama Mohammad Iqbal, a famous author of “Saare Jahan Se Accha, Hindustan Hamara,” later contradicted himself to advocate for a separate “Muslim” nation. The poet, who had composed Tarana-e-Milli for kids six years earlier, just so happened to contradict himself by writing it in 1910. When Muhammad Iqbal penned “Cīn o-ʿArab hamārā, Hindūstāṉ hamārā, Muslim haiṉ ham, wat̤an hai sārā jahāṉ hamārā” in the Tarana-e-Milli, which was written in the same metre and rhyme scheme as “Sare Jaha Se Achcha,” it became abundantly clear later that he was an Islamic fanatic.
Interestingly, Muhammad Iqbal was one of the solicitors who defended Mahashay Rajpal’s murderer, who had written the novel “Rangeela Rasool.” Additionally, he hailed the killer, Ilmuddin, who was later given the title of “Ghazi” (fighter of faith) by Pakistan for the 1929 murder of Mahashay Rajpal. It’s crucial to remember that the desire to establish Pakistan as a separate Islamic nation and the slaughter that followed was rooted in this two-nation notion.
Indians fought the British war: It is well known that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was revered throughout his life as the patron saint of nonviolence, offered assistance to the British during the First World War. Because MK Gandhi decreed it, more than 1.5 million Indian soldiers fought on the British side. As noted by Congressman Shashi Tharoor in this article, there were scarcely any uprisings against the British during this time because Indian nationalists did not use the circumstance by “even inciting disturbances.” Congress supported the British oppressors like good ‘allies’ would.
According to a study by the War Office from 1922 titled Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War, towards the end of 1919, there were 53,486 Indian soldiers dead, 64,350 wounded, and 2,937 still missing. However, a few pages earlier, the same book states that an “approximate” total of 47,746 Indians were “killed, died of wounds, died,” and that an additional 65,126 were injured. However, it is not hard to understand that the true number might have been far greater.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre: The British did not follow through on their pledge even after winning World War I in 1919 with the aid of Indian soldiers. The Rowlatt Act, which forbade and restricted the press, imprisoned political activists without trial, and jailed anyone suspected of treason against the Empire without a warrant, was implemented by the British instead of allowing for self-government. In April 1919, General Reginald Dyer ordered his soldiers to start shooting at 15,000 unarmed and defenceless men, women, and children, which led to the horrible Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Strangely, Gandhi forgave the British General even though the Jallianwala Bagh massacre still makes many cry.
Khilafat Movement: The Khilafat movement was started by Muslims in India to support the Caliphate in Turkey (1919–1924). MK Gandhi also endorsed this, anticipating that Muslims would assist his nationalist cause similarly. Nearly 10,000 Hindus were brutally slaughtered, thousands of Hindu women were raped, and Hindu temples were desecrated as a result of the foolish enthusiasm of the Moplah Muslims. During the Malabar Massacre in 1921, the Moplah Muslims went on a violent spree and slaughtered Hindus in the most horrible methods imaginable. This has been misrepresented in our school history books throughout the years as the “Muslims’ struggle for Indian Independence,” when in reality it was their effort to create an Islamic state in India.
Direct Action Day: On August 16, 1946, Muhammad Ali Jinnah urged fellow Muslims all over India to take part in a “Direct Action Day,” saying that we would have “either a divided India or a destroyed India.” There had never been a rampage like the one that followed in India. Nearly 10,000 people were killed and close to 15,000 were hurt over three days by men brandishing swords.
Riots in Noakhali: The Noakhali riots were a series of loosely orchestrated killings, mass rapes, kidnappings, and forced conversions of Hindus to Islam, as well as looting and arson of Hindu properties, committed by the Muslim community in the Noakhali district of the Chittagong Division of Bengal (now Bangladesh). During the turmoil, which lasted for about a week, about 5,000 people died.
Partition: To protect their daughters from being raped by the Islamist hordes, some male household leaders have been said to have murdered their daughters. In her book, The Other Side of Silence, Urvashi Butalia describes an incident that happened in the Thoa Khalsa hamlet in the Rawalpindi area (now in Pakistan), where 90 Sikh women leapt into a well to protect their honour from the ‘enemy’. Many people had to leave the nations where their families had lived for many generations because they lost their homes. A centuries-old connection to their native land was severed in a matter of days.
It is appropriate to remember that Ambedkar, the architect of the constitution, supported a complete population exchange at the time of division as Ambedkar Jayanti approaches. When someone claims that nonviolence was the cornerstone of India, they are deceiving the Indian people and openly hiding the atrocities this nation’s citizens went through. The sacrifices made by independence warriors like Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and countless others are likewise devalued by statements like these.
It is a travesty and a disrespect to the thousands of people who died in the many massacres preceding up to and even after August 15, 1947, to characterise Indian Independence history as a “non-violent” one. It is high time the Gandhi brother-sister duo are given some good History and Culture coaching: to know the reality and to behave in the way that is respected in India.
