Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Road to Independence
The desire among many Indians to be free from foreign rule remained. Opposition to the
British began to increase at the turn of the 20th century, spearheaded by the Indian National
Congress (Congress Party), the nation's oldest political party. The fight for independence
gained momentum when, in April 1919, following riots in Amritsar (Punjab), a British
Army contingent was sent to quell the unrest. Under direct orders of the officer in charge
the army ruthlessly fired into a crowd of unarmed protesters attending a meeting, killing an
estimated 1500 people. News of the massacre spread rapidly throughout India, turning huge
numbers of otherwise apolitical Indians into Congress supporters. At this time, the Con-
gress movement found a new leader in Mohandas Gandhi.
After some three decades of intense campaigning for an independent India, Mahatma
Gandhi's dream finally materialised. However, despite Gandhi's plea for a united India -
the Muslim League's leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was demanding a separate Islamic
state for India's sizeable Muslim population - the decision was made to split the country.
The Partition of India in 1947 contained all the ingredients for an epic disaster, but the
resulting bloodshed was far worse than anticipated. Massive population exchanges took
place. Trains full of Muslims, fleeing westward, were held up and slaughtered by Hindu
and Sikh mobs. Hindus and Sikhs fleeing to the east suffered the same fate. By the time the
chaos had run its course, more than 10 million people had changed sides and at least
500,000 had been killed.
India and Pakistan became sovereign nations under the British Commonwealth in
August 1947 as planned, but the violence, migrations and the integration of a few states, es-
pecially Kashmir, continued. The Constitution of India was at last adopted in November
1949 and went into effect on 26 January 1950 and, after untold struggle, independent India
officially became a republic.
The Nehrus and the Gandhis
is Tariq Ali's astute portrait-history of these families and the India over which they
cast their long shadow.
