Being observed as India’s Independence Day, 15 the August is celebrated across the nation with great patriotism and enthusiasm. The UK Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in 1947 and transferred legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly. However, King George VI was retained as head of the state until its transition to the full republican constitution.
Our Independence parted the nation into the Dominions of India and Pakistan. The partition was accompanied by riots and mass casualties. It is believed that there was a displacement of nearly 15 million people due to religious violence.
On 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. He hoisted the Indian national flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red Fort in Delhi. This subsequently became a custom and on every Independence Day, Indian Prime Minister hoists the national flag and addresses the nation.
It was in 1929, when Jawaharlal Nehru, who at that time was Congress President, gave the call for ‘Poorna Swaraj’ which meant total independence of India from British colonial rule. Earlier January 26 was chosen as the Independence Day and from the 1930s onwards, Congress party started to celebrate 26 January as India’s Independence Day, till India attained its independence. Later in 1950, January 26 was chosen as the Republic Day of India as India formally became a sovereign country and was no longer under the British Dominion.
The British Parliament commanded Lord Mountbatten to transfer the governing powers to Indian leaders by June 30, 1948. According to C Rajagopalachari, an Indian politician and independence activist, if Lord Mountbatten had waited till June 1948, there would have been no power left to transfer. This was the reason that Mountbatten preponed the date to August 1947 and transferred all the governing powers.
Mountbatten also claimed that by preponing the date, there will be no bloodshed or riot. His theory went wrong and later he justified by saying “wherever colonial rule has ended, there has been bloodshed. That is the price you pay.”
Based on Mountbatten’s inputs, the British government presented the Indian Independence Bill in the British House of Commons. It was on July 4, 1947, that the bill got approved within a fortnight.
This was the end of the British rule in India and on August 15, 1947, India got its independence but by establishing two Dominions, India and Pakistan.
Mountbatten later also claimed that “the date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was master of the whole event. When they asked had we set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it out exactly then — I thought it had to be about August or September and I then went out to the 15th August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender.”
This year India will be celebrating its 70th Independence Day. Indeed, every Independence Day reminds us the hard-fought freedom won by the freedom fighters and patriots.
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