“India is the only country in
the world where history text books teaches a history which dilutes the
nationalist elements rather than strengthening it. In India, we consider the
Indian history written by foreign authors more authentic than the books penned by Indian historians. ”
- V.S Naipul
It is one of the biggest myths that India got its
Independence out of total nonviolence. In times, when it’s almost impossible to
drive your tenant out of your house without force, how can we even think that
that mighty British left us because of this so called absolute ‘nonviolence’?
Here goes an often cited passage by the then Governor of
West Bengal Justice P.B Chakraborty in 1956.
"When I
was acting governor, Lord Attlee, who had given us independence by withdrawing
British rule from India, spent two days in the governor's palace at Calcutta during
his tour of India. At that time I had a prolonged discussion with him regarding
the real factors that had led the British to quit India. My direct question to
Attlee was that since Gandhi's Quit India Movement had tapered off quite some
time ago and in 1947 no such new compelling situation had arisen that would
necessitate a hasty British departure, why did they had to leave? In his reply
Attlee cited several reasons, the main among them being the erosion of loyalty
to the British crown among the Indian Army and Navy personnel as a result of
the military activities of Netaji."
He is further quoted as thus - "Towards the end of our
discussion I asked Attlee what was the extent of Gandhi's influence upon the
British decision to leave India. Hearing this question, Attlee's lips became
twisted in a sarcastic smile as he
slowly chewed out the word, 'm-i-n-i-m-al'."
What are the real reasons for Indian independence?
Rather than agreeing with the conventionally accepted
theory, looking at a wider perspective, they can be broadly classified into -
internal and external.
It was widely believed that Bose
had no contribution in the independence struggle since Japan provided him all
the resources, but this presumption was wrong as many Indians staying abroad
contributed to his movement. Despite the Japanese being defeated in the World
War II, Bose’s INA stood strong and continued winning territories. The high
point of their movement was when INA captured Nagaland and forced the British
to vacate. 45,000 INA soldiers were martyred. The British deployed air attack
and managed to suppress as they were found wanting – were not well-equipped
with air attack defense.
INA was successful to hoist the flag in
independent India. Even though the flag hoisting in Kohima was a major turning
point, none of the main stream media published it, neither did Gandhi’s
magazine like ‘Harijan’ & ‘Young India’. Though some Congressmen wanted
this news to be known to all, some antinational forces within wanted this news
to be suppressed.
As they say “Truth is eternal”. Fortunately, this news
spread like wildfire among the Indian soldiers in the British Army which
boosted their morale – “ If a few of our men led by Netaji can give such a
tough time to the mighty British, then if all come together and fight them,
Victory will surely be ours .”
Another important event was the
INA trials of 1945-46. INA officers were courtmartialed. Three were awarded
capital punishment. These trials attracted much publicity, and public sympathy
for the defendants who were perceived as patriots. This brought in a new zeal
to the movement and in this way the last nail was driven in the coffin of the
British Raj. Aftermath of which was the Royal Indian Navy Revolt which broke
out in 18th February 1946 in Bombay. It spread to Karachi, Calcutta,
Cochin and Vizag. 78 ships, 20 shore establishments and 20,000 sailors were
involved in these strikes. Taking encouragement from this, even the Royal Indian Air
Force and local police clubbed in. Riots broke out all over the country.
So it is quite evident that this, the RIN Revolt, inspired
by Bose’s INA, was the single most important internal factor that forced the
British to transfer power to India, and the Quit India Movement led by Gandhi
in 1942 was practically a complete failure.
Now, a look at the external reasons.
There was floating theory during 1935-39, that Germany and
Russia would collude and declare war against Britain. The British had only one
option then – to go to war. They did not want to risk their own soldiers. Hence
they started expanding the Indian Army. They started giving out military
training and set up arsenals in India. This later proved miscalculated. Their
indoctrinated soldiers used this against the very establishment. They refused
to obey any orders. The economic condition of Britain after World War II was
not very good. The British were also
wary of the Russians. While British tried to suppress the Indian Army
rebellion, they were wary of Russia providing arms support to the rebels, that
would have resulted in British getting beaten very badly They could never have
been able to defeat the uprising Army of thousands.
Our history books don’t always preach the correct history. Interference of the political class in the education – Politicization of education is no more a closeddoor secret. A blatant practice of these days. Sadly much of our history is lost in these pages. The political class when in power glorify their own leaders, or at times their favorite leaders. It’s a pity that many GREAT Heroes of our Freedom struggle, have struggled to find their names and their due credit which they so rightly deserve in our history books.
Some leaders like Rash Behari Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose,
still have not been given their due credit. This is just a lucid account to
give a glimpse, that Indian Independence was NOT just a ‘Gandhi-Nehru’ affair,
something we’ve always been taught in our schools. It’s actually more of
Subhash Chandra Bose and his likes. Distorted history is curse, a wrong
precedent for our generations to come.
Give our National Heroes their real due. Let the real
history be known to all.
- JAI HIND.
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