Indian independence

Indian independence
Name	Indian independence movement
Caption	Flag adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1931
Date	1857–1947
Locations	British Raj, Indian subcontinent
Result	Transfer of power; creation of Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan; Partition of India

Contents

Indian independence was the process by which the peoples of the Indian subcontinent achieved freedom from British Empire rule, culminating in the end of the British Raj and the creation of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in 1947. The struggle combined constitutional politics, mass mobilization, revolutionary activity, and international diplomacy, involving a wide cast including the Indian National Congress, the All-India Muslim League, regional princely states such as Hyderabad State and Junagadh, and global actors like the United States and the Soviet Union. Key episodes included the Sepoy Mutiny (1857), the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Civil Disobedience Movement, the Quit India Movement, and negotiations leading to the Indian Independence Act 1947.

Background and Causes

The roots of independence trace to colonial economic policies implemented by the East India Company and continued under the British Crown after the Government of India Act 1858, provoking crises such as the Great Famine of 1876–78 and the Bengal Famine of 1943. Administrative changes like the Ryotwari system and the Zamindari system reshaped agrarian relations, while transport projects such as the Indian Railways facilitated both extraction and nationalist communication. Cultural and intellectual currents—stimulated by figures in the Bengal Renaissance, institutions like the University of Calcutta and the Aligarh Muslim University, and publications such as the Kesari and Young India—helped create public opinion alongside legal contests in the Privy Council and debates over the Indian Councils Act 1892 and the Morley-Minto Reforms. International influences included the Irish Home Rule movement, the Russian Revolution, and diasporic networks in London, Berlin, and Californian cities where activists met during World War I.

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 catalyzed modern nationalism, inspiring leaders in organizations such as the Indian National Congress founded in 1885 and the All-India Muslim League founded in 1906. Early constitutionalists like Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah pursued legislative reform via the Lucknow Pact and responses to the Partition of Bengal (1905). Revolutionary currents emerged in the Hindu–German Conspiracy, groups like the Ghadar Party and the Anushilan Samiti, and personalities including Bhagat Singh, V. D. Savarkar, and Surya Sen. Debates over reforms intensified around the Morley-Minto Reforms, the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, and reactions to World War I such as the Home Rule Movement led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Annie Besant.

Post-World War I politics saw the rise of mass strategies: the Jallianwala Bagh massacre provoked national outrage, propelling the Non-Cooperation Movement under Mahatma Gandhi and the reorientation of the Indian National Congress toward mass civil disobedience. The Khilafat Movement allied sections of the All-India Muslim League and the Congress temporarily, while the Simon Commission boycott and the Civil Disobedience Movement tested colonial responses including the Salt March and arrests of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Constitutional negotiations produced the Nehru Report, the Government of India Act 1935, and wartime crises such as the Cripps Mission and the Quit India Movement of 1942. Communal tensions escalated through incidents like the Direct Action Day and the role of entities such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah, while leftist organizations including the Communist Party of India and trade unions such as the All India Trade Union Congress sought alternative strategies.

Leaders shaped strategy and negotiation: Mahatma Gandhi advanced satyagraha and nonviolence; Jawaharlal Nehru articulated secular nationalism and economic planning; Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel negotiated princely accession; Muhammad Ali Jinnah pressed for Pakistan; Subhas Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army allied with the Axis powers; B. R. Ambedkar championed Dalit rights and constitutional safeguards; Abul Kalam Azad represented secular Muslim voices in the Congress. Institutional players included the Indian National Congress, the All-India Muslim League, the British Labour Party, the Conservative Party (UK), the Viceroy of India’s office, princely states like Mysore and Travancore, and civil organizations such as the Indian National Trade Union Congress and the Servants of India Society. Prominent legal and intellectual figures—C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Muhammad Iqbal, Sarojini Naidu—shaped public mobilization, while revolutionary leaders such as Chandra Shekhar Azad and Kartar Singh Sarabha undertook militant resistance.

Negotiations accelerated with the Cabinet Mission Plan and the breakdown of coalition possibilities leading to the Mountbatten Plan and the Indian Independence Act 1947 passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The plan partitioned provinces and princely states, producing the Boundary Commission chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe and precipitating population transfers amid communal violence centered in Punjab (British India) and Bengal Presidency. Key princely decisions involved rulers of Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad State, and Junagadh, and involved leaders such as Maharaja Hari Singh and Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII. International reactions came from the United Nations and neighboring states like Afghanistan; emigrant flows affected diasporas in East Africa, United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia.

Post-1947 developments included the framing of the Constitution of India under B. R. Ambedkar, the accession of princely states via the Instrument of Accession, and the first general elections organized by the Election Commission of India. The partition produced long-term consequences: demographic shifts across Punjab (India) and Punjab (Pakistan), disputes over Kashmir conflict, and legacies in literature by authors such as Saadat Hasan Manto and Khushwant Singh. Economic and social policies drew on visions from Nehruvian socialism and plans of the Planning Commission (India), while geopolitical alignments manifested in membership of the Non-Aligned Movement, interactions with the United States and Soviet Union, and regional conflicts like the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948. Memory and commemoration persist in institutions such as India Gate, Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial, festivals like Independence Day (India), scholarly work in archives like the National Archives of India, and ongoing debates involving parties such as the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.