India’s Struggle for Freedom

• Founding Details:
1. Date: December 28–31, 1885.
2. Venue: Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay.
3. Founder: Retired British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume (A.O. Hume).
4. First President: Eminent Bengali barrister Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee (W.C. Bonnerjee), attended by $72\text{ delegates}$ from across India.
• Primary Objectives:
1. To promote close friendly relations and solidarity among national political workers across diverse regions, castes, and religions.
2. To consolidate a common sentiment of pan-Indian national unity.
3. To formulate and present popular Indian political, social, and economic demands before the British government through peaceful constitutional channels.

• Moderates (Early Nationalists, 1885–1905):
1. Leaders: Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea.
2. Goal: Gradual self-government (Dominion Status) within the British Empire.
3. Methods: Strictly constitutional "3 Ps" — Petitions, Prayers, and Protests; sent memorandums to the Viceroy; had faith in British sense of justice.
• Assertive Nationalists (Radicals, 1905–1918):
1. Leaders: Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal) and Aurobindo Ghosh.
2. Goal: Total and immediate Swaraj (Self-Rule) without British control.
3. Methods: Mass agitation through Swadeshi (indigenous goods), Boycott of British cloth, National Education, and Passive Resistance.

• The Massacre (April 13, 1919):
1. Over $10,000$ peaceful, unarmed men, women, and children gathered in the walled garden of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar to celebrate the harvest festival of Baisakhi and peacefully protest the arrest of national leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal under the Rowlatt Act.
2. Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer blocked the only narrow exit gate with troops and armored cars.
3. Without giving any warning to disperse, Dyer commanded his soldiers to open fire directly into the trapped crowd.
4. Firing continued for 10 minutes ($1,650\text{ rounds}$) until ammunition was exhausted, killing over $1,000$ innocent people and wounding $1,500$.
• Immediate Impact:
1. Rabindranath Tagore renounced his British Knighthood in bitter grief and protest.
2. Shattered Mahatma Gandhi's remaining faith in British justice, transforming him into an uncompromising rebel who launched the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920.

• Why Salt?
Salt is an absolute, daily biological necessity for every human being, rich and poor alike.
The British government imposed a regressive tax on salt and made it a criminal offense for Indians to collect or make their own natural salt.
Gandhi recognized that salt tax was the most visible, inhuman symbol of British colonial greed that would unite all Indians across class, religion, and gender.
• The Dandi March (1930):
1. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi and 78 ashram disciples began a $240\text{-mile}$ walking march from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi in Gujarat.
2. On April 6, 1930, Gandhi bathed in the sea, picked up a fistful of natural salt from the beach, and ceremonially broke the Salt Law.
3. This sparked the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement, resulting in the arrest of over $60,000$ freedom fighters.

• Date & Venue: The historic Quit India Resolution was passed by the All India Congress Committee on August 8, 1942, at the Gowalia Tank Maidan (now August Kranti Maidan) in Bombay under the presidency of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
• The Slogan: In his speech, Mahatma Gandhi gave the nation the immortal mantra:

$$\mathbf{\text{"DO OR DIE" (Karo ya Maro)}}$$

He proclaimed: "We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery."

• The INA (Azad Hind Fauj): An armed military force originally conceived by Mohan Singh from Indian prisoners of war in Japanese custody, revitalized and commanded by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Singapore in 1943.
• Netaji's Leadership:
1. Established the Provisional Government of Free India (Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind) in Singapore in October 1943.
2. Rallied the soldiers with patriotic battle cries: "Delhi Chalo!", "Jai Hind!", and: "Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azadi doonga!" (Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!).
3. Formed the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, Asia's first all-female combat military unit under Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.
4. The INA advanced bravely across the Burmese border, hoisting the Indian Tricolor on Indian soil at Moirang, Manipur (1944).
• The post-war INA Trials at Red Fort in 1945 sparked mutinies in the Royal Indian Navy, convincing the British that their military hold on India had collapsed.

• The Chauri Chaura Incident (February 4, 1922):
At the village of Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district (Uttar Pradesh), a peaceful procession of demonstrators was beaten by the police.
Enraged by police brutality, the mob retaliated by attacking the local police station and setting it on fire.
Twenty-two British-Indian policemen were burned alive inside the station.
• Why Suspended?
Mahatma Gandhi was a staunch, uncompromising apostle of Ahimsa (Non-Violence).
He believed that the movement had drifted into mob violence and that Indians were not yet sufficiently disciplined to wage a purely non-violent struggle.
Against the fierce protests of young leaders like Nehru and Subhas Bose, Gandhi unilaterally suspended the Non-Cooperation Movement on February 12, 1922.

1. Partition of British India: British India would be partitioned into two independent sovereign dominions: India and Pakistan.
   2. Partition of Bengal and Punjab: Legislative assemblies of Bengal and Punjab would vote on whether their provinces should be partitioned along religious demographic lines.
   3. Referendums: A plebiscite would be held in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Sylhet district of Assam to decide their accession.
   4. Princely States: The $565\text{ princely states}$ would have the sovereign freedom to join either India, Pakistan, or remain independent.
   5. Immediate Transfer of Power: British power was transferred on August 15, 1947 under the Indian Independence Act passed by the British Parliament.