Section 1.1 text
SECTION 1: HISTORY IN THE MAKING
1.1 Independence Movement
India was conquered by the British and ruled by them for almost two centuries, first by the East India Company and then directly by the Crown. But there was never total submission to the Raj, as it was known. Protests and uprisings were frequent, and frequently these were ruthlessly suppressed, as was the great Indian Mutiny of 1857, when the troops rose up in revolt.
The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 as an association of wealthy landowners, professionals and moderates, who sought various concessions from the British. It later became the flagbearer of the freedom movement under the leadership of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as the Mahatma. The masses of India were readily drawn to Gandhi's inclusive teachings and his policy of "non-violent non-cooperation" with the British. Many outstanding men and women became Congress leaders.
The Communist Party of India was a banned underground organization under most of British rule. It was legalized during the Second World War, when all other political parties, involved in the Quit India movement that began in 1942, opposed the British war effort. The communists were the only supporters of this effort, because they believed that fascism was the greater enemy and needed to be defeated first. When the war ended, the British reinstituted the ban.
I grew up in the 1930s in Calcutta, which was then a center of political and cultural activity. Most of my friends were political activists, writers and artists, with leftist ideas. For us, freedom meant not just freedom from British rule, but from all political, economic, social or religious tyrannies. Like many others all over the world at the time, we had put our faith in socialism. I joined the student wing of the communist party, and P.C. Joshi, the secretary of the party, picked me to work for the newspaper.
These pictures were taken in the 1940s, during the eventful years preceding and following India's freedom from British rule. The meetings, processions and demonstrations during the final phase of the independence movement shown here were not the only important ones, but were typical of what was happening all over the subcontinent.
- Sunil Janah
All photographs, and text: © Sunil Janah 1940-2000
Section 1.2 deals with the Famines, Riots and Refugees that preceded and followed Independence.
Section 1.3 - Political Leaders and Others - contains more text and images related to the Independence Movement. But please work through Sections 1.1 and 1.2 first.
