.Essay .
Subject: "Indian Constitution, Struggle for Independence and Warriors of Indian Independence"
Word limit 250–300 words
Answers
Answer:
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal.[2] It later took root in the newly formed Indian National Congress with prominent moderate leaders seeking only their fundamental right to appear for Indian Civil Service examinations in British India, as well as more rights (economical in nature) for the people of the soil. The early part of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards political self-rule proposed by leaders such as the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate, Aurobindo Ghosh and V. O. Chidambaram Pillai.[3]
The last stages of the self-rule struggle from the 1920s was characterized by Congress's adoption of Mahatma Gandhi's policy of non-violence and civil disobedience, and several other campaigns. Nationalists like Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Bagha Jatin, Surya Sen preached armed revolution to achieve self-rule. Poets and writers such as Rabindranath Tagore, Subramania Bharati, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Kazi Nazrul Islam used literature, poetry, and speech as a tool for political awareness. Feminists like Sarojini Naidu, Pritilata Waddedar, Begum Rokeya promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in national politics.[3] B. R. Ambedkar championed the cause of the disadvantaged sections of Indian society within the more significant self-rule movement.[4] The period of the World War II saw the peak of the campaigns by the Quit India Movement led by Congress and the Indian National Army movement led by Subhas Chandra Bose with the help of Japan.[3]
Answer
Mohandas Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement of 1930-1931—launched by the Salt March—is a critical case for understanding civil resistance. Although by itself it failed to bring Indian independence, it seriously undermined British authority and united India’s population in a movement for independence under the leadership of the Indian National Congress (INC). It further signaled a new stage in the struggle for Indian swaraj (self-rule) and facilitated the downfall of the British Empire in India. Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha (a word Gandhi used to connote civil resistance, meaning “holding fast to the truth”) drew upon a traditional South Asian cultural practice – the “Padyatra” (a long spiritual march) that became a model of strategic action for many social movements in the decades to come.