Question

First organized militant movements for Indian Independence

Answer 1

The very first organised militant movements were inBengal, but they later took movement in the then newly formedIndian National Congresswith prominent moderate leaders seeking only their basic right to appear forIndian Civil Serviceexaminations, as well as more rights, economic 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 theLal, Bal, PalandAurobindo Ghosh,V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The last stages of the self-rule struggle from the 1920s onwards saw Congress adoptMohandas Karamchand Gandhi's policy of nonviolence and civil resistance,Muhammad Ali Jinnah's constitutional struggle for the rights of minorities in India, and several other campaigns. ActivistsNetaji Subhash Chandra Bose,Bhagat SinghandVinayak Damodar Sawarkarpreached armed revolution toachieve self-rule. Poets and writers such asRabindranath Tagore,Subramaniya Bharathi,Allama Iqbal,Josh Malihabadi,Mohammad Ali Jouhar,Bankim Chandra ChattopadhyayandKaziNazrul Islamused literature, poetry and speech as a tool for political awareness. Feminists such asSarojini NaiduandBegum Rokeyapromoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in national politics.Babasaheb Ambedkarchampioned the cause of the disadvantaged sections of Indian society within the larger self-rule movement. The period of theSecond World Warsaw the peak of the campaigns by theQuit India Movementled byMahatma Gandhiand theIndian National Armymovement led byNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose.The Indian self-rule movement was a mass-based movement that encompassed various sections of society. It also underwent a process of constant ideological evolution.[1]Although the basic ideology of the movement was anti-colonial, it was supported by a vision of independent capitalist economic development coupled with a secular, democratic, republican, andcivil-libertarianpolitical structure.[2]After the1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation, due to the increasing influence of left-wing elements in the Congress as well as the rise and growth of theCommunist Party of India.[1]TheAll-India Muslim Leaguewas formed in 1906 as a separate Muslim party which later in 1940 called for separate state of Pakistan. The work of these various movements led ultimately to theIndian Independence Act 1947, which ended the suzerainty in India and the creation ofPakistan. India remained a Dominion ofthe Crownuntil 26 January 1950, when theConstitution of Indiacame into force, establishing theRepublic of India; Pakistan was a dominion until 1956, when it adopted itsfirst republican constitution. In 1971,East Pakistandeclared independence as thePeople's Republic of Bangladesh.