Azaadi ka Amrut Mahotsav

As we celebrate our 75th Independence Day, it’s time to remember the sacrifices of all those, who laid down their lives so that we could be a free nation. While 1857 is often regarded as the First War of Indian Independence, there were numerous other revolts that took place much before, against the Colonial rulers.

It was not just the British, but even against other colonial rulers like the Battle of Bobilli when a tiny kingdom in the Northern Circars, put up a defiant last man stand against the combined army of French, Nizam and the rival Vizianagaram kingdom.

Or much before in 1741, when Marthanda Varma of the Travancore kingdom would defeat the Dutch in the Battle of Colachel.

And you had Yashwant Rao Holkar of Indore, who  built up a modern army on a professional basis, bought in the latest techniques of warfare, led an intense uprising against the British.

Also there were the Polygar Wars down South, between March 1799 to July 1805.  This was one of the bloodiest revolts ever faced by the British, fought primarily down South. And contrary to what most historians claim, the British did not have an easy run, the Polygar Wars were the most serious and bloodiest  challenge to their hegemony. The 6 long years, saw a large number of losses on the British side and they had to taste defeat in many a battle. And the major players in the Polygar Wars actually challenged and outwitted the British, head to head. In most cases, it took some cunning and treachery to capture and execute these warriors.

Among the prominent heroes of the Polygar Wars were Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy in the Kurnool region of Andhra Pradesh, Dheeran Chinnamalai in the Kongu region of Tamil Nadu, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja and the legendary Veerapandya Kattaboman. Also much before 1857, there was the Vellore Mutiny

Karnataka had a history of many brave women warriors, who took on the invaders single handedly. Rani Abbaka Chowta of Ullal, who made the Portuguese navy retreat from Mangalore, Keladi Chennamma who beat back Aurangzeb and his Mughal army, Onake Obavva who defended the fort of Chitradurga with just a pestle from the forces of Hyder Ali. And to such an illustrious pantheon, belonged Kittur Rani Chennamma.

The 1857 Revolt though not the first uprising per se against the British rule, was however the first major coordinated revolt, though primarily restricted to North and Central India. The sheer intensity of the revolt, though dismissed as a mutiny shook the British like never before. The revolt that started on the 10th of May, 1857 at Meerut, began to spread like wildfire across the great Northern plains, that threw up many a hero, Rani of Jhansi, Rao Tula Ram, Veer Kunwar Singh and above all Tatya Tope.

One of the more ignored aspects of the Indian freedom struggle has been the various tribal revolts that broke out against the British rule. Tribals were prohibited from cutting trees for firewood, their traditional Podu cultivation was banned, and they were often exploited by contractors who used them as labor for building roads in those areas. Many protests broke out in the tribal areas of Eastern Indian, notably Jharkhand which had revolts by Birsa Munda, Tilka Manjhi, Telanga Kharia.. And one of the most intense tribal revolts that shook the British was led later in the Agency area by Alluri Sitarama Raju.

After the 1857 Revolt was suppressed, there were revolts that kept breaking out one way or another. Among one of them was Vasudev Balwant Phadke, who led one of the early armed revolts, in Maharashtra. And the heroism of the Chapekar Brothers on June 22, 1897 would led to the spark of revolution being ignited, that would motivate a certain Veer Savarkar to jump into the revolutionary movement.

Savarkar was mentored by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who along with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal would form the Extremist wing of the Indian National Congress, the iconic Lal-Bal-Pal trio. And Savarkar would later be part of the India House, in London that had the likes of Shyamji Krishna Verma, Madame Bhikaji Cama, Lala Har Dayal and Madanlal Dhingra.

Meanwhile the gruesome Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, had inflamed passions in the Punjab, that led to Udham Singh taking revenge for it by assasinating the Governor Michael O Dwyer in England. And on the West Coast of Canada, a ship called Komagata Maru, would be the focus of the world’s attention.

And the Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon , would ignite a revolutionary movement, where a young lad of 18, Khudiram Bose would give up his life, protesting against the British rule in 1908. While in 1932, one of the most daring raids on the Chittagong armory would be carried out by Master Da, Surya Sen, and his associates Kalpana Dutta, Pritilata Wadedar.

Two groups dominated the revolutionary movement in Bengal,  one the Anushilan Samiti and another the Jugantar party. One of the most famous revolutionaries of that time was Bagha Jatin. Around the same time, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das emerged as a mentor to most of the revolutionaries and freedom fighters in Bengal, and the most prominent among them being Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

Netaji led the Indian National Army, that was built up by Rash Behari Bose, though it surrendered later, the spirited resistance and the Red Fort Trial of Shahnawaz Khan, Prem Sehgal, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon would lead to the Royal Naval Ratings Mutiny.

They Lived Dangerously, the book by Manmath Nath Gupta, chronicles the Kakori conspiracy, for which  Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri were hanged. The other conspirators were Sachindranath Sanyal and Chandrashekhar Azad who would later reorganize the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association along with Bhagat Singh.

One of Netaji ‘s close associates was Pasumpon Thevar, who played a key role in raising volunteers for the Indian National Army in the Southern part of Tamil Nadu. The same region would see the likes of V.O.Chidambaram Pillai, who had the vision to set up a shipping company, the fiery poet, writer Subramanya Bharati and Subramanya Siva.

While a fiery Telugu lawyer by the name of Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu bared his chest to the British daring them to shoot him which gave him the title of Andhra Kesari. Much earlier Kanneganti Hanumanthu led the Palnadu Satyagraha, and was brutally shot down by the British, while Andhra Ratna Duggirala Gopalakrishnayya would lead a similiar revolt in Chirala.

My humble tribute and salute to all these greats who laid down their lives for us.