Decolonization Of India - Sourced
As of August 15th, 1947 India rightfully attained freedom after 200 years of British Raj. Rebellious attacks from Nationalists go back to 1857; when India fought its first war of Independence but it was not until after World War 2 which ended in 1945 that India successfully accomplished an alteration in constitution.
There were many other motives which date prior to WW2 that significantly influenced the occurrence of this event. In 1857, the Indian rebellion (first war of independence occurred) where the ‘sepoys’ (Indian soldiers) rebelled due to racism and discrimination they incurred from British soldiers. Source A (Wikipedia, Causes of the Indian Rebellion) suggests that the British issued gun powder cartridges which insulted both Hindus and Muslims. Factors such as this led to the cause of India’s first ever rebellion against the British.
After consistent failure to achieve freedom, Source B (Paul, S. Goldentwine) depicts that an assembly of people formed an Indian National Congress committee with over 15 million members and 70 million participants. It was not until the emergence of this committee and Mahatma Gandhi that the public of India regained their momentum to free India. Source B backed up by another source (Rawking, F.W. Gandhi and the Struggle for Independence, pp 27-34) further reports that when Gandhi returned to India in ‘1915’ and he organised protests for the rights of many laborers and in 1921 became the leader of the National Congress committee which allowed him to have nation – wide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic peace, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. This ongoing course of civil protests strengthened India’s motive to gain freedom.
