It is no secret that India has a very rich history, and every place in this country has a story to tell. Every year on the 15th of August we celebrate Independence Day that marks the end of the 190 year long British reign of tyranny in our country. This year as we prepare ourselves to celebrate our country’s Independence Day, let us not forget the sacrifices and efforts that it took to call India a free bird. Consider this blog as a virtual flip through the pages of Indian history. Even though this one blog won’t be enough to capture the glory of our sovereign nation, here are a few glimpses of some of the iconic places and events in Indian history that paved the way for our freedom.
The first place I will talk about is located in our country’s capital city Delhi. The Red Fort sure has seen its fair share of our leaders struggle for an independent nation. “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom”, sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, this our Independence speech given by our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at this very same place. To this day, every year our Prime Minister delivers our Independence Day speech from this monument. The fort played a major role in our war for Independence as it was the main center for freedom fighters in 1857 during the first war of Independence.
Moving down to the western part of the country, in the city of Ahmedabad on the banks of the river Sabarmati, lies Gandhiji’s humble abode for 12 years of his life from 1917 to 1930, the famous Sabarmati Ashram. The Ashram was originally called Satyagraha Ashram, in honor of the Satyagraha movement. It is from this very Ashram that Mahatma Gandhi launched the Dandi March on 12th March, 1930 which was in opposition to the British Salt Law, which charged tax on Indian salt as an attempt to increase the sale of British salt. Today this very place has become a flag bearer and a reminder to us all of the values Gandhi practiced and preached in his life.
This next place that I am going to talk about, witnessed one of the darkest events in Indian history. On the 13th of April in 1919, people had gathered to celebrate the festival of Baisakhi at the Jallianwala Bagh, when General Dyer ordered the British armed forces to open fire on the crowd. Since the gate to escape was sealed off by the troops, a majority of the people died because of the bullets while the rest were killed in the resulting stampede. Some others even went to the extent of jumping into the well that was inside the area. The troops stopped firing when they ran out of ammunition, leaving hundreds of innocent people dead and wounded inside. To this day you can see the marks made by the bullets during the shooting. This event only agitated the freedom fighters and played a major role in our fight for Independence.
All these little movements and struggles collectively got us our freedom, which we more than often take for granted. Let us take this day and every other day to be grateful and remind ourselves of the sacrifices and deaths it took to have our nation be called an independent one. With Covid-19, still very much around, let this day serve as a reminder for us to come together as one nation and fight the virus and end the pandemic. Our very own health care and other front line workers have been really giving it their all for us to be free from the virus. Let us not be inconsiderate, as even they are a part of this family that we call India. Jai Hind!
Author : Rachel D’souza
