Aug 22, 2003 05:25 AM
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(Updated Aug 22, 2003 08:05 AM)
Re-reading this splendid account on India's Freedom is always a pleasure. I might have read it at least five times since it came out 28 years ago. There are many players here. It reveals the brilliant minds of Mahatma Gandhi, Patel, Azad, Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru among others, the part played by Mohamed Ali Jinnah in the creation of Pakistan, the twisted mind of Godse and his friends, and the sheer arrogance of General Reginald Dyer and Sir Winston Churchill. The introduction aside, why not take a closer look into this massive document.
56 YEARS AGO, India gained independence from the British rule that lasted nearly three centuries. Arrived in the hope of monopolising the spice market, the invaders saw a golden opportunity to stay, as India was divided and ruled by hundreds of nawabs, rajas and maharajas. Some had vast lands while others had only a few acres to rule. Most of them did not like each other, and they fought and conquered as opportunity presented. Seeing a golden opportunity here, the British offered them protection for a hefty fee, and soon the East India Company was established which eventually paved the way to a British controlled India, or the Indian Empire. One more place was now guarenteed for the less fortunate to flee Britain in search of fame and fortune in India. Many Britons living in one room shacks landed big houses with many servants shortly after their arrival in India. Most of them had prospered well , retired early, and returned to their homeland to live comfortably ever after. This continued for several generations.
However in 1947, Britain had to bid farewell to the 'Jewel in the Crown'. They couldn't hold on to it any longer. India became free after spilling much blood despite Mahatma Gandhi's plea for non violence.
The story begins in London on 1st January 1947 when Lord Mountbatten arrived at 10 Downing Street to visit Clement Atlee, then prime minister of Britain. The great grandson of Queen Victoria was appointed as the last viceroy of India, and he was to oversee the transfer of power. And the story ends just over a year later, on 12 February in Allahabad, as a man leans over from a small boat to spread the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi, the man responsible for ousting the British, into the Ganges. Between those two dates, the world had changed as the imperialism had ended and another age had begun.
The independence had brought tragedy on a large scale instead of joy, to millions, as the partition of the sub continent was unavoidable. The committee brought in Sir Cyril Radcliffe from London to determine the boundaries of Pakistan and India. Once that was established, majority of moslems from India and most Hindus from Pakistan left the land they were born and raised to find a new home in the new country that dominated their religion. This blunder in the modern history claimed the lives of at least 500000 innocent people. Burned and hacked up bodies littered the streets during the greatest migration in the history.
The freedom movement in India had started at the turn of the 20th century. It gained momentum when Gandhi returned from South Africa and took an active role in Indian politics. As an English educated lawyer, Gandhi did not approve the exploiting of his people by a foreign power. He simply asked them to leave. He united the masses and declared 'hartal' or general strike to show the solid power behind the non co-operation. He was jailed, along with Jawaharlal Nehru ( who was to become India's first prime minister), Rajendra Prasad (the first president of India), Vallabhai Patel, Moulana Azad, Acharya Kripalani and others.
But in April 1919, a crowd had gathered for a peaceful meeting in Jalianwala Bagh. Such meetings were declared illegal by the authorities. General Dyer arrived at the scene with his soldiers with machine guns and .303 rifles, and without warning opened fire, killing over 1500 unarmed men, women and children. This was the time, every Indian wished the British had left India, and certainly the entire world supported it. Gen. Dyer was dismissed with full pension. With the help of the British, an amount of Rs.4 lakhs was raised in 1919 as a parting gift to Dyer. Rudyard Kipling who firmly believed and preached about the supremacy of the white race, contributed Rs.150/ to the 'man who saved India'. Gandhi's plea for freedom was again rejected by Winston Churchill. He did not believe that a 'half naked fakir' would be able to oust the mighty British in his lifetime.
Despite the massacre and other tragedies, the free world was happy to see India emerged out of the clutches of imperialism. However, the Anglo Indian race was very unhappy and those who could afford, fled the country, including Gerald Dorsey from Madras who became Englebert Humperdinck in Britain. Most of the 565 rulers who managed that many kingdoms in India were shocked to see the British leave. Their lavish lifestyles, including the shikar [between the Gwalior and Surguja maharajas, they killed over 2500 tigers- more than the number left in all of India today!], the harem [ The 300 pound, 6'4'' giant Maharaja Bhupindar Singh of Patiala managed (flattened?) a harem consisted of 350 concubines and died of sheer boredom once the aphrodisiacs he was taking produced no results], and collecting excessive revenues were to come to an end upon independence!
On the other hand, the Nizam of Hyderabad, said to be the richest man in the world, but lived like a scrooge in a dusty room littered with garbage and cigarette butts, hoarded money and jewellery and loathed to part with his fortune, jumped with joy shouting ''I am Free at Last!'' when the British left.
Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins joined force and dug up much material for this book from numerous archives and personal interviews with hundreds of men and women who witnessed the exodus that lead to the FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT. The original 532 page hard cover edition I bought in 1975 is illustrated with numerous archival photographs and supplemented with notes, bibliography and index. They also joined forces to write O JERUSALEM. Many years later Lapierre spent several days in the slums of Calcutta and gathered material to write THE CITY OF JOY.
FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT is a well documented account of the last days of the Raj in India with several flashbacks into the past history. For those who wish to read more about the history of 'British India', I suggest INDIA BRITANNICA (Geoffrey Moorehouse), INDIA OF THE PRINCES (Rosita Forbes), THE SPLENDOUR- THAT WAS INDIA, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, and THE MAHARAJAS( John Lord)
(Please see the Comment Section for a postscript) Thanks!
