Indian national movement essay sample

The appointment in 1848 of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the East India Company set the stage for changes essential to a modern state. These included the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens. However, disaffection with the Company also grew during this time. Revolt Of 1857 In the late 1700s and early 1800s, sepoys tended to take great pride in their military prowess, and they exhibited enormous loyalty to their British officers. But in the 1830s and 1840s tensions began to emerge. The reasons are :Increasing numbers of Christian missionaries began arriving in India, and this led to resentment. Doctrine of lapse. Coating over rifle cartridges. On March 29, 1857, a sepoy named Mangal Pandey fired the first shot of the uprising. As the mutiny spread, the British began called mutineers “ pandies.“ Fighting in some places continued well into 1858, but the British were ultimately able to establish control.

As mutineers were captured, they were often killed on the spot. And many were executed in dramatic fashion. Formation Of INC The foundations of the Indian National Movement were laid by Suredranath Banerjee with the formation of Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the Association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take the value of united action. The Indian National Congress, was founded, with the help of A. O. Hume, a retired British official. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee King George V made two announcements in Delhi: firstly, the partition of Bengal, which had been effected in 1905, was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

The disgust with the reforms announced in 1909 led to the intensification of the struggle for Swaraj.  To add to the already growing discontent among the people, Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Jalianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at Jalianwala Bagh, to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. General Dyer appeared suddenly with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children. Gandhian Era Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the Congress. During this struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had developed the novel technique of nonviolent agitation, which he called ‘ Satyagraha’, loosely translated as ‘ moral domination’. Gandhi, himself a devout Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of tolerance, brotherhood of all religions, nonviolence (ahimsa) and of simple living. Non-Cooperation Movement Was pitched in under leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress from September 1920 to February.

Was a great success as it got massive encouragement to millions of Indians. He planned to withdraw the nation’s cooperation from the British Government. Civil Disobedience Movement

Was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929.  The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. During this movement it was decided that India would celebrate 26th January as Independence Day all over the country. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. Quit India Movement On August 1942, Gandhiji started the ‘ Quit India Movement’ and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement ‘ Do or Die’ call to force the British to leave India. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence

However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement. Independence At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain.  The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom. Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947.