Five things you may not know about
India's Independence Day
Why does India share its
Independence Day with South Korea? And who was the King of India after August
1947 Photo Credit: photodivision.gov.in
Indian independence on August 15, 1947, freed a fifth of the
world’s population from colonial rule and heralded the end of imperialism.
While reams have been written about the day, here are five things that you
might not have known about the event.
1. The date of independence was chosen to satisfy
Mountbatten’s vanity
What is often forgotten in the nationalistic histories of
the day is just how chaotic independence was. After 200 years of holding on to
India any way they could, the British, wrecked by World War II, wanted to get
out as fast as possible. Important decisions – such as the exact date of
transfer of power – were chosen using less than ideal methods. When the last British
Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, was asked why he chose August 15 as the day to hand
over power to Indians, this was his reply:
“The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply
to a question. I was determined to show I was the master of the whole event.
When they asked: had I set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it
out exactly then – I thought it had to be about August or September and then I
went to the 15th of August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of
Japan’s surrender.”
August 15, 1945, was when Japan surrendered after it was
pulverised by two nuclear bombs. The date had a personal appeal for Mountbatten
as he had been Supreme Allied Commander of South-East Asia Command and had
accepted the Japanese surrender himself in Singapore.
South Korea – at the time colonised by Japan – also
celebrates this day as their Independence Day. In an improbable coincidence,
both countries reference the same event: Japan’s surrender.
Of course, the fact that Independence Day for one-fifth of
humanity was chosen to flatter the vanity of our erstwhile Viceroy should give
you a small indication as to why things went so wrong.
2. August 15 was Independence Day but Partition actually
took place two days later
It was well known that the Punjab was a tinderbox and
splitting it would almost certainly exacerbate the situation. One way to keep
things under control was to announce Partition before Independence, thus giving
advance warning in case anyone wanted to migrate. Thus, we have Evan Jenkins,
the Governor of the Punjab writing frantic letters to Mountbatten to have the
Boundary Award published before August 15. Given this urgency, Sir Cyril
Radcliffe, working in record time, actually had the boundary ready by August 9.
Shockingly, Mountbatten refused to publish the award till August 17. On the
morning of August 15, while Punjabis had ceased being subjects of the Raj,
surreally, they did not know whether they were citizens of India or Pakistan.
The reason for this delay was to make sure that the British
did not have to bear any responsibility for the Punjab holocaust, since now the
killings would take place afterthe Raj had ceased to exist. In a report to the
Secretary of State for India on 16 August, Mountbatten writes: “…it had been obvious all along that the
later we postponed publication [of the Punjab boundary award], the less would
be the inevitable odium react upon the British”.
As expected, this criminal delay played its part in greatly
increasing the panic in the Punjab, especially since any minority population
transfers would now need take place under “hostile” governments rather than
under the Raj, which was seen to be largely neutral. Thus, when the boundaries
were finally announced, the Punjab simply exploded into violence. The raula
that followed was unprecedented and saw both halves of the province empty
themselves of their minorities.
3. Pakistan changed its Independence Day to August 14.
Even though Pakistan observes its Independence Day on August
14, technically, the day it achieved freedom is the same as India. The
Independence of India Act is quite clear when its states that “as from the
fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent
Dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and
Pakistan”. In fact, the first postage stamps that Pakistan printed have on them
“15 August 1947” as the date of independence.
In Pakistan, however, this date was changed to August 14 in
1948. Some think this was because Mountbatten delivered the King’s message of
independence in Karachi on August 14, 1947. Others postulate that it was
because August 14, 1948, was extremely holy in Islam (it was the 27th day of
Ramzan). Or maybe, Pakistan just wanted to be a day ahead of India.
Whatever the reason, it lead to an incongruous situation
where twins ended up with different birth dates.
4. India didn’t achieve purna swaraj till 1950.
In the Congress’ iconography, its Purna Swaraj resolution of
1930 occupies a special place. It was the first time the party had declared
complete independence as its goal, moving on from dominion status.
Therefore, it is somewhat ironic that when India eventually
acquired freedom on August 15, 1947, it actually became a dominion: a
constitutional monarchy with King George VI (styled the “King of India”) as its
head of state in much the same mould as Australia or Canada today.
Unlike those two countries, though, India abolished the
monarchy, becoming a republic on January 26, 1950. Pakistan remained a dominion
right till 1956. Consequently, in 1953 when Elizabeth II was sworn in, one of
her titles was Queen of Pakistan.
5. Independence Day, inexplicably, saw an outpouring of
affection for our departing colonizers.
Massive crowds thronged Delhi on August 15 for the
ceremonies relating to the transfer of power. The people hailed Gandhi and
Nehru, as would be expected, but also, puzzlingly, cheered on Mountbatten as
well. This was described by the Indian Army’s journal, Fauji Akbhar, in its
account of the day’s events:
“On both occasions the Governor-General, when he drove in
his State coach, was acclaimed as no other Governor-General of India within
living memory has been greeted. Cries of ‘Mountbatten Zindabad’ and ‘Lord Sahib
Zindabad’ were heard.”
The day’s programme originally included a ceremonial
lowering of the Union Jack. On a request from Mountbatten, however, Nehru
agreed to skip this since it could “offended British sensibilities”.
Overwhelmed by this reception, Mountbatten writes, “The 15th
of August has certainly turned out to be the most remarkable and inspiring day
of my life.”
As the cherry on the cake, British troops departing for the
UK were given a very warm send off in Mumbai as well. Mountbatten estimates
that there were “several hundreds of thousands” in reception with chants of
"England Zindabad" and "Jai England" for, what was till the
previous day, a colonial army of occupation.
In
a way this reception for the departing colonisers, even as Indians were
butchering each other elsewhere, captures the many contradictions and, indeed,
realties of a post-colonial society.
On this note, here’s wishing you a happy 68th Independence
Day.
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