On India’s 75th Independence Day one gets to reminisce about the life gone by thinking about a nation that in many aspects is a world by itself. India remained integrated as a unified human system retaining the independence of all its constituent subsystems. The inherent power of India today is visible in its stasis as the longest surviving human continuum in the world never succumbing to the forces of mutative transformations and interruptions as in the case of many geoentities past and present. This is in spite of holding the world’s largest demographic count; well almost. There were efforts by extreme divisible forces to break,balkanise and transform India under nefarious designs and toxic intentions all the time in its continuum narration. India never succumbed to these forces despite the violence, agony, humiliation and pain it had undergone. One of the reasons was the determination and consistency shown by its people and their leaders throughout its continuum passage. History is replete with stories of human sacrifices to keep India integrated and continuous. The last of the serious attempt was by the colonisers especially during the British period. It was amazing how the leaders of India kept the 565 princely states of India cohesively bound during the freedom movement keeping them independent. India was in two sections—the provinces directly administered by the British and princely states ruled by the natives under treaty relations with the British. It was a clever arrangement by the British.
India faced serious obstacles in its passage to independence from people who were politically vile and toxic. They included Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Lord Wavell and the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who had just won the war pushing the country on to the verge of bankruptcy making the victory almost pyrrhic. All of them were powerful and influential. Their plan was to create a third dominion along with India and Pakistan using a few powerful and colluding princes. That would have been disastrous for continuum India. There were 565 princely states that the vile team wanted in the third dominion retaining British Paramountcy. It was not to happen as they faced opposition from Indian leaders. The PurnaSwaraj declaration during the 1929 Lahore session of the Indian National Congress had already declared and promulgated 26 January 1930 as Independence Day of India. The session called upon the people to continue the demand for complete independence. Gandhi emphasized activities on social empowerment, cohesive interactions between different sects of people, prohibition work and other social positives during the period.
The War had economically weakened the British Empire. It also impacted their colonial holding power besides the strong resistance and demand from India for complete independence. The British government decided to grant independence to India latest by June 1948. The new viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, advanced the date subsequently after various negotiations to 15 August 1947. He also heeded to the mounting demands of the Muslim League to partition India a day before. The Indian Independence Act 1947 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom partitioned British India into two independent dominions of India and Pakistan with complete legislative authority upon the respective constituent assemblies of the new countries. On the first day of Independence on 15 August 1947, dawn at the stroke of midnight, India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his historic “Tryst with Destiny” speech transcending India’s continuum legacy projecting its unwavering determination to continue progressively into the future carrying generations of Indians to their destiny. Nehru called upon the people of India to redeem their pledge of dedication to the service of India and the people very substantially in the larger cause of humanity. The partition saw the world’s largest-ever exodus of people across borders and the agony associated with it. It was far too serious for any government to handle. There was massive bloodshed. It was perhaps the most shameful period in human history. About a million people died in inhuman violence. Hate ruled the period. Gandhi marked the day of Independence with a 24-hour fast in Calcutta. He didn’t participate in celebrations. He asked for peace among the people of India. India, though wounded badly, moved on along the continuum path. The state of Jammu and Kashmir was initially hesitant to accede to India in a turbulent affair on 26 October 1947 under the provision of the Indian independence Act 1947. The issues did not settle down still as articles 370 and 35-A stoked issues of separation among people. 71 years after independence, on 5 August 2019, the government made these articles constitutionally inoperable. The state was bifurcated into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. It was a watershed decision and moment for India to remain one and integrated and prolong its journey along the continuum path. India today is a responsible nation that the world recognises for global sustainability. It is an indispensable geostrategic entity in the new century. India likes to work with all for everybody’s benefit under their confidence. Deception and division are not in its geostrategic theme. But it will have many tests to withstand as times pass by. It is in its destiny.
