Recalling India’s Freedom Fighters & Leaders on the Eve of Celebrating 75th Independence Day

On August 15, 1947, after the clutches of a long slavery of over 200 years of the British rule, India finally became an independent nation. Like the mythical phoenix that arises from its own ashes, India too arouses from the ashes of the revolutionary fire that had swept through it, and emerged as a brave and new free nation.

Year after year, this day reminds us of the great sacrifice and struggle made by our freedom fighters and great men who laid down their lives to free our beloved motherland from foreign rule. Thousands of martyrs had to sacrifice their lives at the altar of freedom; thousands had to spill their hearts blood to inspire the masses of the country with patriotism and desire for freedom. It also recalls us of the great ideals which were the foundation of the dream of a free India, envisioned and realised by our great leaders.

The following few names are some of the worth mentioning who rose in revolt against the exploitative policies of British.

(i) Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, the bravest and the best military leader of the First War of India’s Independence, became a source of inspiration for all the future patriots and freedom fighters (ii) Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a front rank reformer whom Gandhiji described, “Pure as a crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion and chivalrous to a fault”, (iii) Lala Lajpat Rai, generally known as Punjab Kesari, the lion of the Punjab–a fierce orator and vigorous writer, a fearless journalist, one of the trio-Bal, Pal and Lal-organised the “Extremist Group” in the congress, (iv) Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the most outstanding leader of the military nationalism, known as the “Father of Indian Unrest” – was sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in Burma, (v) Surya Sen, popularly called Masterda, founded Indian Republican Army, attacked British arsenal at Chiltagong, hanged to death on 12th January, 1934 (vi) Kshudiram Bose, a great patriot and martyr of India, hanged on Aug. 11, 1908 with “Vande Matram” on his lips, (vii) Dadabhai Naroji, reverentially remembered as the ‘Grand Old Man of India’. (viii) Hero Bhagat Singh, an Indian Socialist and Revolutionary, (ix) Mangal Pandey, remembered as the First Freedom Fighter of India, (x) Bagha Jatin, an Indian independence activist from the Bengal Presidency, (xi) Sarojini Naidu, a great freedom fighter and poetess known as the ‘Nightingale of the East, went behind the jail for several times, (xii) Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, one of the greatest patriots occupies an important place in the national political history as the founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, (xiii) Khan Abdul Gaffar Khar, a great Indian freedom fighter, popularly known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’, (xiv) Legendary freedom fighter and the brave son of Bharat Mata Subash Chandra Bose, organized Azad Hind Fauz (The Indian National Army), an inspiring example of patriotism, courage and self-sacrifice for the Motherland. The Salute ‘Jain Hind; has immoralised him, (xv) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a great courageous leader, a wise statesman and a model administrator, popularly known as the ‘Iron Man of India”, successfully solved the problem of accession of over 550 Princely states into the Indian Union without a single shot of a gun, (xvi) Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad a zealous worker in the non-cooperation movement, a versatile person with extraordinary  mental and intellectual capacities, (xvii) Mahatma Gandhi, an anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed non-violent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule – preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement, well known as the ‘Father of Nation’, (xviii) Jawaharlal Nehru, a principal leader of the Indian National Movement, not only a stalwart of Indian freedom struggle but also maker of modern India. As the first Prime Minister of India, he laid the foundation for building India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic. Under his leadership, India became an important figure in world politics, (xix) Dr. Rajendra Prasad, one of the greatest leaders of India, took an active part in the Non-Cooperation and Satyagraha Movement – became the first President of India.

We can easily and aptly come to the conclusion that it is our foremost duty to preserve this freedom, our precious heritage of the country. We should not only work for the progress and unity of the country but also fight the evils of disintegration and disruption to make the country prosperous to all directions. The youth should come forward with great spirit to fight the evils of casteism, corruption, illiteracy, poverty, etc. in order to make India a worth country.

Shibdas Ghose
PWD Rental Housing Complex
Dimapur