The courage and discipline of the Indian National Army, while fighting the British on the India-Burma border, had roused the whole country and even stirred the Indian soldiers of the British armed forces. With the end of world war, the soldiers and officers of the Indian National Army were taken prisoner and brought to Delhi. Their trial was staged at the Red fort. The congress formed a Defense Committee consisting of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and Bhulabhai Desai. Jawaharlal Nehru attended the court in his barrister’s robes which he had discarded thirty years ago. The country demanded the freedom of the I.N.A accused and ultimately secured it. “It became a trial of Strength”, said Jawaharlal, “between the will of the Indian people and the will of those who hold power in India and it was the will of the people that triumphed in the end.

Early in 1946, the Air Force mutinied at several stations in India. Mores serious was the naval mutiny in bombay when the naval ratings hoisted the national flag on their ships and marched through the streets of bombay. There was exchange of fire between the British troops and the mutineers. Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and other leaders condemned the outbreak of mob violence and persuaded the mutineers to surrender.

The British government was now convinced that it could no longer hold on to is Empire in India and decided to send a special mission of three cabinet ministers to India prepare a plan for the british withdrawal from India. The cabinet mission arrived in Delhi and after detailed discussions with the major political parties, presented a plan which led to the appointment of an Interim government. Jawaharlal, as the leader of the congress,was invited to head this government to function properly. The congress threatened to leave the government.

In february 1947 the british government announced its decision to withdraw from India before June 1948 and appointed Lord Mount Batten to succeed Wavell as the Viceroy.In the summer of 1947, Jinnah and the Muslim league, who had been demanding the division of India, had their way. And when Lord Mount Batten put forward his partition plan, the Indian leaders, including Nehru and Patel accepted the partition for the sake of peace and independence and to avoid further controversy between the two major communities. Only Gandhi stood out against it.  To accept partition , according to Gandhi, was to acknowledge that everything could be achieved simply by giving way to the threat of violence.

But it was too late to avoid strife. Two months was not enough time in which to work out the countless details in the mammoth task of dividing and giving independence to a country of 400 million people, most of them still illiterate. When independence finally came, people in many border villages celebrated it without knowing the country to which they belonged.

There was widespread violence in East and West punjab, the withdrawal of Muslim troops from India, and of hindu and sikh troops from pakistan, worsened the plight of refugees on both sides of the border. Troop replacements were unfamiliar with the areas they were ordered to patrol and did not know where to look for the leaders of murder-gangs. As one British officer commented: “ we could do no more than rescue the survivors of attack.’

Almost overnight, about ten million people were uprooted from their homes and another half a million massacred. This slaughter took place on both sides of the INdia-Pakistan border. So triumph was mixed with tragedy when India and Pakistan came into being as two separate independent beings.On the last stroke of midnight of the 14th of August 1947, Jawaharlal’s dream came true and India was free.

At a solemn ceremony in parliament house, he spoke these historic words:

“ Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge.. To people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. We have to build the noble mansion of  free India where all her children may dwell.”
It was Nehru’s moment of destiny. The next morning he was sworn in as the first prime minister of Independent India. In the afternoon the new indian flag was hoisted at a colorful ceremony at the Princess park. The next day, at the Red Fort, Nehru unfurled the tricolor, watched by over a million people. This must have been his greatest moment.

What were his thoughts as he addressed that multitude? He had addressed mammoth gatherings before, and he was to address them again, but there would never be an occasion to equal this one- the culmination of all the years of hardship, imprisonment, personal suffering.. Nor would any other reception equal the outburst of joy with the people received him.

The cheers for Mount Batten were almost as loud. The indian and the British peoples were to part in friendship and not in bitterness. The crowd was paying its tribute not simply to a popular and sympathetic Viceroy but to the British as a race. It was an emotional moment. More than three hundred years of the British presence in India could not be swept away in a day. India had come to cherish the British parliamentary system of government.

While the celebrations were taking place all over the country, Gandhi was in calcutta, restoring the communal harmony in the city. He observed the Independence day by a twenty-four-hour fast, without any special ceremony in his camp.India was free. But the real struggle lay ahead. Within two days of the declaration of Independence, Nehru was in the punjab, visiting areas where sikhs and muslims had been slaughtering each other. He was horrified by all that he saw and heard, and rushed about trying to pacify the people and protect the Indian muslims. Millions were on the move between Indian and Pakistan-  long, dusty trail of uprooted humanity. Many had lost their children , their wives or their husbands. All had lost their homes.

Wherever he went, Nehru urged the people to behave like civilized human beings and not like savages. Hearing that the strife was spreading to Delhi, he returned to the capital and constantly moved about the city, often walking alone into a crowd while it was attacking or looting Muslim homes.

Not only did Nehru have camps set up for homeless Muslim refugees, but he opened his own home to many of them. He drove himself to exhaustion, trying to put out the flames of hatred.

Back on the streets, he scolded people, reasoned with them, tried to bring sanity to a situation where madness reigned. He had absolutely no fear for his own safety. Showing the same fearlessness as her father India rescued a Muslim family from a violent mob, put the entire family into a jeep, and took them to her father’s house.
As hindu and sikh refugees continued to stream across the border with tales of horror, reprisals took place and riots spread all over northern India. In calcutta, when Gandhi was preparing to leave for Noakhali on his peace mission, there was a demonstration by an angry mob and Gandhi had a narrow escape from lathi blows and brick-bats. He undertook fasting to end only if and when HIndu-Muslim killings stopped in calcutta. This brought peace to calcutta.

In january 1948, he undertook his last fast in Delhi “ to bring sanity to all those who inhabit both the Indian union and pakistan.” The fast lated five days and he succeeded in preventing the further spread of communal riots in Delhi and other parts of India. Even in pakistan  a feeling of sympathy grew for him. He had a vision of leading a 50-mile-long peaceful procession of Hindus and Sikhs back to their homes in Pakistan.

Thank you,

R.Rajkumar