India,
located on the Asian continent, did not gain the status of British colony
through a single event, but from the 1600s onwards British influence and rule
evolved both through consensus with Indian domestic rule and through conflict.
The effective colonisation of India began with the actions of the East India
Company's, a British Royal chartered body of merchants, who opened trade with
India in 1600. The company, recognising the strategic trading importance of
India, a land rich in salt and valuable spices (the transport and trade of
which had formerly been dominated by non-european 'middle men'), soon sought to
establish a British presence in India, including the building of a British
factory in India in 1619, and the founding of a British fort in Madras in 1639.
The most significant 'landmark' in Indian colonisation was a British military
victory at Plassey in 1757 which led to the effective conversion of the East
India Company from just traders into rulers holding political sovereignty. In
1773, Warren Hastings becomes the first British governor-general in India and although later he was himself charged
with mismanagement in 1785, he was the first of a long line of British
governors in India. Britain only ever
controlled 60% of India, but the 19th Century saw a great deal of
British expansion of territory on various grounds, including that the native
leaders were inept, corrupt of had no male heirs to take over the
administration of their land. The
imposed rule by British appointed governors was partly justified by claims
Indians needed 'civilisation' and the reliable system of Justice, rule of law
and the notion of fair play the governors could implement could provide this.
The assertion of power by the governors included outlawing some disliked Indian
social and religious practise; controversial action in the Indian nation where
Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism were all common religions. Whilst the East India
Company dissolved in 1858 by this time much of India was fully under British
Colonial rule, and the early beginnings of opposition to colonial rule was
starting to emerge.
The beginnings of the Indian
opposition to British colonial rule began with the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. This
was the first act of militaristic opposition to the British powers when rebels
took over land to the north starting the “Indian Rebellion”. The British fought
back and reclaimed the key city of Delhi by
late 1857. Emperor Bahadur Shah was put on trial and convicted for
incitement to rebellion thus resulting in the end of the rebellion by mid
1858.
The first successful, if limited, steps towards self-rule came with the 1888
formation of the swadeshi and swarj movements. These grew out of the earliest
form of opposition via workers to British rule in India which was experienced
in Shikarpur when the Pritam Dharma Sabha initiated social reforms resulting in
the set up of swadeshi sugar, soap and cloth mills. The partition of Bengal led
to a nation-wide swadeshi movement which later developed into the Swaraj as a
result of a Indian National Congress vote. Swaraj was only a minor step towards
self rule but it started to encourage some local nationalist groups to boycott
imported goods and encourage the growth of local industry and business.
By 1913 the emergence of a more organised independence movement was developing,
with the Ghadar Party being set up by Indian immigrants in California with the
aim of complete self rule for India. The group was essentially made up of
working classes and the peasantry and was completely devoid of religious
leniencies. The Ghadar party was first to see the future implications of the
first world war and encouraged the Indian National Congress to take a stance
separate to that of the British. However, they did not and, in fact, actively
encouraged Indians to join the war. The Ghadar party advocated strong arm
tactics and a militaristic attitude as opposed to the co-operation and pleading
with the British for reforms by the Congress. They also encouraged the Indian
soldiers to revolt against the British army, leading to over 300 occurrences of
court martial action from varying regiments. In addition, the movement grew in
strength and millions of copies of their leaflets were regularly distributed in
India.
The British soon began to
realise the possible threat of the group and began to close down the group. It
is estimated that up to 145 of the members were hanged and over 300 were given
prison sentences exceeding 14 years. Up to 1919 the party was increasing the
amount of resistance and led to 200 strikes involving 1.5 million workers.
Parallel to the independence focussed work of the Ghadar party, other
organisations within India through the early half of the 20th
century also developed an agenda for the end of colonialism. For example, the
Communist Party of India, formed in 1920, demanded complete change through
stirring up (in the usual Communist fashion) independence attitudes and
encouraging the greater use of trade unions which proved popular with the
peasantry. India also saw action from armed revolutionaries, including the
likes of V.D Savarkar who led armed resistance as a result of Gandhi suspending
the non-cooperation movement.
After World War I, political strife intensified in India which led to a set of
events resulting in the worldwide familiarity of Mohandas K. Gandhi. In reply
to the high levels of nationalist activity, the British government passed the
Rowlatt Acts which suspended civil rights and produced martial law in some
areas. Gandhi, a Hindu social and religious reformer, encouraged passive
resistance. The protest movement gained great support leading to the Amritsar
Massacre on 13th April 1919 after Gandhi had called a day of national mourning
with authorities being unable to cope and the British troops dispersed crowds
using fire power resulting in over 400 casualties. This made matters even worse
as the anti-British feelings intensified and boycotts of British products
occurred. Often the movement employed violence although this was against
Gandhi’s own principles. The use of Parliamentary struggle used with this
proved successful but the British authorities saw this as sedition and Gandhi
was imprisoned in 1922. This imprisonment lasted a year but several times later
Gandhi would be arrested.
During W.W.II, tensions had
increased resulting in Sir Stafford Cripps being sent out to India to fulfil
nationalist demands and proposed to give India full independence and establish
an interim government presided by Britain retaining control of national defence
and foreign affairs. However, the Indian National Congress and the Muslim
league could not agree on the course of action and so this plan failed. Gandhi
resumed in civil disobedience in August 1942 and was arrested once more. He was
released on 6th May 1944 with changed ideas over the Cripps program and began
discussions with Muslim leader Jinnah.
In 1945 India joined the UN but still no agreements could be agreed within
India on the decolonisation issue. By 1946, no compromise could be reached by
the religious leaders and anarchy seemed inevitable resulting in Clement Atlee
(Prime Minister) stating that Britain would relinquish power in India by 30th
June 1948.
However, the threat of a Hindu-Muslim war was growing greater and greater and
viceroy Louis Mountbatten suggested an immediate partition of India in March
1947 which was speedily approved in Parliament by July.
On the 15th August 1947, the Indian Independence act was passed announcing the
establishing of India and Pakistan as independent dominions within the
Commonwealth (with the option of leaving if they so wished) – India decided to
remain. Pakistan and India were divided on religious lines with the Muslim
people being allocated to Pakistan and Hindus to India. Power was transferred
from the British government with a Cabinet forming and political independence
activist (linked closely with Gandhi) Nehru being made Prime Minister.
Internal opposition to independence over the whole process was limited, as the
mass of the working class supported the need for change. The greatest opponent
to change was from the British government and the elite in India, many of whom
had gained this status through the influence of the British.
Turning Points
Therefore the question remains
of what were the pivotal turning points in the decolonisation of India. Whilst
the major events of world history, such as the world wars, undoubtedly had a
significant impact upon the attitudes and campaigns of the Indian people with
regards to moves for independence, Indian decolonisation was very much the result
of cumulative campaigns and factors. The fact that the colonisation of India
occurred on economic grounds is pivotal to understanding its decolonisation, as
whilst the domestic economy of India was to weak to afford it a strong
independent trade position, and whilst Britain could exploit the raw materials
it desired in India, colonial rule remained strong. However, as domestic demand
in Britain for spices fell, and as the economy of India developed it became
more viable for India to operate as an independent nation, seen in the arguable
turning point of the setting up of the Swadeshi mills. The extent to which the
world wars were turning points is notable, although centrally in that they
provided fuel to the independence campaigns, allowing them to stir up hostility
to the fact Indians were fighting for the British yet not perceivably getting
anything out of the war for themselves.
If we are to search for a
definitive turning point in the Indian decolonisation, it would perhaps have to
be the release from prison of Ghandi, in which the Indian people regained the
leadership they needed to be able to push forward their cause.