Hindus/Muslims unitedly fought for freedom

06-27-2004, 07:59 PM

147th anniversary of 1857 freedom movement
"Hindus and Muslims unitedly fought for freedom"—Indresh Kumar
By Pramod Kumar

"This is a fact that Hindus and Muslims unitedly fought for the
freedom of the country. But a fact that creates curiosity in
everybody's thoughts is what was the contribution of Christians to
the freedom movement, especially from 1857 to 1947? People want to
know how many Christians sacrificed their lives for freedom? How
many participated in different agitations or movements? Were they in
favour of continuation of the British regime in the country? Whether
the historians forgot mentioning their contribution or indeed there
was nothing to mention?" asked Indresh Kumar, Sah-Sampark Pramukh of
RSS, while speaking at a function held by the Nationalist Muslim
Movement in New Delhi to celebrate the 147th anniversary of the 1857
freedom movement.

Shri Indresh Kumar said "the prime objective of organising this
function is to propagate the message that we are one by culture and
country and that no foreigner can pose a threat to our freedom
again."

He pointed out that the British amended the then laws to impose more
taxes in order to fetch more revenue, notwithstanding the paying
capacity of the people and that this ultimately angered even the
common man and they took to the streets against the British
regime. "Though the 1857 freedom movement had a mass base and it was
planned with caution, it could not produce the desired results as
there was total lack of proper leadership. The revolt in the army
and also among the general masses was to save their asmita. It was a
natural outpouring of anger among the general masses. Though the
movement almost died in 1959, the heroes of the movement were
forgotten by the countrymen," he pointed out.

Speaking at the function, Maulana Jafar Janakpuri, said that India
was the motherland of all Muslims and everybody has equal
opportunities here to make progress. Recalling his Pakistan visit
where, he said, the Pakistani rulers had created a misunderstanding
among its countrymen that Muslims were insecure in India, whereas
the Muslims were more safe in India than in Pakistan. "India is our
country and we have to live and die for it. We are sons of the same
forefathers and we all should join hands, forgetting all our
misunderstandings," he said.

Mohammad Afzal of the My Hindustan, said that the chapati (bread)
and kamal (lotus) played a key role in the 1857 movement. The
chapati moved one village to the other village seeking people´s
support and the kamal moved from one battalion of the army to the
other battalion, with the message that all armymen were ready for
the revolt. Maulana Umer Iliyasi, president of the Nationalist
Muslim Movement and Balbir Punj, BJP MP also shared the dais.

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