The spirit of 1857

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The spirit of 1857

Subramanian Swamy

The Hindu

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/05/11/stories/2005051106421100.htm

 

In a way, 1857 is even more significant for Indian nationhood and

history than

1947. The spirit of the "First Indian War of Independence" stood the

country in

good stead during the freedom struggle. The framework and spirit of

Hindu-Muslim brotherhood exemplified by 1857 must be revived.

 

ON MAY 10, 1857, Indian soldiers of the regiments stationed in

Meerut killed

their British officers, marched to Delhi, and liberated the city

from British

control. They proclaimed 82-year-old Bahadur Shah Zafar as

the "Emperor of

Hindustan." The Emperor then appointed a Hindu, Mukund Ram, as

his "Prime

Minister" just as Nana Saheb Baji Rao, the adopted son of the

Peshawas and

partner in the revolt, appointed a Muslim, Azimullah as his "Prime

Minister."

At the Red Fort, the Bhagwa Dhwaj (saffron flag) was unfurled.

 

The uprising did not last long. In Delhi it was over by September

1857. The

domino effect in the country as a whole was contained by end 1858.

But the

popular uprising fired the imagination of the nation. From the ashes

of the

burnt-out revolution, sparks continued to ignite revolt in the

country until

Mahatma Gandhi led the nation finally to freedom in 1947.

 

Exactly 148 years later, the whole of India has become oblivious of

this

historic date and of the event that was the forerunner of India's

freedom. No

meetings, no discussions over television, no resolutions for this

revolutionary

day in a country that is ready to celebrate or mourn anything or

anybody. We

forgot May 10, 1857 because we were programmed for nearly a century

to delete

it from our collective memory.

 

In a way, 1857 is more significant for Indian nationhood and history

than even

the 1947 "tryst with destiny." The British imperialists who

understood the

significance and import of that uprising ensured that it was

ridiculed and

downgraded as a "Sepoy mutiny," as a sporadic and limited uprising

of soldiers

ignited by obscurantist factors such as an aversion to `pig fat' in

the

cartridges. Marxist thinkers also tended to play it down as

a "reaction." In a

series of articles published in 1857, Karl Marx termed it as an army

revolt, "a

military mutiny"but of national proportion only because "the natives'

apprehension" that the government might otherwise interfere with

their

religion. It was only in 1957 that the Marxist writer P.C. Joshi

corrected the

perspective.

 

Savarkar's stand

 

In 1909, Veer Savarkar challenged the diminution and degradation of

the 1857

uprising. He wrote his account of 1857 under the title The Indian

War of

Independence: 1857. It was printed in Holland, nevertheless the

British

authorities proscribed it. Savarkar re-interpreted 1857 as a war of

independence, and his magnum opus served to fire the imagination of

youth for

years to come. His involvement with those who conspired to

assassinate Mahatma

Gandhi dimmed the shine of his work. However, in the end, Indira

Gandhi as

Prime Minister commemorated his memory by issuing a special postal

stamp in his

honour.

 

Savarkar saw 1857 as an uprising of the national spirit that

aroused "sepoy and

civilian, king and pauper, Hindu and Mahomedan" to revolution. In

his book he

asks: "What, then were the real causes and motives of this

revolution? What

were they that for them men by the thousand willingly poured their

blood year

after year? What were they that Maulvis preached them, learned

Brahmins blessed

them, that for their success prayers went up to Heaven from the

mosques of

Delhi and the temples of Benares?" His answer: "These great

principles were

Swadharma [one's duty] and Swaraj [self-government]."

 

He approvingly quotes the newly installed Emperor of Hindustan's

Proclamation:

"Hindus and Mohamadans of India! Arise! Brethren arise! Of all the

gifts of

God, the most gracious is that of Swaraj. God does not wish that you

should

remain idle. He has inspired in the hearts of Hindus and Mohamedans

the desire

to turn the English out of our country." He credits Nana Sahib,

Bahadur Shah

Zafar, the Rani of Jhansi, and Khan Bahadur Khan of Rohilkhand along

with the

priests, Brahmins and Maulvis, with forcefully attempting a national

consciousness of Hindustan to liberate the nation from foreigners.

 

This Hindustan would be "Swadesh" for both Hindus and Muslims.

Savarkar explains

this adherence to the concept of Hindustan as follows: "As long as

the

Mohamedans lived in India in the capacity of rulers, so long, to be

willing to

live with like brothers was to acknowledge national weakness. Hence,

it was, up

to then, necessary to consider the Mahomedans as foreigners." He

then holds

that after the heroism of Guru Gobind, Rana Pratap, and the

Mahrattas, that

grievance was no more valid, and that the original distinction

between the

Hindus and Muslims "must be laid to eternal rest." Both communities,

he adds in

his opus, are children of the soil of Hindustan, children of the

same Mother

India, and of the same blood. He exhorted all to "create a

passionate desire in

the Hindustan for this ideal, and make all the country to rise

simultaneously

for the purpose of achieving it."

 

The 1857 spirit stood us in good stead through the freedom struggle.

The

framework for Hindu-Muslim brotherhood brilliantly set out in The

War of

Independence: 1857 needs to be revived. For that we must celebrate

May 10, 1857

equally with August 15, 1947.

 

(The writer is President of the Janata Party.)