Indian independence movement

The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in <a href="/facts/South_Asia/7gTqe3hY">South Asia</a> with the ultimate aim of ending <a href="/facts/British_Raj/hBe6wvPS">British colonial rule</a>. It lasted until 1947, when the <a href="/facts/Indian_Independence_Act_1947/SuHGUeAu">Indian Independence Act 1947</a> was passed.
The first nationalistic movement took root in the newly formed <a href="/facts/Indian_National_Congress/Im1gQksb">Indian National Congress</a> with prominent moderate leaders seeking the right to appear for <a href="/facts/Indian_Civil_Service/g09n2EAg">Indian Civil Service</a> examinations in British India, as well as more economic rights for natives. The first half of the 20th century saw a more radical approach towards self-rule.
The stages of the independence struggle in the 1920s were characterised by the leadership of <a href="/facts/Mahatma_Gandhi/epTj0j19">Mahatma Gandhi</a> and Congress's adoption of Gandhi's policy of <a href="/facts/Non-violence/9XJPDSbd">non-violence</a> and <a href="/facts/Salt_March/WdBeAP4j">civil disobedience</a>. Some of the leading followers of Gandhi's ideology were <a href="/facts/Jawaharlal_Nehru/et3I8NGT">Jawaharlal Nehru</a>, <a href="/facts/Vallabhbhai_Patel/XXpFDPoI">Vallabhbhai Patel</a>, <a href="/facts/Abdul_Ghaffar_Khan/1cavt7Kr">Abdul Ghaffar Khan</a>, <a href="/facts/Maulana_Azad/noRhGyKe">Maulana Azad</a>, and others. Intellectuals such as <a href="/facts/Rabindranath_Tagore/SNQJqLtk">Rabindranath Tagore</a>, <a href="/facts/Subramania_Bharati/E4m3oDpK">Subramania Bharati</a>, and <a href="/facts/Bankim_Chandra_Chattopadhyay/5vSEh3DC">Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay</a> spread patriotic awareness. Female leaders like <a href="/facts/Sarojini_Naidu/R2Ny3qDR">Sarojini Naidu</a>, <a href="/facts/Vijaya_Lakshmi_Pandit/eGqhStaX">Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit</a>, <a href="/facts/Pritilata_Waddedar/h6NXCsdc">Pritilata Waddedar</a>, and <a href="/facts/Kasturba_Gandhi/rNYVc2hd">Kasturba Gandhi</a> promoted the emancipation of Indian women and their participation in the freedom struggle.
Few leaders followed a more violent approach, which became especially popular after the <a href="/facts/Rowlatt_Act/dNhjShaD">Rowlatt Act</a>, which permitted <a href="/facts/Indefinite_detention/20kNPqnG">indefinite detention</a>. The Act sparked protests across India, especially in the <a href="/facts/Punjab_Province_(British_India)/wWz41Ad1">Punjab Province</a>, where they were violently suppressed in the <a href="/facts/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre/1oB6p3mc">Jallianwala Bagh massacre</a>.
The Indian independence movement was in constant ideological evolution. Essentially <a href="/facts/Anti-colonial_nationalism/IECpIhm0">anti-colonial</a>, it was supplemented by visions of independent, economic development with a secular, democratic, republican, and civil-libertarian political structure. After the 1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation. It culminated in the <a href="/facts/Indian_Independence_Act_1947/SuHGUeAu">Indian Independence Act 1947</a>, which ended <a href="/facts/British_Crown/ILkl7GNU">Crown</a> <a href="/facts/Suzerainty/jzSCjQe4">suzerainty</a> and <a href="/facts/Partition_of_India/c8xmUWfG">partitioned</a> British India into the <a href="/facts/Dominion_of_India/slRebax7">Dominion of India</a> and the <a href="/facts/Dominion_of_Pakistan/wxKwlwEk">Dominion of Pakistan</a>. On 26 January 1950, the <a href="/facts/Constitution_of_India/u9BCSHYF">Constitution of India</a> established the Republic of India. Pakistan adopted its first constitution in 1956. In 1971, <a href="/facts/East_Pakistan/muonRHJH">East Pakistan</a> <a href="/facts/Proclamation_of_Bangladeshi_Independence/MrAYHuw8">declared</a> its own independence as <a href="/facts/Bangladesh/NXk4f78Y">Bangladesh</a>.

Indian independence movement open-in-new

Indian independence movement