When the then Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court P. B. Chakraborty
asked the British PM Lord Clement Atlee in 1947 the all important question as to”what
was the extent of Gandhi’s non violent movement’s influence upon the British
decision to quit India?” His response was with a smirk “M-I-N-I-M-A-L and he
spelt it out with sarcasm. In a letter addressed o the publisher of Dr. R. C. Majumdar’s book “A History of Bengal”, the Chief Justice
wrote:-
“My direct question to
lord Atlee was that since Mahatma
Gandhi’s “Quit India” movement had tempered off quite some time ago and in 1947
no such compelling situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty British
departure, why did they have to leave”.
In his reply Lord Atlee cited several reasons and the most
important among them was being the erosion of loyalty to the British Crown
among the Army and Navy personnel as a result of the military activities of
Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. Another
reason cited by him was the fear among British soldiers of the Army consisting
of Sikh, Ghurkha, Maratha, etc, who has fought and won against all odds against
the Japanese army, whom the British feared most.
The fear originated from the WW-II and later reached its peak
during the great Naval Mutiny of 1946. This Naval Mutiny of 1946 was amongst
the biggest blow the British received during their 200 year stay in India. The revolt started on HMS Talwar and was a
result of poor service, racial discrimination, poor food and anger at the court
martial of INA personnel. The revolt by the 25,000 ratings of the
Royal Indian Navy (RIN) achieved what two generates of non violent movement
could not. It brought the naked truth of fear of death in the hearts of British
soldiers and civilians in India. The
revolt spread like wildfire thanks to the signal’s and telegraphic unit of the
Navy from Karachi to Calcutta in no time and was soon joined not only by some sections
of Army but by Air Force who refused to lift troops to Bombay. The strike
gathered huge support not only from the civilians but also from the trade
unions and police. The strike was over by 23 Feb 2016 due to the efforts made
by Sadder Patel and Jinnah where most of the demands of the stinking soldiers
were met even though Mahatma Gandhi was against this strike and asked the
soldiers not to go on strike. However, they could not stop the discharge,
dismissal or release of the striking sailors from the Royal Indian Navy as a
result of mutiny. It was only in 1972 that 472 sailors of the RIN were granted
freedom fighters pension.
The Naval mutiny of 1946 communicated to the British that
their hold on Indian Armed Forces was badly weakened and the British could not
continue to hold onto India with the help of Indian soldiers any longer. Without
the support of Navy over 100,000 British troops, civilians, administrators and
their families were in no position to make it to Britain safely. At the very least a large number of them
would have been slaughtered. The British knew his and started packing bags a
day after and finally quit India in haste. This is what Lord Atlee was
referring to in his reply.
Another fact hidden from the Indian citizen is regarding the
date on which Indian flag was first hoisted and it is generally known that it
was flown on 15 Aug 1947 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru on Lal
Kila in New Delhi. But a little known fact has escaped the attention of most of
the citizens except a few who have visited Port Blair in Andaman and had seen
the plaque where it is written that the for the first time the Indian flag was
flown by Subash Chandra Bose on 30 December 1943, when he was declared the
commander of the Provincial Azad Hind after it was liberated from the British by
the Japanese and the INA.
Another fact hidden from the Indian citizen is regarding the
date on which Indian flag was first hoisted and it is generally known that it
was flown on 15 Aug 1947 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru on Lal
Kila in New Delhi. But a little known fact has escaped the attention of most of
the citizens except a few who have visited Port Blair in Andaman and had seen
the plaque where it is written that the for the first time the Indian flag was
flown by Subash Chandra Bose on 30 December 1943, when he was declared the
commander of the Provincial Azad Hind after it was liberated from the British by
the Japanese and the INA.
Recently, I came
across a news item where the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) had asked
the Indian Government to give reply to an RTI query as to whether the Taj Mahal was
built by Shahjahan as taught in history books or was built by Raja Man Singh of
Amer and gifted to Shahjahan by his son Raja Jai Singh. I do not know what the
Govt will reply but a simple Google of the word “Badshahnama” meaning the
official record of the king’s court, will take you to the official site of
Indian Archives. It is here the parchment (Page 403, Vol 1) along with its
translation can be found which will give one the information that in fact it
was built by Raja Man Singh and gifted to Shahjahan by his son Raja Jai Singh. For
a more detailed reading, fact and their interpretation the curious citizen can
read the book “Taj Mahal-The True Story” by P. N .Oak, or the research done by
Stephen Knapp on Taj Mahal and its history. It is labelled by most of our
historians as “The Alternate History”. But what an Indian wants is not the
alternate history but the true history. Will
we ever get over the appeasement policy and have the courage to rewrite the
correct history for the benefit of ages to come? well that is a million dollar question.
