“Did you see the new 50 Rupee and 200 Rupee notes?. They are quite eye catching – the new denominations, new colours”. But the one thing that still remains the same – the image of Mahatma Gandhi on the new currency notes. From the 1 rupee note and two rupee notes of the yesteryears to the recently printed 2000 and 200 rupee notes, Mahatma Gandhi is the only face of the Indian currency. No other freedom fighter is even considered for this image. Important people Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar and Bhagat Singh are mere footnotes in ‘chillar’ coins. Why the prejudice?
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Gandhiji is the father of our nation and the sole orchestrator of the Indian Independence. It was his Quit India movement that united the whole country and led us out of our slavery. Or was it?
Would you believe that India could have received independence at least 25 years earlier but it was denied because of a misguided sense of self righteousness. Would you also accept it if someone told you that Hitler also had a role (indirectly of course!) in India becoming a free country.
Sounds crazy. Well, read on.
Did you know that World War I was fought between 1914 to 1918. Post war, Europe was in a state of chaos and the British Empire was in a state of flux. Their hold on the Indian colonies weakened since they were too busy rebuilding their own country. It was around this time that Gandhiji had started the non-cooperation movement. The movement started just after the world war I – sometime in Aug 1920, just after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
As the very name suggests – this movement encouraged Indians to show their disdain for the british raj by refusing to cooperate with the british – albeit in a peaceful manner. A target oriented and Innovate model which successfully gives the desired results without any direct conflict. The diplomatic way! The timing was also a peach – given the Brits were still licking their wounds after the world war. Infact gandhi was so sure of this movement, he was certain India will be free within a year if this movement picked up steam.
Things were on track and soon the movement gained steam. But this was until the Chauri Chaura incident, which happened in 1922. This was an isolated incident in Gorakhpur, where the people revolted against the local policemen after the cops fired upon a crowd, killing a couple of protesters and injuring a few more. This angered the crowd. Violence erupted. The aftermath of this incident was that around 20+ policemen were burnt alive inside the police station. Apparently, Gandhi had to take onus for this incident and decided to call off the non cooperation movement. Why did he do this, no one knows. His view on the matter – ‘the movement is getting too violent and aggressive’.
Many of the political leaders were against this decision and decided to opt out of the Gandhi Leadership. Like Nehru and Chittaranjan Das creating the ‘Swaraj’ party. Some others became critics. The movement was called back in 1922, two years after it started. Unfortunately it was stopped when we were very close to achieving a free country – that too without the India and Pakistan split. Apparently this was not how Gandhi wanted the independence. He let go of this wonderful opportunity to end a 100+ year slavery. Who knows why?
Just a food for thought- had we got independence at that time, we could have seen Sunil Gavaskar and Wasim Akram in the same team for at least 10 years. What a waste!
Lucky for us, Hitler was up to the mark. The rise of the Third Reich and the eventual World War II shocked the British out of their wits – again. This was the ‘second’ opportunity which Gandhi seized to secure our freedom. The second world war lasted from 1939 to 1945. Dr. Subhash Chandra Bose was very active during this time, liasoning with the Japanese and creating allegiances to uproot the British hold from India.
The Quit India movement was launched in 1942 during the Second World War. Now, instead of policemen being burnt inside a chowki in Gorakhpur, it was the jews being burnt in concentration camps. But this time it didn’t matter. Now, Gandhi was more persistent and decided to continue till we secured a free nation. ‘Do or Die’ was the thought for the day instead of the remorse and regret lesson learnt in 1922. And guess what, he succeeded. Now we have two free nations instead of One.
I am not undermining Gandhi’s contribution in the independence struggle. He might have been the most monumental person, but definitely he was not the only one. But is it fair that we super inflate his contribution to such an extent that every other freedom fighter feels like a one rupee coin in comparison to a 2000 rupee note? Just a food for thought.