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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
the end that it may secure a decent
standard of living.
*
The State shall safeguard the interest of
industrial workers by suitable legisla-
tion and in other ways....”
National Flag formally adopted by
Congress ,1931
Speaking on the aims of the Congress, M.
Gandhi said on November 30-1931 as below:
"All the other parties at this meeting rep-
resent sectional interests. Congress alone
claims to represent the whole of India, all
interests. It is no communal organisation; it
is a determined enemy of communalism in any
shape or form. Congress knows no distinction
of race, colour or creed; its platform is uni-
versal... ”
The Congress is the only all-India-wide
national organisation, bereft of any commu-
nal basis; that it does represent all the minori-
ties...
President: Subhas Chandra Bose.
Presiding over the Haripura Congress of
1938, Subhas Chandra Bose spoke on ‘impe-
rial policy of
'divide and Rule', ‘non-violent
non-cooperation', ‘role of Congress after
Freedom’
and
‘Planning in Free India’.
Simi-
larly at 1939 Congress (Tripuri) S.C. Bose
spoke on the need for
'assault on British Im-
perialism'.
they flowed for a while through separate
courses, but nature's immutable law brought
them together and joined them in a sangam.
This fusion was a notable event in history.
Since then, destiny, in her own hidden way,
began to fashion a new India in place of the
old.... We gave our wealth to her and she un-
locked the doors of her own treasures to us.
We gave her, what she needed most, the most
precious of gifts from Islam's treasury, the
message of democracy and human equality.
Eleven hundred years of common history
have enriched India with our common
achievement. Our languages, our literature,
our culture, our art, our dress, our manners
and customs, the innumerable happenings of
our daily life, everything bears the stamp of
our joint endeavour. There is indeed no as-
pect of our life which has escaped this stamp...
This thousand years of our joint life has
moulded us into a common nationality..."
Congress resolution on
British withdrawal from India
August 8, 1942
In 1942, the All India Congress Commit-
tee put forward the demand for British with-
drawal from India, it reads as follows:
”The A.I.C.C., therefore, repeats with all
emphasis the demand for the withdrawal of
the British power from India. On the declara-
tion of India's independence, a provisional
Government will be formed and free India
will become an ally of the United Nations. Its
primary junctions must be to defend India and
resist aggression with all the armed as well as
the non-violent forces at its command, to-
gether with its allied powers and to promote
the well-being and progress of the workers in
the fields and factories and elsewhere to whom
essentially all power and authority must be-
long.... This Constitution, according to the
Congress view, should be a federal one, with
the largest measure of autonomy for the fed-
erating units, and with the residuary powers
vesting in these units....
The Committee feels that it is no longer
justified in holding the nation back... The
committee resolves, therefore, to sanction,
for the vindication of India's inalienable
right to freedom and independence, the start-
ing of a mass struggle on non-violent lines on
the widest possible scale
.............
Such a struggle
must inevitably be under the leadership of
Gandhiji..."
The National Hag, 1947
Even after Indian Independence the French
retained their five settlements - Chandrana-
gore, Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam and
Mahe, and Portuguese - Goa, Diu and Daman.
During the freedom struggle days these settle-
ments were regarded as
'little pimples'
by the
National leaders and thought that they would
disappear with the end of British rule. But
after the World War II, freedom movement in
the French colonies was intensified with the
creation of
'French India National Congress';
it led the freedom struggle in French colonies
assisted by other organizations like the
'Karai-
kal National Congress.' 'The Mahasabha'
(Mahe and Yanam) and
'The National Demo-
cratic Front
' (Pondicherry). After Indian In-
dependence the demand for the termination of
the French rule and merger of those territories
intensified.
The Jaipur session of the Congress (Dec.
1948) declared that
"With the establishment of
Independence in India, the continued exis-
tence of any foreign possession in India be-
comes anomalous and opposed to the concep-
tion of India's unity and freedom."
“The Congress had been the prime
instrument of the Indian Revolution.
Beginning as an organisation of the
educated middle classes, it grew into
the
world's
largest
democratic
movement and mass party under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and
Jawaharlal
Nehru.
Its
history
encompasses
nine
decades
of
endeavour to win and consolidate
national freedom.
...
Our
nationalism
is
a
triumphant
example
of
a
multi-
religious,
multi-lingual
society,
working
together
for
social
transformation in a climate of political
liberty, refusing to be lured by the
blandishments or pressured by the
threats of outside forces. ”
- Indira Gandhi, 1975.
* For the Liberation of French and Portuguese colonies
refer
“India and the World" Vol - II - Sec. T.
Jaipur session, Dec.-1948
LIV - session - 1940 - Ramgarh
President: Abul Kalam Azad.
Presiding over the Congress, Abul
Kalam Azad spoke elaborately on 'the
minorities and political future of India',
’Muslims of India'; posing a basic question
for Indian Muslims and on their antagonism
and aloofness he observed,
"I reached quickly
a final conclusion.... I saw India, with all her
many burdens, marching ahead to her future
destiny. We were fellow passengers in this
boat and we could not ignore its swift passage
through the waters.... it becomes our bounden
duty then to march with assured steps to
India's national goal".
Speaking about the 'T
he Muslims and
united India'
and
'cultural blend through the
ages',
he said
"Like the Ganga and Jumna,
LII - session - 1938 - Haripura