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Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
*
The Legislature of each of the new do-
minions shall have full power to make
laws for that dominion, and no Act of Par-
liament of the United Kingdom, nor any
order in council passed after 15th Aug.
1947 shall have any validity in either of
the two dominions. In short, the jurisdic-
tion of the British parliament over India
will cease from that date.
*
With effect from 15th Aug. 1947, His
Majesty's government will cease to have
any responsibility for the government of
British India; and all treaties and agree-
ments between His Majesty's government
and the rulers of Indian states or any
authority in tribal areas shall lapse. The
words "Emperor of India shall be omitted
from the Royal style and titles."
*
The Constituent Assembly of each do-
minion shall exercise the powers of the
Central Legislature and the existing Cen-
tral Legislative Assembly and the coun-
cil of state would be automatically dis-
solved.
In accordance with the above provisions
Lord Mountbatten became the Governor-
General of the Dominion of India, and M. A.
Jinnah the Governor -General of the domin-
ion of Pakistan.
The Congress
Working Committee
adopted the following resolution welcoming
the end of foreign rule :
“The Working Committee welcomes the
ending of foreign domination in India and the
dawn of freedom for which her people have
laboured and suffered for generations. That
freedom has come in a manner which does
not bring full joy with it for it is accompa-
nied by the secession of some parts of the
country and the breaking up of the living
unity of India which nature, history and tra-
dition had fashioned, and which was firmly
tied up with the ideal of freedom. The com-
mittee believes that the destiny of India will
yet be realised and that, when passions have
cooled, a new and stronger unity based on
goodwill and co-operation will emerge...........
The committee is of opinion that this
event should be fittingly and solemnly cele-
brated all over the country. With this object
in view the committee advises that on the
15th August,
1. A public holiday should be proclaimed.
2.The National Flag should be hoisted on
public and private buildings.
3.Meetings should be held in the after-
noon explaining the significance of the
occasion and reading out a statement
which will be subsequently communi-
cated.
4.
The people should dedicate themselves
to the national cause and more particu-
larly to the freedom and progress of the
backward classes and the common
man .. ”
Jinnah was elected as the first President
of Pakistan by the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan on August 11. The Assembly also
conferred on him the title of Quaid-e-Azam
(Great Leader) a title which had been con-
ferred on him by his followers some years
back. Lord Mountbatten flew to Karachi on
August 13 and addressed the Constituent
Assembly the next day. Pakistan officially
became a Dominion of the British Common-
wealth on August 15, 1947 when Jinnah was
sworn in as Governor General and the new
Pakistan Cabinet headed by Liaquat Ali
Khan was also sworn in. On the midnight
of August 14-15, a special session of the
Constituent Assembly was held in Delhi.
Addressing the Constituent Assembly just
before midnight on August 14, Jawaharlal
Nehru said :
“Long years ago we made a tryst with
destiny, and now the time comes when we
shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full
measure, but very substantially. At the stroke
of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps,
India will awake to life and freedom. A mo-
ment comes, which comes but rarely in his-
tory, when we step out from the old to the
new, when an age ends, and when the soul
of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.
It is fitting that at this solemn moment we
take the pledge of dedication to the service
of India and her people and to the still larger
cause of humanity.
At the dawn of history India started on
her unending quest, and trackless centuries
are filled with her striving and the grandeur
of her success and her failures. Through
good and ill-fortune alike she has never lost
sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals
which gave her strength. We end today a
period of ill-fortune and India discovers
herself again. The achievement we celebrate
today is but a step, an opening of opportu-
nity, to the greater triumphs and achieve-
ments that await us. Are we brave enough
and wise enough to grasp this opportunity
and accept the challenge of the future?
Freedom and power bring responsibility.
The responsibility rests upon this Assembly,
a sovereign body representing the sovereign
people of India. Before the birth of freedom
we have endured all the pains of labour and
our hearts are heavy with the memory of this
sorrow. Some of those pains continue even
now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is
the future that beckons to us now.
That future is not one of ease or resting
but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil
the pledges we have so often taken and the
one we shall take today. The service of India
means the service of the millions who suffer.
It means the ending of poverty and ignorance
and disease and inequality of opportunity.
The ambition of the greatest man of our gen-
eration has been to wipe every tear from
every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long
as there are tears and suffering so long our
work will not be
over........... ”
“In this solemn hour of our history
when, after many years of struggle, we
are taking over the governance of this
country; let us offer our humble thanks
to the Almighty Power that shapes the
destinies of men and nations and let
us recall in grateful remembrance the
services and sacrifices of all those
men and women, known and unknown,
who with smiles on their faces walked
on the gallows or faced bullets on
their chests, who experienced living
death in the cells of the Andamans or
spent long years in the prisons of
India, who preferred voluntary exile
in foreign countries to a life of humili-
ation in their own, who not only lost
wealth and property but cut them-
selves off from near and dear ones to
devote themselves to the achievement
of the great objective which we are
witnessing today.
”
Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Constituent Assembly 14-08-1947.
India became free on August 15, 1947
as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth,
with Lord Mountbatten as Governor-General
and Nehru as Prime Minister.
The Constituent Assembly went on with
its work and prepared a draft of the Consti-
tution of India in February 1948. It was
given its final shape on February 26, 1949
and came into force on January 26, 1950.