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Freedom Fighters of
India
India, the largest democratic nation in the world
got independence from foreign rule in 1947. It
was a momentous year in the history of India
when it gained freedom from the British rule that
lasted for about 100 years. In 1857, the powers
of British East India Company was transferred
to the British Crown but the Company which
was started as early as in 1600 to build
colonisation and trade which gradually imposed
its rule in many parts of the country,
both economically and politically. Prior to that
many parts of India were under the control of
the Portuguese, French and the Dutch. As
the Indian subcontinent had no political unity or
unifying force since ancient times, many have
come and controlled parts of the
country. Prominent and long lasting among them
were the Mughals, who ruled most parts of the
present country from the 16th century through
18th century.
The freedom of India is result of long and
consistent struggle in many parts of the country
in different forms. It was neither easy for the
country to fight and expel foreign rulers from the ideologies of non- violence and peace, on the
country nor easy to unify different princely
states, tribes, people fo different languages and
cultures in to the idea of one nation. Many
people have played significant roles in raising
the national movement. Struggles lasted for
decades, which finally resulted in
independence of the country.
The Role of the Freedom Fighters
The freedom fighters of India played an
extensive role in getting independence for the
country. The 'Revolt of 1857' was the first war of hanged to death and are considered as martyrs
independence of India. The revolt started as a
mutiny by the sepoys of the East India Company.
Anagha K
3rd HISTORY
The Muslim and the Hindu sepoys together
began this revolt. Rani Lakshmi Bai, Mangal
Pandey, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nana Sahib and
Tatya Tope were some of the active leaders and
freedom fighters who fought in the revolt.
Mangal Pandey is considered as the hero in the
modern India because he had played a pivotal
role in beginning the revolt against the British.
Rani Lakshmi Bai is considered as the symbol of
resistance to the British rule and was one of the
leading figures of the rebels in 1857.
In 1876, another movement started against the
British rule. It was the foundation of the Indian
National Congress (INC). Surendranath Banerjee
laid the foundation of the party. Bal Gangadhar
Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji, Chittaranjan Das and
Jawaharlal Nehru were active leaders of the INC.
It was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who gave
a push to the party and raised the struggle for
freedom in a non-violent way. His Non-
Cooperation Movement was a great success and
a stepping stone for Indian freedom struggle.
While on one side Gandhi was following the
other there was a group of youth who wanted to
attain independence by hook or by crook. These
revolutionaries were quite influential in the
nation and inspired many. Chandra Shekhar
Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and
Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee were some of the
revolutionaries who executed the Kakori
conspiracy. Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt,
Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru threw
bomb in the assembly house. After the incident,
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were
today.