Major Events Pre-1950

Sir Muhammad Iqbal (November 9, 1877 - April 21, 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal, was an Indian philosopher, poet and politician who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages. He wrote Sare Jahan se Accha, which is one of India's national songs. In 1930, in one of his most famous speeches, Iqbal pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in Northwest India.

Editor's note: The text of the speech is from the website of Dr. Francis W. Pritchett, Columbia University, NewYork. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_iqbal_1930.html

Sir Muhammad Iqbal's 1930 Presidential Address to the 25th Session of the All-India Muslim League, Allahabad, 29 December 1930.

Source: Speeches, Writings, and Statements of Iqbal, compiled and edited by Latif Ahmed Sherwani (Lahore: Iqbal Academy, 1977 [1944], 2nd ed., revisedandenlarged), pp. 3-26. This version has been slightly edited by FWP for classroom use. Some extremely long paragraphs have been broken into shorter ones\;small errors of punctuation, etc., have been corrected. All italics are those of the original text. Annotations in square brackets, and paragraph numbers in double brackets, have been added by FWP.

Editor's note: The Indian National Congress met in Lahore in December 1929. The following pledge was  approved by the Congress  just before midnight on December 31, 1929. The pledge was taken by the public on January 26, 1930. One option before the Congress was to demand Dominion Status, under which India would have still remained at least nominally under British rule. The Congress rejected this option, and instead asked for Purna Swaraj, which means Full Independence.

Bimla Goulatia got her doctor’s degree (MBBS) from Government Medical College, Amritsar, and then joined the Indian government's Employees' State Insurance Corporation, India (ESIC). She rose to the rank of Director in their Headquarter at Delhi when She took voluntary retirement from this organisation.

Editor's note: A related story written by her oldest brother, Pran Bhatla is available here. Mr. M. P. V. Shenoi has faciliated the writing and publication of this story.

In the 1940s, my parents were living at House No.7, Galli (Street) No.7, Guru Nanak Pura Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), which is now in Pakistan. I was five years old. I had two older brothers, who were 13 and 7 years old, and a younger sister, who was 2.5 years old.

Editor's note: The All India Muslim League met in Lahore in March 1940. The League adopted a resolution that has become known as the Lahore Resolution. March 23, the date on which this Resolution was adopted, is celebrated in Pakistan every year. The resolution was moved in the general session by A.K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of undivided Bengal, and was seconded by Choudhury Khaliquzzaman, a leader from what was United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). The full, unedited text of the resolution is reproduced below.

A silent black-and-white video is available here.

Shenoi, a civil engineer and MBA, rose to the rank of Deputy Director-General of Works in the Indian Defence Service of Engineers. He has also been a member of HUDCO’s advisory board and of the planning team for Navi Mumbai. After retirement he has been helping NGOs in employment-oriented training, writing articles related to all aspects of housing, urban settlements, infrastructure, project and facility management and advising several companies on these issues. His email id is mpvshanoi@gmail.com.

Assassination

30 Jan 1948. The news stunned the world. Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead while he was on his way to his evening prayer meeting. The assassin was Shri Nathuram Godse. Like Gandhi, Godse was a Hindu.

Godse was a well-educated man. Godse felt that Gandhi's policy of nonviolence and appeasement was harming Hindu interests. He had seen for himself in refugee camps, and elsewhere, the victims of atrocities meted out to Hindus on the Pakistan side of the border: hands cut off, noses chopped off, little girls raped. Hindu families had lost properties, savings, and relatives.

Much has been written since then in support and against him and his beliefs.

Photographs of The Satyagraha House,Mahatma Gandhi's house in Johannesburg, South Africa.The house has recently been restored and is now open to receive visitors at its museum, and guests for stay.

Articles, photos, and personalities of Independence movement. http://indianindependancemovementphotos.blogspot.com/. Most recent entry is dated 2009.

Editor's note: This originally appeared online at http://www.subhaschandrabose.org/index.php. This speech was delivered on 10 March 1939. Subhas Bose resigned from the Indian National Congress later in 1939.

Comrade Chairman, sister and brother delegates! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the great honour you have done me by re-electing me to the Presidential chair of the Indian National Congress and also for the warm and cordial welcome you have given me here at Tripuri. It is true that at my request you have had to dispense with some of the pomp that is usual on such occasions\; but I feel that enforced step has not taken away one iota of the warmth and cordiality of your reception and I hope that nobody will regret the curtailment of it on this occasion.

Friends, before I proceed any further, I shall voice your feelings by expressing our joy at the success of Mahatma Gandhi's mission to Rajkot and the termination of his fast in consequence thereof. The whole country now feels happy and tremendously relieved.

Editor's note: These articles appeared online at http://www.subhaschandrabose.org/. They first appeared in print in Netaji: His Life and Work, edited by Shri Ram Sharma, published in 1948 by Shiva Lal Agarwala &amp\; Co. Ltd., Agra

Some Intimate Recollections

Hari Vishnu Kamath resigned from the Indian Civil Service, and entered politics. Later, he was a member of the Constituent Assembly, representing the Forward Bloc, and later became a member of Parliament.

From his early boyhood when Subhas Chandra Bose journeyed alone to the Himalayas in search of personal salvation, up to the years of his mature manhood when he travelled to distant lands in search of national salvation, his life was all of one pattern: the life of a Grand Rebel whom the pathetic subjection of this ancient land turned into an uncompromising political revolutionary.

He was not a mere political\; he regarded his life as a complete dedication to a sublime Cause rooted in spiritual reality. This was clearly brought out in the title “An Indian Pilgrim” which he had adopted for his unfinished autobiography.

Editor’s note: For stories related to the events of 15 August 1947, please visit http://www.indiaofthepast.org/contribute-memories/read-contributions/major-events-pre-1950/334-indias-first-independence-day

Editor's note:

A meeting of various Indian parties, called as an "All Parties Conference" in 1928 appointed a Committee to consider and determine the principles of the Constitution for India. The resolution authorizing the formation of this committee stated:

This meeting resolves that a Committee consisting of Pandit Motilal Nehru as Chairman, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Sir All Imam, Syt. Pradhan, Syt. Shuaib Qureshi\; Syt Subhas Chandra Bose, Syt. Madhaorao Aney, Syt. M. R. Jayakar, Syt. N. M. Joshi and Sardar Mangal Singh be appointed to consider and determine the principles of the Constitution for India before 1st July next\; the Committee to circulate the draft among various organisations in the country. This Committee shall give the fullest consideration to the reso­lution of the Madras Congress on Communal Unity in conjunction with those passed by the Hindu Mahasabha, the Muslim League, the Sikh League and the other political organisations represented at the All Parties Con­ference at Delhi and the suggestions that may hereafter be received by it\; the Committee will give due weight to the recommendations made by the various sub-committees of the All Parties Conference at Delhi.