Freedom's Footsteps

57 key moments in India’s journey to its 70th Independence Day.

Pre-Independence

1 THE REVOLT OF 1857, (often called the First War of Independence) started in Barrackpore and was joined by some princely states. The unorganized rebellion ended the rule of the East India Company and transferred power to the British Crown in 1858. Modern ideas of freedom and democracy were born amongst Indians with the English Education Act, 1835, the introduction of railways, telegram service, road transportation and the Indian postal service.

2 THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS was founded in 1885. Some historians saw it as a ‘safety valve’, others as the culmination of 19th century political awakening. The Swadeshi movement was INC’s first major mass mobilization against Lord Curzon’s 1905 partition of Bengal.

3 IN 1906 THE ALL INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE was set up with British help, exploiting the issue of inadequate representation. The Morley–Minto Reforms of 1909 introduced separate electorates for Muslims.

4 GANDHI ARRIVED IN INDIA IN 1915 and introduced satyagraha as a new form of protest, and started his lifelong campaign for the rights of the downtrodden. From Champaran (1917), Kheda (1918) to the Khilafat movement (1920), his peaceful, non-cooperation struggle gained momentum. The British retaliated by introducing the Rowlatt Act, 1919, curtailing civil liberties in the name of curbing violence. The shocking Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the retaliatory Chauri Chaura incident marred the peaceful nature of this movement.

5 THE 1920s SAW A SURGE OF REVO-LUTIONARIES like Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, who adopted violent methods against the British government.