87- No storm in the tea cup

एक दुखी परिवार-87

Indian independence movement

The Indian independence movement did not start off all of a sudden, much less like any storm in the tea cup. It had a chequered history that did not emerge from any single region.

Materially and substantially, it was authored by an overtly imperceptible chasm between two undefined classes, that stood poles apart in the Indian society, one that represented European culture, either by belonging or by admiration or whatever. The other that got distanced. The latter constituted the majority which decried being bossed over by the former, constituting a minority but a class apart.

Europeans stood depicted in the psyche of the Indians as shrewd traders whose outfit had suddenly changed , without letting either the common populace or even the then ruling class suspect their lethal personality that their class and sophistication furtively concealed.

It was known at the grass roots level, how those European traders had first reached Indian shores with the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 AD at the port of Calicut, in search of the lucrative spice trade. 

Just over a century later, the Dutch and English established trading outposts on the subcontinent, with the first English trading post set up at Surat in 1612. 

Over the course of the 17th and early 19th centuries, the British defeated the Portuguese and Dutch militarily, but remained in conflict with the French, who had by then sought to establish themselves in the subcontinent. 

The decline of the Mughal empire in the first half of the 18th century provided the British with the opportunity to seize a firm foothold in Indian politics. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 AD, during which the East India Company's Indian army under Robert Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Bengal, the Company established itself as a major player in Indian affairs, and soon afterwards gained administrative rights over the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Midnapur part of Odissa, following the Battle of Buxar in 1764.

After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India came either under the Company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control as princely states got into subsidiary alliances.After the defeat of Tipu Sultan, most of South India was now either under the company's direct rule, or under its indirect political control

 The Company subsequently gained control of regions ruled by the Maratha Empire, after defeating them in a series of wars. 

Punjab was annexed in 1849, after the defeat of the Sikh armies in the First (1845–1846) and Second (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.

In 1835, English was made the medium of instruction in India's schools. Western-educated Hindu elites sought to rid Hinduism of controversial social practices, including the varna caste system, child marriage, and sati. 

Literary and debating societies were established in Calcutta (Kolkata) and Bombay (Mumbai) which became forum for open political discourse.

Even while these modernising trends influenced Indian society, many Indians increasingly disliked British rule. With the British now dominating most of the subcontinent, many Brits increasingly disregarded local customs by, for example, staging parties in mosques, dancing to the music of regimental bands on the terrace of the Taj Mahal, using whips to force their way through crowded bazaars (as recounted by General Henry Blake), and mistreating Indians (including the sepoys).

In the years after the annexation of Punjab in 1849, several mutinies broke out among the sepoys; these were put down by force. 

(Cont....)