[Music] foreign [Music] a teenager in India and ask this who gave India Independence they'll probably say Mahatma Gandhi also ask them how did India get independence they'll probably say non-violence these answers are not wrong but they're not 100 right either India's Independence was the result of many things hundreds of characters multiple ideologies and of course some rub of the green to say non-violence gave us freedom is an oversimplification one of many in our history almost eight decades have passed since those events but even today things are hazy many questions remain unanswered some questions are too uncomfortable to raise doesn't mean we shy away from raising them questioning our past is a sign of a mature and evolving democracy so that's what we're doing looking at four questions from India's independence movement we know what the history books say let's now see what actually happened time for a flashback foreign is probably the most divisive what made Britain leave India Gandhi is not violence or Subhash Chandra Bose's Army both men had a different strategy Gandhi used non-violence to launch the quit India movement in 1942. the next year Bose revived the Indian national Army the difference was clear Gandhi asked Britain to quit India both said I will make them quit who succeeded in the end well in 1944 Gandhi offered Britain a choice he said we will stop the Civil Disobedience but on one condition gave us immediate Independence Lord weiable was the Viceroy then he completely rejected the offer he said it wasn't even a starting point for a discussion both though had more success his Indian national Army lost the second world war he himself died in 1945 but what happened next galvanized India from the late 1945 soldiers of the Indian national Army were put on trial they had fought for Imperial Japan now Britain wanted Revenge it was the worst possible plan all of India United in support of the Ina soldiers servicemen elsewhere took inspiration from them during the trials a massive Naval Mutiny broke out in Mumbai almost 20 000 Sailors and 78 ships were involved similar revolts happened in Chennai and Pune riots broke out in Karachi and Kolkata the British were shaken they could handle civil disobedience with the Army but if the Army itself revolted they were helpless DrBR ambedkar realized this this is what he said in 1955 I think the British had come to the conclusion that if they were to rule India the only basis on which they would rule was the maintenance of the British army just one problem though the British army was devastated by 1946. they lost 384 000 soldiers in the Second World War they were 21 billion pounds in debt so using British troops to hold on to India I was out of the question they neither had the Manpower nor the money so what did they do they packed up and left India wasn't the only country to benefit this way Britain left Jordan in 1946 Myanmar in 1948.
Ceylon or Sri Lanka in 1948 Palestine also in 1948. so the global Trend was decolonization the only question is what accelerated it Clement Atlee was the British prime minister during this time years later he talked about why he agreed to Independence he gave many reasons but the main one was this the erosion of loyalty among the armed forces the British could not trust them anymore so their best option was to leave now full disclosure at least comments were not made in public he said what he did during a private chat with Justice p b chakravarti he was the acting governor of West Bengal these comments make one thing clear Britain did not leave India because they had a change of heart or because non-violence appealed to their conscience they left because it was not viable anymore they had no means to control India's 300 million restive population now let's move to question number two why did Gandhi oppose Bose's politics it's clear that he did Gandhi tried to stop Bose's election as Congress president in 1939 when Bose won Gandhi called it a personal defeat once again it was ideology Bose wanted Swift Independence he feared that Gandhi would settle for something less maybe Dominion status these differences led to a rivalry Gandhi does not come out well in this episode historians have called him quote unquote Petty and given to machinations Bose's radical tactics got him arrested but in 1941 he fled British India he began rallying for Independence abroad the idea was pretty simple your enemy's enemy is your friend using that logic he reached out to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan the British will live it they call boss a collaborator the next year in 1942 the quit India movement was declared both supported it he called it India's epic struggle but the sentiment was never Mutual Bose set up a provisional government of free India in 1943 sort of like a government in Exile it was recognized by around nine countries all of them allied with Japan and Germany Gandhi and Congress never embraced Bose's government or Army at least not during the war why was that the Congress was ideologically on Britain's side they never agreed to support the war but they wanted to see Hitler defeat it also there was a power struggle within the movement Gandhi liked nehru more nehru was the starry-eyed pupil with utter devotion both on the other hand was more rebellious he challenged Gandhi's leadership of the party which politician likes that the congress's attitude towards Bose and the RNA would change but much later after the war in fact nehru was one of the lawyers during the Ina trials many historians say this was a political decision the trials had captured public imaginations are suddenly the Congress wanted a piece of it question number three how did World War II shape India's Freedom struggle we told you how it devastated Britain but that's not all around two and a half million Indians fought in the war in Europe in Africa and in Asia once the war ended they came home by 1947 only 800 000 men were part of the army the rest had been killed or demobilized imagine that from Two and a half million to eight hundred thousand we're talking about highly trained Fighters here many of them joined self-defense units and volunteer groups they trained their fellow Indians but service abroad also meant one thing these soldiers were exposed to new ideas things like Liberty Freedom democracy they had fought in the trenches for someone else's rights so once back home they began to think what about our rights this led to a bigger push towards independence even bosa's Army was made up of these soldiers thousands of them had served in Southeast Asia Japan defeated and jailed them these prisoners of War became the core of the Indian national Army and now we come to the final question how did jawaharlal nehru become India's first prime minister versus election unanimous well far from it in 1946 The Congress held an internal election it was time to choose the next president he or she would also be India's interim prime minister so the stakes were high Gandhi's pick was clear from the beginning he wanted nehru to take charge and why was that Gandhi believed nehru was better suited to negotiate with the British he was a Cambridge graduate he rattled off in English plus he was better known abroad but nehru needed support from the party's State committees only then could he be elected he had challenges too the likes of Sardar Patel and acharya kriplan do you know what the results were 12 out of the 15 State committees nominated Patel three of them abstain so none of them nominated jawaharlal nehru Gandhi broke this news to his Protege apparently there was stunned Silence from the other side nehru was never going to be number two so Gandhi asked Sardar Patel to withdraw from the race for whatever reasons he did Patel was considered a good administrator also a people's leader he was very close to the Grassroots yet it was nehru who became the first Prime Minister the rest as they say is history or at least one version of it nehru would go on to become India's longest serving prime minister Patel died in 1950.
