Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now. That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our gen- eration has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering so long our work will not be over........... ” “In this solemn hour of our history when, after many years of struggle, we are taking over the governance of this country; let us offer our humble thanks to the Almighty Power that shapes the destinies of men and nations and let us recall in grateful remembrance the services and sacrifices of all those men and women, known and unknown, who with smiles on their faces walked on the gallows or faced bullets on their chests, who experienced living death in the cells of the Andamans or spent long years in the prisons of India, who preferred voluntary exile in foreign countries to a life of humili- ation in their own, who not only lost wealth and property but cut them- selves off from near and dear ones to devote themselves to the achievement of the great objective which we are witnessing today. ”

* The Legislature of each of the new do- minions shall have full power to make laws for that dominion, and no Act of Par- liament of the United Kingdom, nor any order in council passed after 15th Aug. 1947 shall have any validity in either of the two dominions. In short, the jurisdic- tion of the British parliament over India will cease from that date. * With effect from 15th Aug. 1947, His Majesty's government will cease to have any responsibility for the government of British India; and all treaties and agree- ments between His Majesty's government and the rulers of Indian states or any authority in tribal areas shall lapse. The words "Emperor of India shall be omitted from the Royal style and titles." * The Constituent Assembly of each do- minion shall exercise the powers of the Central Legislature and the existing Cen- tral Legislative Assembly and the coun- cil of state would be automatically dis- solved. In accordance with the above provisions Lord Mountbatten became the Governor- General of the Dominion of India, and M. A. Jinnah the Governor -General of the domin- ion of Pakistan. The Congress Working Committee adopted the following resolution welcoming the end of foreign rule : “The Working Committee welcomes the ending of foreign domination in India and the dawn of freedom for which her people have laboured and suffered for generations. That freedom has come in a manner which does not bring full joy with it for it is accompa- nied by the secession of some parts of the country and the breaking up of the living unity of India which nature, history and tra- dition had fashioned, and which was firmly tied up with the ideal of freedom. The com- mittee believes that the destiny of India will yet be realised and that, when passions have cooled, a new and stronger unity based on goodwill and co-operation will emerge........... The committee is of opinion that this event should be fittingly and solemnly cele- brated all over the country. With this object in view the committee advises that on the 15th August, 1. A public holiday should be proclaimed. 2.The National Flag should be hoisted on public and private buildings. 3.Meetings should be held in the after- noon explaining the significance of the

occasion and reading out a statement which will be subsequently communi- cated. 4. The people should dedicate themselves to the national cause and more particu- larly to the freedom and progress of the backward classes and the common man .. ” Jinnah was elected as the first President of Pakistan by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11. The Assembly also conferred on him the title of Quaid-e-Azam (Great Leader) a title which had been con- ferred on him by his followers some years back. Lord Mountbatten flew to Karachi on August 13 and addressed the Constituent Assembly the next day. Pakistan officially became a Dominion of the British Common- wealth on August 15, 1947 when Jinnah was sworn in as Governor General and the new Pakistan Cabinet headed by Liaquat Ali Khan was also sworn in. On the midnight of August 14-15, a special session of the Constituent Assembly was held in Delhi. Addressing the Constituent Assembly just before midnight on August 14, Jawaharlal Nehru said : “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A mo- ment comes, which comes but rarely in his- tory, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill-fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill-fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportu- nity, to the greater triumphs and achieve- ments that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future? Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Constituent Assembly 14-08-1947.

India became free on August 15, 1947 as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, with Lord Mountbatten as Governor-General and Nehru as Prime Minister. The Constituent Assembly went on with its work and prepared a draft of the Consti- tution of India in February 1948. It was given its final shape on February 26, 1949 and came into force on January 26, 1950.