The 70th anniversary of Republic Day of India on Jan. 26 celebrates the enactment of the Indian Constitution in 1950, three years after the country achieved independence from the British Raj on Aug. 15, 1947.
But don’t confuse India’s Republic Day with the Independence Day celebration, which celebrates the heroes who liberated India from British rule, which began in 1858. Republic Day, by contrast, focuses on the Constitution that allowed India to break free from laws based on the British colonial system.
Republic Day also celebrates Indian culture and honors the sacrifices that made India a free country. India marks this holiday with military parades, an awards ceremony called the Padma Awards, which recognize accomplishments in the arts, social work, medicine, and other fields. Also, the Lok Tarang National Dance Festival celebrates diversity within Indian dance. Republic Day’s chosen date — Jan. 26 — was selected because it fell on the same day as Purna Swaraj Day.
On Dec. 19, 1929, the Indian National Congress released a Declaration of Independence stating that “India must sever the British connection and attain ‘Purna Swaraj’ — ‘complete self-rule’ in Hindi. That year, on New Year’s Eve, the Indian tricolor flag was first hoisted across the country.
On Jan. 26, 1930 — Purna Swaraj Day — the Indian Declaration of Independence was officially promulgated and the Indian National Congress urged citizens to celebrate India Day.
It was only two decades later, in 1950, that Jan. 26 officially became the Republic Day of India.
While the movement for decolonization gained traction in 1937 with the establishment of provincial elections across the country, the outbreak of World War II put India’s aspirations for independence on hold. Beginning in 1939, 2.5 million Indian men were sent to fight, making the British Indian Army the largest volunteer force in the war.
The war’s end in 1945 led to a rapid period of decolonization, and the British Empire effectively collapsed within a few years.
While post-war decolonization was in some ways remarkably swift, India’s struggle for freedom from Britain was long and painful, stretching through the early decades of the 20th century.
It included mass persecutions and violent tragedies, including the famous 1919 Jallinwalla Bagh Massacre, when the British Indian Army opened fire on a crowd of nonviolent protestors, killing between 400 and 1000 people.
The 1948 assassination of non-violent political activist Mahatma Gandhi marked another tragic day in India’s struggle toward freedom.
Ukrainian parallels
In the early 20th century, India and Ukraine were both gaining momentum in their fights for independence. After the 1919 massacre, Indian movements opposing colonial rule rapidly coalesced into national campaigns.
Gandhi established a strategy of non-cooperation, in which workers withdrew their labor from enterprises that supported Britain’s economy and government, and the Muslim Khilafat Movement simultaneously organized for the restoration of the Islamic Ottoman caliphate.
The Ukrainian War of Independence (1917–1921) resulted in the establishment of the Free Territory of Ukraine. But independent Ukraine was soon subjugated to the Soviet Union, which carried out its own massacres against the Ukrainian people.
The Holodomor, the starving to death of nearly 4 million Ukrainians in 1932–33, helped Soviet dictator Josef Stalin to exert control over the country.
Ukraine would only gain independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Quotes from Gandhi:
Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi, the father of independent India, lived from Oct. 2, 1869, to Jan. 30, 1948. He left behind wisdom that is studied today. Here are 5 of his many memorable quotes:
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.
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