India's Freedom Not an Outcome of Non-Violence Movement Alone, Says Sumitra Mahajan

Pune: India did not get independence from British on the strength of a non-violent movement alone as contributions and sacrifices of revolutionaries made over a long period of time were equally important, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has said.

She said the country's freedom struggle spanned over nine decades starting from 1857.

"Sometimes I feel pained. I don't want to criticise anybody. There are several things which are important. Savarkar (freedom fighter V D Savarkar) has written somewhere that when you think about freedom struggle, you need to think from 1857 to 1947. You need to think of 90 years of freedom struggle," said Mahajan.

Mahajan was speaking at a function for release of a postal stamp in the honour of freedom fighter Krantiveer Damodar Chapekar at Chapekar Wada in Chinchwad here on Sunday.

"We have achieved freedom not just because of non-violence as several revolutionaries sacrificed their lives before Mahatma Gandhi came to the fore," she said.

The MP from Indore said the first war of independence in 1857 provided the spark for the freedom struggle and later Mahatma Gandhi mobilised the masses for the cause.

"After 1857 revolt, the masses living in villages were made aware (of the freedom movement), spark was created among the people and several revolutionaries made sacrifices. And then Mahatma Gandhi came and galvanised the masses by reaching out to the last person and appealed them to come out of their houses (and join the movement)," she said.

She said Gandhiji did all this for sure but "you can not overlook the 90 years of struggle and sacrifices made by several revolutionaries." She added it is not that British were told `chale jao' (quit India) and they left. It was also not the case that British left the country also because of a non-violent movement launched against them.

"We have not achieved freedom in a such simple way but for that a big price was paid over several years."

The veteran parliamentarian said Savarkar in a book has written about small revolts against the foreign rule which took place over a span of several decades.

"A lot of young people sacrificed their lives and this went on for several years which transformed into a big revolution. As a result of all these united efforts, India got freedom in 1947," Mahajan said.