This year India will celebrate its 77th Independence Day on 15th August 2024. Independence Day Will celebrate. Independence Day is celebrated with great pomp and show across the country. But do you know that at the time of independence in 1947, the Father of the Nation of India, Mahatma Gandhi did not attend the Independence Festival. Yes, when the country was officially becoming independent, Mahatma Gandhi did not attend the celebrations. Today we will tell you the reason behind this.
Azadi Festival
India officially got independence on 15 August 1947. The two big leaders who played an important role in the independence of the country, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, were popular leaders across the country. At the time of independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel sent a letter to Mahatma Gandhi and invited him to give blessings on Independence Day. But do you know what Mahatma Gandhi wrote in response to the letter?
letter from mahatma gandhi
In response to the letter, Mahatma Gandhi had said that when communal riots are taking place in the country, how can he participate in the celebration of independence. When Jawaharlal Nehru was giving his first speech in independent India on the night of 14-15 August 1947, very few people knew that Mahatma Gandhi had refused to participate in any celebrations then. Because the tragedy of India-Pakistan partition had shaken him to the core.
In his letter at that time, Mahatma Gandhi had said that I cannot be happy on 15th August. I do not want to deceive you, but at the same time I will not say that you should not celebrate either. He had said that unfortunately the way we have got independence today also contains the seeds of future conflict between India and Pakistan. In such a situation, how can we light the lamps of celebration of independence? For me, peace between Hindus and Muslims is more important than the declaration of independence.
Where was Mahatma Gandhi at the time of independence
Now the question is where was Mahatma Gandhi at the time of independence. It has been claimed in the documents of independence that at the time of independence Gandhiji was in Calcutta to bring peace in Bengal. There was a conflict going on between Hindus and Muslims for more than a year. Mahatma Gandhi reached Calcutta on 9 August 1947 to go to Noakhali (which is now in Bangladesh). Here he stayed at Hyderi Manzil located in the Muslim colony and started a hunger strike to bring peace in Bengal and stop bloodshed. He started efforts for peace by meeting people on 13 August 1947. A few weeks before independence, he also had a program to go to Bihar and then Bengal.
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