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Jawaharlal Nehru was our first Prime Minister. Dr Rajendra Prasad became the first President. India has been an independent country for more than seventy and faced terrorism but still remains strong and united.

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The Second World War ended in 1945. The British Government was tired of this war. The USA and USSR had become world powers after the world war. They too supported the Indian leaders. The British agreed to leave India. But the country was divided into India and Pakistan. On 15th August 1947 India became independent. On this historic occasion, Jawahar Lal Nehru said, "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."

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Subhash Chandra Bose was the leader of Indian National Army or Azad Hind Fauj. His belief was that the British would not leave India till they were pushed out with force. He gave us the famous slogan, 'Jai Hind'.

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On 9th August 1942, Gandhiji started the Quit India Movement. The Congress appealed to the people to make it a mass movement. Gandhiji asked the people to 'Do or Die' and asked the British Government to 'Quit India. There were hartals and protests everywhere. The Government was angry. The policemen were ordered to shoot, torture people and jail the leaders to suppress the movement.

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The Congress demanded Purna Swaraj or Complete Independence from foreign rule in December, 1929. Our leaders even chose the tri-colour flag in saffron, white and green as the flag of free India. The Civil Disobedience Movement started in 1930 with Gandhiji as the leader. It began with the Dandi March.The British did not allow the Indians to make salt. Gandhiji with his followers, decided to start Satyagraha by breaking the Salt Law.

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The British appointed a commission to review the law and order of the country that was getting out of control and to bring out new reforms. This was the Simon Commission. It was a group of people led by a British politician Sir John Simon. The Indians were against this commission because not even a single Indian was made a member of it. In 1929, when the commission came to India, the members were greeted with the slogan, "Simon Go Back". A new group of very young revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev, BK Dutt, and Chandra Shekhar Azad became active and popular during this time.

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In 1920, Gandhiji started the Non-Cooperation Movement. He asked the people to disobey laws, boycott foreign clothes and goods, government schools and colleges.They were asked to spin and weave khadi and become self-sufficient. Although Gandhiji had appealed to all to be peaceful, some people set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura (Uttar Pradesh). Around 22 policemen died. Gandhiji called of the movement immediately as he was against any kind of violence.

The leaders who supported Gandhiji were Dr Rajendra Prasad, Motilal Nehru Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu, C Rajagopalachari, Maulana Azad Chittaranjan Das and Jawaharlal Nehru.

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On 13th April 1919, the people of Punjab gathered at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar to attend a peaceful demonstration. However, General Dyer ordered his troops to take position and fire at the unarmed public. Hundreds of men, women and children were killed and thousands were injured. All the Indian leaders strongly protested against this cruel act.

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, lovingly called Bapu, came back to India from South Africa in 1915. Gandhiji fought against racism in South Africa. After coming to India, he was touched by the poor conditions of the common people.

He decided to fight and oust the Britishers but his method was different. He chose Satyagraha and Ahimsa that means using truth and non-violence to fight injustice. He appealed to the people to resist all wrong openly, peacefully and fearlessly.

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Some young people felt that peaceful means were of little help and openly said

that, Force should be met with force" In 1904, Vinayak Savarkar started a secret

evolutionary society, The popular early revolutionaries were Aurobindo Ghosh,

Vinayak Savarkar and Ajit Singh. The movement did not become popular as

Indians were peace loving and did not support violence.

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With the Swadeshi and Boycott Movements, the Indian goods became popular again. 'Swadeshi' means 'of one's own country' and boycott means 'to refuse or say no'. So these movements meant 'saying no to foreign goods' and 'buying things made in one's own country'.

Until now, the fight for independence was fought by groups and associations but a mass movement took place during the Swadeshi and Boycott Movements. Common people including men, women, young students and even peasants joined People boycotted foreign clothes and goods and made bonfires of them. British government tried to suppress the movement. They jailed the protesters and their leaders and beat them. This angered the people.

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The British always follow the policy of divide and rule. In 1905,they partitioned the state of Bengal on religious lines. The British said that this partition would make administration easy. But it was not true. The wanted to divide the Hindus against the Muslims. The Congress was against this and showed its anger by starting the Swadeshi and Boycott movements. As a result, the British forced to reunite it in 1911.

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In the early years, the Indian National Congress achieved little success.They asked for Social reforms with the support of the British government. slowly, they realize that nothing could change, while the British ruled India. so now they demanded participation in the governance of the country and even self government. They felt that Indian leadership will understand the problems of the masses in a better way.Gopal Krishna Gokhals, Dadabhai Naoroji and Pherozshah Mehta were some of the leaders who supported this method. The group within the Congress that felt the struggle for freedom was required, supported strikes and boycotts.The leaders who supported the theory were Lal Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal ( called Lal-Bal-Pal). Tilak yeah, the famous slogan, “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it.”