One hundred and fifty years ago, in the late afternoon of May 10, 1857, sepoys in Meerut mutinied and attacked the symbols of British imperial power – the telegraph office, the jail, the record room and, the bungalows in which the sahibs lived. As evening fell, a group of about 100 sepoys rode on horseback to Delhi. They arrived at the Lal Qila early in the morning of May 11, and announced to the old Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah, that they had revolted against the British. They demanded that he should provide leadership to this rebellion.

Thus began the great uprising of 1857 which took the British more than one year to suppress. San-Sattavan, as the people of our sub-continent remember it, was the first significant moment in India's struggle to free herself from British domination. From Delhi to Patna, from the Terai to Jhansi, along the mighty Ganga and the calm water of Jamuna --- sepoys and princes, peasants and taluqdars, artisans and intellectuals, came together to fight British rule. A military mutiny quickly transformed itself into a battle for freedom. Both Karl Marx and Benjamin Disraeli, watching the events from London - and from two very different ideological perspectives - conceded that the uprising was nothing short of a “national revolt”.

The rebels of 1857 fought for freedom from foreign rule. They also fought to protect their deen and dharma. We must not make the mistake today of interpreting these terms in the narrow sense of the word `religion’. What the rebels fought to defend was `a way of life’ which they feared the British were destroying. As an alien imposition, British rule threatened cherished notions of an ancient culture and civilisation. The people of India resisted this intervention in their way of life.

What is significant is that despite rallying under the flag of deen and dharma, the rebellion was united. There was no division between Hindus and Muslims in their resistance to alien domination. In every ishtahar that the rebel leadership issued, Hindus and Muslims were called upon to rise together to fight against British rule and to remove it. The events of 1857 stand as a great testimony and tribute to the traditions of Hindu-Muslim unity in India.

The great patriot and scholar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the Minister for Education in 1957, the centenary of the uprising, wrote:

“Common life had developed among Hindus and Muslims a sense of brotherhood and sympathy...That is why the struggle of 1857 took a national and racial but not a communal turn. In the fight for freedom, Hindus and Muslims stood together shoulder to shoulder. This feeling of unity was found not only in the army but also among the civil population. There is no record of a single incident of conflict or clash on a religious basis even though there are instances where British officers tried to weaken the Indian camp by stressing such differences. India faced the trial of 1857 as a united community.''

Historical research has more than confirmed the conclusions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Ninety years after 1857, we became an independent nation. Sixty years hence we are today, a proud, a self-confident, an intrinsically secular democratic Republic. We can proudly hold our heads high and say – sare jahan se accha, Hindustan hamaara.

Today, we are gathered here to remember without hatred, to honour without deification. We mourn the lives of all those who were killed - men, women and children. We honour the memory of those who battled for the freedom of our Motherland. As a nation inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s message of non-violence, India has consciously abjured violence as an instrument of social and political change. Yet we cannot forget those inspired revolutionaries -- many of them anonymous to history --- who sacrificed their lives in 1857 to free the country from foreign yoke. Their struggle may not have been imbued with modern notions of nationalism but that cannot take away from their valour and their heroism. Above all, we cannot forget the Hindu-Muslim unity that 1857 represented and held out as an example for subsequent generations.

I stand here, in all humility, to pay homage to the martyrs of 1857. I urge the people of our great nation to ensure that their sacrifices are not in vain. It is our responsibility to build a nation, free from want, rid of the ancient scourge of poverty, ignorance and disease. It is our responsibility to build a new prosperous India that is inclusive as well as caring. It is our responsibility to build an India marked by harmony between communities, social justice and the equality of all, irrespective of religion, region, language or caste. It is by doing so we will be able to pay true homage to those who sacrificed their lives in the cause of our freedom. 

 

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