The Independent (India)

Last updated

The Independent was an Allahabad based newspaper begun by Motilal Nehru in 1919. The paper closed down under British repression two years later.

The Independent was started on 5 February 1919 with the primary aim of countering the moderate political line adopted by the then leading Allahabad daily The Leader. [1] Motilal Nehru was assisted in the paper's establishment by B G Horniman and Syed Hussain who became the Independent's editor. [2] The paper's purpose according to Motilal was 'to wage war against autocracy' and to 'think aloud for India', but from the very beginning the paper suffered from weak finances. The newspaper was noted for its radical line and trenchant criticism of the British policies. [3]

Syed Hussain resigned his editorship a few months later, after a discord with the Nehrus over his love affair with Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and left the country and George Joseph was appointed as his successor. [4] With Joseph were three others on the editorial staff- Venkatraman, a lawyer, Sadanand who later became the manager of the Free Press group of newspapers and Mahadev Desai, Gandhi's associate and personal secretary. The strident critique of its policies was resented by the colonial government. In 1921 the Chief Secretary of the United Provinces wrote to George and the Independent's publisher C B Ranga Iyer accusing them of inciting violence through their publication and further asking them to refrain from publishing any such material in the future. The editor and the paper however chose to ignore the government's warning. [5]

On 6 December 1921, George Joseph was arrested and in a trial held the next day sentenced to three years in prison. The government also confiscated the paper's security deposit. On 22 December 1921, Mahadev Desai started publishing the paper again under the caption 'I change, but I cannot die'. These were cyclostyled copies of a handwritten paper and each copy of it was auctioned, fetching a total sum of 350. Soon, Desai too was arrested and sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment for bringing out an unregistered newspaper. Following his arrest, Devdas Gandhi took over the newspaper. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jawaharlal Nehru</span> Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964

Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, statesman and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he became the first Prime Minister of India, serving for 16 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, his books written in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), Glimpses of World History (1934), An Autobiography (1936), and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read around the world. The honorific Pandit has been commonly applied before his name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vallabhbhai Patel</span> Indian lawyer and politician (1875–1950)

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, commonly known as Sardar Patel, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a barrister and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a leading role in the country's struggle for independence, guiding its integration into a united, independent nation. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar, meaning "chief" in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Persian. He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahadev Desai</span> Personal secretary of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahadev Haribhai Desai was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to Gandhi's Socrates, as well as an Ānanda to Gandhi's Buddha".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feroze Gandhi</span> Indian independence activist, politician and journalist

Feroze Gandhi was an Indian freedom fighter, politician and journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-cooperation movement</span> Indian political campaign (1909-22)

The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 1 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maulana Azad</span> Indian politician

Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin Ahmed bin Khairuddin Al-Hussaini Azad was an Indian independence activist, Islamic theologian, writer and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. Following India's independence, he became the First Minister of Education in the Indian government. He is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad; the word Maulana is an honorific meaning 'Our Master' and he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name. His contribution to establishing the education foundation in India is recognised by celebrating his birthday as National Education Day across India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motilal Nehru</span> Indian lawyer and politician (1861–1931)

Motilal Nehru was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family and the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit</span> Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was an Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician. She served as the 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman appointed to either post. She was also the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964. Noted for her participation in the Indian independence movement, she was jailed several times during the movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamala Nehru</span> Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru

Kamala Nehru was an Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Her daughter Indira Gandhi was the first female Prime Minister of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. N. Haksar</span> Indian diplomat (1913–1998)

Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar was an Indian bureaucrat and diplomat, best known for his two-year stint as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's principal secretary (1971–73). In that role, Haksar was the chief strategist and policy adviser behind his inexperienced prime minister's rise to near-absolute power in the mid-1970s. After this he was appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and then the first-ever chancellor of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Mahavir Tyagi was a prominent Indian independence fighter and parliamentarian from Dehra Dun, Uttar Pradesh India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Malihabadi</span> Pakistani poet (1898–1982)

Josh Malihabadi popularly known as Shayar-e-Inqalab was a Pakistani poet and is regarded as one of the finest Urdu poets of the era of British India. Known for his liberal values and challenging the established order, he wrote over 100,000 couplets and more than 1,000 rubaiyat in his lifetime. His wrote Yaadon ki Barat, his autobiography which is noted for its frank and candid style. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru held him in high esteem and frequently attended the mushaira at Lala Kishan Lal Kalra's United Coffee House where Josh performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swaraj Bhavan</span> Mansion in Prayagraj, India

Swaraj Bhavan is a large mansion located in Prayagraj India, best known for once being owned by the Indian political leader Motilal Nehru and being home to the Nehru family until 1930.

George Joseph was a lawyer and Indian independence activist. One of the earliest and among the most prominent Syrian Christians from Kerala to join the freedom struggle, Joseph's working life in Madurai and is remembered for his role in the Home Rule agitation and the Vaikom Satyagraha and for his editorship of Motilal Nehru's The Independent and Mahatma Gandhi's Young India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nehru–Gandhi family</span> Indian political dynasty

The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India. The involvement of the family has traditionally revolved around the Indian National Congress, as various members have traditionally led the party. Three members of the family–Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi–have served as the prime minister of India, while several others have been members of parliament (MP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaikom Satyagraha</span> Indian social movement

Vaikom Satyagraha, from 30 March 1924 to 23 November 1925, was a nonviolent agitation for access to the prohibited public environs of the Vaikom Temple in the Kingdom of Travancore. Kingdom of Travancore was known for its rigid and oppressive caste system and hence Swami Vivekananda called Travancore a "lunatic asylum". The campaign, led by Congress leaders T. K. Madhavan, K. Kelappan and K. P. Kesava Menon, was noted for the active support and participation offered by different communities and a variety of activists.

Syed Mahmud (1889–1971) was an Indian politician and senior leader in the Indian National Congress during the Indian independence movement and in post-independence India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Majeed Khwaja</span> Indian lawyer and activist (1885–1962)

Abdul Majeed Khwaja was an Indian lawyer, educationist, social reformer and freedom fighter from Aligarh. In 1920, he along with others founded Jamia Millia Islamia and later served its vice chancellor and chancellor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swarup Rani Nehru</span> Jawaharlal Nehrus mother and Indian independence activist

Swarup Rani Nehru was an Indian independence activist. She was the wife of the barrister and Indian National Congress leader Motilal Nehru and mother of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ranjit Sitaram Pandit</span> Indian barrister, politician and scholar

Ranjit Sitaram Pandit was an Indian barrister, politician, author and scholar from Rajkot in the Kathiawar region of British India. He is known for his role in the Indian non-cooperation movement, and for translating the Sanskrit texts Mudrarakshasa, Ṛtusaṃhāra and Kalhana's Rajatarangini into English.

References

  1. Moraes, Frank (1959). Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography. Mumbai: Jaico. p. 517. ISBN   9788179926956.
  2. Iyengar, A S (2001). Role of Press and Indian Freedom Struggle: All Through the Gandhian Era. New Delhi: APH Publishing. p. 29.
  3. Ghose, Shankar (1993). Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. p. 29. ISBN   9788170233435.
  4. Joseph, George Gheevarghese (2003). George Joseph: The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 103. ISBN   9788125024958.
  5. Joseph, George Gheevarghese (2003). George Joseph: The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist. New Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 107. ISBN   9788125024958.
  6. "Mahadev Desai – The Independent" . Retrieved 30 November 2012.