The Kuka Movement 24.12.2014

The Kuka Movement marked the first major reaction of the people in the Punjab to the new political order initiated by the British after 1849. The Namdhari Movement, of which the Kuka Movement was the most important phase, aimed at overthrowing the British rule. The Namdharis were also known as “Kukas” because of their trademark style of reciting the “Gurbani” (Sayings/Teachings of the Guru). This style was in a high-pitched voice called “Kook” in Punjabi. Thus, the Namdharis were also called “Kukas”. 

Maulana Hasrat Mohani 25.2.2014

Maulana Hasrat Mohani (1 January 1875 – 13 May 1951) was an Indian activist in the Indian Independence Movement, and a noted poet of the Urdu language.

The real name of Maulana was Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan. Hasrat was his pen name which he used in the Urdu poetry and the word Mohani refers to the native place of Mohani where he was born. 'Inquilab Zindabad' was coined by the Maulana Hasarat Mohani in 1921.

Silk Letter Movement (Reshmi Rumal Andolan) 11.1.2013

The Silk Letter Movement (Reshmi Rumal Tehrik) was an effort from a group of revolutionaries, many of whom were connected with the Darul Uloom at Deoband. The said movement was a plan to mobilize the support of the governments of Afghanistan and Turkey to invade India and to simultaneously organize a revolt within India to overthrow the British rule. Obaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Madmood Hasan were two important leaders of this movement. In August 1916, some letters written on silk fell into British hands. Hence the term ‘Silk Letters Movement’. The letters were sent by Obaidullah Sindhi from Kabul and were to be delivered to Maulana Mahmood Hasan who was then in Mecca. The first official British document which dealt with this movement as also other major Indian revolutionary groups and revolutionary activities and ‘conspiracies’ in different parts of the country was Sedition Committee Report (1918). Chapter IV of this Report mentions ‘The “Silk Letter” conspirators’.

The Ghadar Movement Centenary 8.1.2013

The Ghadar Movement constitutes an important milestone in the history of India’s struggle for freedom. The word Ghadar means mutiny. The movement aimed at bringing about a revolution in India in order to secure liberation from the British rule. Organised in USA (Astoria, Oregon) in the year 1913, the headquarters of the Ghadar Party was established in San Francisco.

The birth of such a movement in America was a result of an exceptional coming together of a number of Indian revolutionaries in exile and a large number of migrant Punjabi Sikh farmersand workers. The contact with the outside world and exposure to new ideas opened their minds. They started understanding the meaning of freedom and reasons of the poverty and exploitation under colonial domination. They dreamt of complete independence of India and worked towards instilling patriotic feelings in young Indians and train them for a rising in India. A distinguishing feature of this movement was its inclusive character; it shed parochialism and transcended the boundaries of caste, religion and region. 

The name of the movement came from the weekly newspaper named Ghadar which was published first in Urdu then in English, Hindi, Gujrati, Gurumukhi and Pushtu and circulated free of charge among Indians settled in different parts of the world. The declaration made by the paper Ghadar in its first issue of November 1, 1913, was categorical and audacious: “Today there begins in foreign lands, but in the language of the country, a war against the English rule in India”.  

Motilal Nehru 25.9.2012

Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, an activist of the Indian National Movement and an important leader of the Indian National Congress, who also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was the founder patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Shyam Narayan Singh 24.1.2012

The freedom movement had inspired Shyam Narayan Singh at a young age, and he actively participated in various struggles that Bihar witnessed. He was targeted by the authorities, and starting with a nine-month prison term in 1937, he came into confrontation with the foreign rulers on many occasions. There was a shoot at sight order on him during the 1942 agitation.

Singh grasped the significance of electoral politics early, and was a member of the legislature for many years, starting from 1937. He was the last person in the agitation of 1947 in Patna to speak against the British rule at the Secretariat, which was followed by police firing. Seven young men died in the firing. One of Patna’s most recognized memorials, the Martyrs’ Memorial or “Shaheed Smarak“, has been built at this spot.

Surendra Nath Jauhar 2.9.2011

Surendra Nath Jauhar was a noted freedom fighter social worker, industrialist and philanthropist. Jauhar born in 1903 joined the freedom struggle at the age of 16 in response to a call to the youth of the country by Mahatma Gandhi He was a leading Congressman of Delhi, he was thrown behind bars for 15 months twice for reading the Purna Swaraj pledge in 1930, and for participating in the Quit India Movement from 1942 to 1944. He gave away his land to establish the Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi Branch in 1956, and also became the founder of Sri Aurobindo Education Society, under which he started The Mother’s International School in 1956 and Mirambika in 1982 

Vitthal Sakharam Page 21.7.2011

Vitthal Sakharam Page was born on 21^st July 1910 at Bagani in Satara District of Maharashtra. He took part in the freedom movement and underwent Imprisonment.

He was elected to the Bombay legislative Council successively in 1952 and 1954 and to the Maharashtra Legislative council In 1960,1966. and 1972 and was its Chairman from 1960 to 1978. During this period he was also Joint President of the Maharashtra Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. His vast knowledge and experience in the field of Parliamentary practice was effectively utilised by the Union Government.

Subhadra Joshi 23.3.2011

Subhadra Joshi (née Datta) (23 March 1919 – 30 October 2003) was a noted Indian freedom activist, politician and parliamentarian from Indian National Congress. She took part in the 1942 Quit India movement, and later remained the president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC). She belonged to a well known family in Sialkot (now in Pakistan). Her father V.N Datta was a police officer with the Jaipur State and a cousin, Krishnan Gopal Datta was an active Congressman in Punjab.

Chaudhary Ranbir Singh 1.2.2011

Ranbir Singh Hooda also known as Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda was an eminent freedom fighter and a member of Indian National Congress. He belonged to Haryana and was a minister in the undivided Punjab and then Haryana government. His 100th birth anniversary celebration was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee on 27 November 2014.

Gaurishanker Dalmia 12.11.2009

The Department of Posts released a commemorative postage stamp on Gaurishanker Dalmia in 2009.

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Gaurishanker Dalmia entered public life in 1926 and was imprisoned for participating in the Salt Satyagraha. He also published weekly magazines “Prakash” (in Hindi) and “The Spark” (in English) for two decades.

Pingali Venkayya - National Flag 12.8.2009

Pingali Venkayya (2 August 1876 - died 1963) was an Indian freedom fighter and the designer of the flag on which the Indian national flag was based.

Various so-called national flags had been used by members of the Indian independence movement prior to independence being achieved in 1947. Venkayya's version was first designed for the Indian National Congress and subsequently modified in 1947.

According to The Hindu, "Pingali Venkayya was an authority in geology, agriculture and also an educationist who set up an educational institution in Machilipatnam. He, however, died in poverty in 1963 and was largely forgotten by the society and by his own party, the Congress." A postage stamp was issued to commemorate him in 2009 and in 2011 it was proposed that he be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna. The outcome of that proposal is not known.

Shri Lala Ram Charan Agarwal 25.07.2009

Shri Lala Ram Charan Agarwal was a freedom fighter later known as “Little Big Man Of Congress” was born on 2nd December 1919 & died on 25th July 1977. He was a true Gandhian & wore khadi throughout his life.

Thillaiyadi Valliammai 31.12.2008

Thillaiyadi Valliammai (22 February 1898 - 22 February 1914) was a South African Tamil woman who worked with Mahatma Gandhi in her early years when he developed his nonviolent methods in South Africa fighting its apartheid regime.

Valliamma, and her mother Mangalam, joined the second batch of Transvaal women who went to Natal in October 1913 to explain the inequity of the three pound tax to the workers and persuade them to strike. (Valliamma’s father, R. Munuswamy Mudaliar, owner of a fruit and vegetable shop in Johannesburg and a satyagrahi in the Transvaal, was recovering from an operation). They visited different centres and addressed meetings. They were sentenced in December to three months with hard labour, and sent to the Maritzburg prison. Valliamma fell ill soon after her conviction, but refused an offer of early release by the prison authorities. She died shortly after release, on 22 February 1914.

Gandhi wrote in Satyagraha in South Africa:

“Valliamma R. Munuswami Mudaliar was a young girl of Johannesburg only sixteen years of age. She was confined to bed when I saw her. As she was a tall girl, her emaciated body was a terrible thing to behold.

‘Valliamma, you do not repent of your having gone to jail?’ I asked.

‘Repent? I am even now ready to go to jail again if I am arrested,’ said Valliamma.

“But what if it results in your death?’ I pursued.

‘I do not mind it. Who would not love to die for one’s motherland?’ was the reply.

Thazhuvia Ramasubbaiyer 21.12.2008

Thazhuvia Ramasubbaiyer (October 2, 1908 – July 21, 1984) (popularly referred to as TVR) was an Indian freedom fighter, philanthropist and founder of the popular Tamil daily newspaper Dinamalar.

On September 6, 1951, TVR founded the Tamil daily Dinamalar, in Trivandrum, the then capital of Travancore state where Nagercoil also was situated in. He basically founded the newspaper as a way to vent the feelings and rights of the people. The first issue was released by Prof. Vaiyapuripillai, a man who gave a new dimension to Tamil Literature.

In the initial days after the launch, the newspaper did not find favour with the government, but TVR persisted. The newspaper grew up to be one of the leading newspapers in Tamil Nadu, and has always pioneered new methods in the Tamil print media. Today, the newspaper is one of the largest in circulation in Tamil Nadu and very popular among the Tamil masses.

The 1806 Vellore Mutiny 10.7.2006

7.2006

Pandit Kunji lal Dubey 18.3.1996

Pandit Kunji lal Dubey was born in Amagoan (Bada) in district Narasinghpur on18th March, 1896. After obtaining his primary education at the village school of Kareli, he studied upto middle school at Narasinghpur. In 1914 he completed school at Akola and went on to graduate from Roberston College at Jabalpur in 1918. After obtaining a first class degree in law from Allahabad in 1920. 

Influenced by such stalwarts as Pt.Madan Mohan Malaviya and Narhari Chingamani Kelkar, Pt. Kunji Lal Dubey entered the arena of freedom struggle against the oppression of foreign rulers in India. In 1937 he became a member of All India Congress Committee. He staged a Satyagraha in 1941 for which he was sent to jail for a term of 6 months. After his release from jail he joined the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was once again arrested and later releaded after almost two years. In 1944 he dedicated himself to the upliftment of education and society.

75th Anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrdom 13.4.1994