Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes

Identify the personalities behind the famous quotes and the historical backgrounds around it:—

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1. ‘We have now an open conspiracy to free this country from foreign rule, and you, comrades, and all our countrymen and countrywomen are invited to join it.’

2. ‘Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You may imprint it in your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is-do or die.’

3. ‘On bended knees I asked for bread and receive a stone instead. India is one vast prison house. I repudiate this law and regard it as my sacred duty to break the mournful monotony of compulsory peace.’

4. ‘So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.’

5. ‘Dushman ki goliyon ka hum samna karenge, azad hee rahein hain, azad hee rahenge’ (‘We will face the enemy’s bullets; we have been free, and we will remain free’).

Answers:

1. Jawaharlal Nehru: On officially announcing ‘Poorna Swaraj’ as the ultimate goal of the Indian National Congress in the Lahore Session, 1929.

2. Mahatma Gandhi: In a bid to land the final assault on British rule in India, Gandhi, in his Quit India Movement  speech   in Mumbai, urged every individual to jump into the movement and uproot colonial rule or die trying. Thus, ‘karenge ya marenge’.

3. Mahatma Gandhi to Lord Irwin: On 2 March 1930, Gandhi sent a long letter to the then viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, emphasising and clarifying the demands for Independence and immediate abolition of all taxes on salt. It was after the rejection of the letter that Gandhi launched the historic 241-mile Salt Satyagraha march to the seashore of Dandi.

4. BR Ambedkar: Emphasising the importance of social equality and equity to achieve the real meaning of independence.

5. Chandra Shekhar Azad: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre had left a profound mark on him. He used the slogan to convey that he will continue fighting for the country.

Did you know: Lord Mountbatten declared 15 August as the date for India’s day of Independence to commemorate and coincide with the surrender of Japan to the Allied forces at the end of the Second World War in 1945.

—Excerpted from The Incredible Indian Revolutionaries Quiz by Chiranjit Gam with permission from Rupa publications.