Random Memoir of 1971 Indo-Pak war & S.V.R.Surat

Ruin of Lucknow Residency

In my previous 'blog' I had mentioned ,there were umpteen wars fought on Indian peninsula of which celestial were sure & definite witness of the whole saga of valor & miseries, & were the witness of massacres & defeat carefully kept in the womb of history of mankind , some recorded,some went unrecorded . Our 1st war of independence of 1857 is replete of such stories ,where human sacrifice & related miseries are 2nd to none compared to any race of the world .

                                     But I have a great complain to Wikipedia vis-a -vis Google ,why Indian freedom fighters are addressed as 'Rebels' to Britishers where it seems the Britishers were natural masters of Indian landmass & native Indians were simply usurper of established authority of English people. Indian freedom fighters are supposed to be dignified  as 'Nationalist' if noting more ! The emotional quotient for white people killed, their massacres & memorials constructed & eulogizing their sob stories with graphic description is far far ahead compared to native kings, tallukdars & umpteen Indian freedom fighters, Hindu as well as Muslims . It seems if one goes with cursory description , Indian killed in the war of 1857 were simply pariah ,rabid dogs & whatnot . The whole narrative of the saga of 1857 is lopsided & in favor of Britishers !

                                     In the year 1757 the battle of Plassey was fought & in 1857 1st war of independence was fought . The quantum  of period of 100 years was no less but just think of 1915 when Mahatma Gandhi came to India from South Africa & present 2015-17 ,at least three generation has experienced the changing history of India . Same way from 1757 to 1857, three or four generations had experienced changing scenario of passing history of India . The Britishers were amuck in expanding their hegemony over whole India & daily they thought of new ploy , new treaty ,new rules, perfidious & full of chicanery, for the annexation of new native  kingdoms to their kitty ,be it Maratha power comprising Peshwa,Schindia, Bhonsle, Gaikwar & Holkar Sikh power of Ranjeet Singh & his son or Tipu Sultan of Southern India of battle of Srirangpattam fame . All the Indian Kingdoms were subjugated by virtue of subsidiary alliance mingled with many tricks & general populace of India thought of white people as Mai-Bap in true sense ! What a subjugation of Indian people! 

                                 Peasants & farmers were not allowed to sow their choice  crops namely paddy & wheat to feed their family but Indigo & Poppy which was cash crop generating lot of revenue for English merchants & traders who minted money by selling Indigo & Opium .Slave trade was stopped round the world but English people wanted labors for planters throughout the world ,so 'Indenture' system of labor migration had started in the garb of semi-slavery. From 1833 to 1920 more then eleven lacs Indians were emigrated to different part of the world chiefly  Mauritius, British Guyana, Trinidad, Fiji & many other far off places in the world . The year 1833 was prior to 1857 & good nursery of  indenture labor was Eastern U.P. which is Awadh & western Bihar.

                           Among the Governor-Generals ruling India ,Lord Dalhousie was most notorious & he was instrumental in getting through the 'Bill' Doctrine of Lapse for native Indian Kingdoms in the 'Board of Directors' of East India Company . If a ruling king was not able to beget heir apparent, he will have no power to adopt any body as natural heir of the crown. It was against the natural Indian tenets & victim were Holkers of Nagpur , Nana Sahab of Bithoor, adopted son of Bajirao Peshwa , & the kingdom of Jhansi . Nana Sahab, Queen of Jhansi, Begam Hazrat Mahal, Tantiatope ,Maulvi Amanullah, Babu Kuwanr Singh of Shahabad Bihar & many others   were great & luminous leaders of 1st war of Independence of 1857. But real bedrock of the uprising of 1857 were the soldiers of Awadh who comprised the backbone of British Army.  Awadh which was pronounced as Oudh was chief nursery of British Bengal Army from where most desciplined brave soldiers of high cast Brahmins & Chhatriya were ensigns   in British army . Every village of Awadh could boast of a 'Fauzi' in Bengal army

                             The timeline of the great uprising of 1857 started from 28 Feb, when Sepoys of 19th native infantry at Behrampur Bengal refused rifle practice to 8th Jul 1959 , peace declared by British Government  was a period of two years & few months were the period of turmoil , chase , pitched battles ,atrocities , massacres & whatnot mainly in the hinterland of Awadh , Bundelkhanda & Bihar which were fought by whole populace  ,rich & poor . Hindu & Muslims irrespective of cast, creed & religion. It was not the uprising of goons & fringe elements of the society & Lucknow was the real hotbed of uprising where ferocious battle with the siege of British Residency ensued for 87 days . This very battle decimated many families who sunk without trace & never the fortune & property of gentrified population of various districts of U.P. changed so rapidly . This had   perhaps no parallel in the world history  where Zamindars , tallukedars & their retainers for generations were sent to Kala-Pani in Andaman Nicobar island which was Indian archipelago, really solicits real hard  research !


Continued ..........