HT podcast: Chronicling the journey to Independence

India’s freedom struggle is a story of evolution and revolution

India’s freedom struggle is a story of evolution and revolution. It is a story of elite leadership and mass movements. It is a story of the most remarkable and successful non-violent struggle in global history, wearing down the most powerful Empire the world has seen through the power of truth. It is a story of repression and revolt. It is a story of failures and successes. It is a story of unity and fragmentation.

Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru during the All India Conference Committee Session, 1942, when the ‘Quit India’ resolution was adopted. (Getty images)

But, fundamentally, it is a story of an ancient civilisation and a new republic finding its voice.

To mark India@75, a Hindustan Times special podcast series takes you through 12 key moments of the freedom struggle, spread over 90 years, from the Mutiny of 1857 to the Naval Mutiny of 1946, through the formation of the Congress and the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi and his mass movements, which transformed India.

Some of India’s most distinguished historians and writers, in conversation with HT’s senior editor and series host Prashant Jha, look back at the era of early nationalism, the British strategies of divide and rule and repression, the Mahatma’s politics and philosophy, and help answer that fundamental question: How did India gain Azadi from the brutal and repressive colonial empire?

Link to podcast: https://www.htsmartcast.com/history-podcasts/1947-road-to-indian-independence/the-road-to-indian-independence-an-introduction/