Independence Day 2022: Know history, significance, lesser-known facts

India will be celebrating its 76th Independence Day on August 15. Every year we celebrate this day with pride as on this auspicious day we got freedom from the colonial rule of the British.

The Indian Independence Bill was introduced in the British House of Commons on July 4, 1947, and passed within a fortnight. It provided for the end of British rule in India, on August 15, 1947, and India became a free nation with the bifurcation of India and Pakistan.

But do you really know why we celebrate our independence from the British Raj on August 15 and why our forefathers chose this day as the country's Independence Day? Initially, January 26 was picked as Independence Day which was later changed to August 15.

No power would be left to transfer

The British Parliament gave a mandate to the last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten to transfer the power by June 30, 1948. However, Lord Mountbatten chose to leave India a year before the due date. The obvious question arises is why he chose to do so?

In the words of C Rajagopalachar, the British were losing their grip over India and if they waited for another year then there would be no power left to transfer. This prompted Mountbatten to advance the date to August 15, 1947.

Date preponed to avoid any bloodshed

Mountbatten's claim however was that the date was preponed to avoid any bloodshed or riots in the country. However, he was proven wrong as India's Independence was followed by a partition which led to one of the worst exoduses in history with plenty of bloodshed and loss of life and property.

He later even tried to justify his actions by saying that wherever colonial rule has ended, there has been bloodshed. That is the price a country pays for getting freedom.

Symbolic significance for Britishers as Japan surrendered

Another claim is that Japan announced the surrender to the Allies in World War II on August 15, 1947. It is claimed that Lord Mountbatten was hearing the news of Japan's surrender along with the then Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill in the latter's room. Thus, this day was of symbolic significance for the Britishers.

"The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was the master of the whole event. When they asked had we set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn't worked it out exactly then, I thought it had to be about August or September and I then went out to the 15th of August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan's surrender," as Mountbatten was quoted in Freedom at Midnight. 

On August 15, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito, in his first radio message announced the surrender of Japan to the Allies.

How British rule started in India

In 1757 the British Rule began in India, preceded by the victory of the East India Company at the Battle of Plassey and acquired control over the country. For almost 100 years the East India Company ruled India and then the reins of the country went into the hands of the British crown.