Chhatrapati Shivaji: A courageous Maratha who fought for India first, and then his kingdom

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Chhatrapati Shivaji? A Marathi icon who was great with guerrilla warfare tactics. Is that it? Unfortunately, no historical figure has been so disfigured by his so-called followers as Shivaji. He has been regionalized by Marathi politicians and reduced to a “Great Maratha Ruler” rather than acknowledging his pan India contributions, which include how he braved both Mughal and British Empire.

Shivaji didn't strive for an independent Marathi Kingdom, but fought for Hindavi Swarajya, or self-rule. It would be thus important to highlight his genuine position that he deserves, in regards to his contributions in Indian history.

Though Islam came to India in about 8th Century, it was limited to the Sindh province. Our history books often glorify the Islamic Invasion by pointing towards how Muslims ruled India for over 1,000 years. However, the truth is that only the northern part of India came under Muslim domination.

Shivaji was one such 17th C.E Indian stalwart, who posed a great threat to both the Mughal and British Empire. Thus, it was always in their interests to play down the Marathas.  In one of his Historical Essays, Lord Macaulay described Marathas as a formidable race, who if wanted could dominate the entire region in India.

Chattrapati Shivaji contributed towards revolutionizing the art of warfare in India. His concept of war was much different from what followed in the preceding 1,000 years. It is sad that his Dharma Yudha (war for the righteous case) was reduced to an individual glory. If someone who has studied and scrutinized history well, they would realize that he was truly a Maratha who fought for India first, and then his kingdom, believes the renowned nationalist Sanjay Dalmia.

Shivaji was a great statesman, who always fought against the misrule of the Muslim sultans and emperors. That said, he was never partial towards a particular religion as he had sizeable number of Muslims to his side. Against the fanatic Aurangzeb, he found an ally in Bahamani Kingdom of Golconda. It's due to some of these reasons, that Shivaji is regarded as the founder of the modern secular state of India.

He ensured that all the Muslim shrines and scriptures are well protected. Additionally, Shivaji, didn't allow any form of extremism in his kingdom and expected the same in return from others as well in the neighborhood. It's for these reason, when Aurangzeb re-started the hated Jizya, Shivaji regretted it. He wrote to him: "In this land Muslims, Hindus, Christians and other people have stayed together without any problem. Your imposing of Jizya would lead to hardships. The Quran is God's revelation and it doesn't make any distinction between God's children.”

He relied on swift movement and discarded war elephants. Additionally, for strengthening maritime security, he even laid the foundations of the fort at Sindhudurg-Maratha navy headquarters.

Shivaji realized that English people were here to maximize the benefits no matter what the cost. He was amongst the few Indians who understood the long-term threat posed by the British. His last fight was also with British, which was meant to keep their ill-intentions in checks. Unfortunately, we didn't have more people like him at that time, otherwise, India would have gained more prominence at the world stage, way before 1947, says Sanjay Dalmia.

It's for the resistance, smart and secular thought process that Shivaji should be remember for. There is a lot that can be covered and instead of reducing his contributions to Maharashtra, we should highlight his contributions towards Hindavi Swarajya.

How legislative bombing by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt changed the course of Indian Independence movement?

It was like any other day in the unruly British Raj, they were busy, trying to implement stringent rules and policies to make the life of Indians, a living hell. However, it wasn’t going to be similar as something big, something that would shake the British Empire forever were to take place soon. It was their regular meeting, when all of a sudden people sitting in the Central Legislative Assembly witnessed a small-scale explosion. It was on April 8, 1929, two brave Indians, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt decided to take an action in form of Delhi Central Legislative Assembly Bombing against the passing of atrocious bills, the Public Safety Bill and the Trade Dispute Bill.

Bills that led to the Bombings:

People were tired and wanted freedom, for this they were abiding by and following the footsteps of Gandhian liberalism. However, the continues repression and passing of repressive bills, gave masses an idea of how irrelevant it was to remain liberal against the forces whose penultimate aim was to extract maximum wealth from India and treat its citizens as second class people. 

Thus, about 90 years ago, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt took an action. Our history books often acknowledge the contributions from Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, which is significant however, it was these small efforts as well, that led to the freedom. One significant effort was from Bhagat Singh, as he was certainly responsible towards giving freedom movement a new trajectory.

He was an avid follower of Mahatma Gandhi, for him like most other Indians Gandhi was the one, who could get rid of the evil British forces. However, soon these hopes were destroyed, when in 1920, Mahatma Gandhi launched Non-cooperation movement. Bhagat Singh, though, was just around 13 years old, decided to be a part of the movement and showed immense interest by burning all of his books that were authored by the British writers. Little did he knew that Gandhi would call off the Non-cooperation Movement after Chauri-Chaura incident?

Upset with the decision, Bhagat Singh lost all of his faith in non-violence. The young man then joined the Young Revolutionary Movement that believed in getting rid of the British Empire by means of force. “The movement of Indian freedom which was looking sluggish got a new life after the emergence of revolutionary leaders like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Sukhdev Thapar, etc.,” says Sanjay Dalmia, who is a renowned nationalist and a proud Indian.

The Judgement Day:

The bombing was carried out by the two rock-ribbed fighters of Indian freedom struggle, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt on the pre-planned date. What’s more impressive is the way Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt responded during the trail for the bombing. “If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud”.

The bombing was not aimed at causing harm as it was meant to protest against the two despotic bills— the Public Safety Bill and Trade Dispute Bill, which were supposed to be passed on the day of bombing. But the success of this valiant incident by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt brought the British Rule in India on back foot. It instigated thousands of other young Indian souls as they turned revolutionaries in no time to give the colonizers a taste of their own medicine.

The oppressive Britishers, who were somewhat enjoying a free hand due to the Gandhian philosophy of Ahimsa, got a sense of repelling revolution spreading across the country. Although the taste of the revolutionary fruit came on August 15^th, 1947, the journey of Indian independence got a huge upsurge 18 years ago on April 8^th, 1929 with Inquilab Zindabad, deems Sanjay Dalmia.

Although, Bhagat Singh and Dutt were 23 and 19 years old respectively at the time of the Assembly bombing, it had tremendous impact on the freedom struggle, giving it a new shape.