Delhi: Exhibition on India's Freedom Struggle Celebrates Inclusive Nationalism and Women Freedom Fighters

The Wire

a day ago

S.N. Sahu
At a time when India's history is being distorted by the Modi regime, the exhibition celebrates the roles played by Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of other religious persuasions in freeing India from colonial rule.
' Hamaara Itihaas – Archives of Freedom Fighters', the exhibition organised and curated by Sagari Chhabra, is quite fascinating and captures the saga of freedom struggle and its manifold aspects. Organised at the Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, India International Centre, 40 Max Mueller Marg in Delhi, it is open for public viewing from August 9, 2025, and will run till August 23, 2025.
The defining aspects of the exhibition is centered around the role of women freedom fighters in different phases of our struggle for independence.
First provisional government of India
It is tragic that India's history is being distorted by the Modi regime, and the Moghul period is being depicted in NCERT books as brutal, in negation of the historical accounts showing the commonalities of people of that period, regardless of faiths they pursued. It is in this context that the exhibition assumes significance, for it celebrates the roles played by Hindus, Muslims, Christians and people of other religious persuasions in freeing India from colonial rule.
It is educative that the exhibition, while explaining the commencement of the first war of independence in India in 1857, and some of the struggles preceding that, explores details of the lesser known first provisional government of independent India, established in 1915 in Afghanistan by Maharaja Mahendra Pratap.
A respected figure of our history, he followed an inclusive approach and it was evident from the very composition of that government, of which he was the President, Maulana Barkatullah, the prime minister, and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, the home minister.
The objective of the provisional government was to liberate India from British rule. For the daring act of leading a government outside India, Mahendra Pratap faced sedition charges and his properties were confiscated. Ultimately, he left the country and worked outside India for its freedom.
In his weekly journal, titled Young India, Mahatma Gandhi wrote on July 14, 1929: 'Raja Mahendra Pratap is a great patriot. For the sake of the country, this noble man has chosen exile as his lot.'
Pratap was a member of the first Lok Sabha and defeated Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the elections.
In 1929, Mahendra Pratap sent a letter to Gandhi, outlining the idea of non-violence. He wrote, ' Ahimsa, as I understand it, is not to give pain to anybody in mind or body by one's thought, talk or action. However, to be a follower of this principle does not stop here. A follower of ahimsa has to change all those conditions under which himsa is practised or becomes possible. I call it worst kind of himsa, opposite of ahimsa, when a man tolerates or aids himsa of others. Many people in India today deliver some very fine sermons on the beauties of ahimsa; however, they do little to destroy the himsa of the British.'
Elsewhere, Mahendra Prata wrote, 'In the true spirit of ahimsa, I cannot force my will on others'.
That utterance is intensely relevant for India which, after 2014, is witnessing violent imposition of majoritarianism, with minorities being attacked and many lives being snuffed out in the name of what they eat, how they dress and who they worship.
As I visited Sagari Chchabra's curated exhibition and saw at the very beginning a picture of Mahendra Pratap, I was reminded of Gandhi and Pratap's nuanced reflections on non-violence.
In no exhibition on freedom struggle have I ever seen any depiction of the first provisional government before. It preceded the provisional government headed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as prime minister in late 1940s.
Global scope of freedom movement
It is quite fascinating to see the exhibition showcasing oral testimonies, photos, audio, video and film recordings of freedom struggle which covered in its scope not just India but also Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and many other European countries and Canada.
It is delightful to see photos and documents from London, Paris, Geneva, Stuttgart, San Francisco and other places, showing that India's freedom struggle was both revolutionary and non-violent.
The exhibition also showcased rare documents of the papers ' Bande Mataram' and ' Talvar ', started by Madam Bhikaiji Cama, a Parsi, who for the first time hoisted a version of the Indian flag outside India, at the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart.
The depiction of the Ghadar Party, based in Vancouver and San Francisco, in the exhibition is also very captivating.
Netaji and the Indian National Army
It is well known that Netaji Subhas Bose was described by Mahatma Gandhi as a prince among patriots and so, the exhibition, with its special section on Netaji's phenomenal role in freeing India from British rule, is very impactful.
In addition to casting light on the Netaji-led provisional government, the exhibition specially focuses attention on Rani Jhansi regiment of Indian National Army (INA), the first regiment of the world, entirely consisting of women and led by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal.
The spirit of INA was so infectious in inspiring women that a lady freedom fighter's words from that period, that 'sarees should go to hell' and 'what ladies needed were uniforms, caps, belts and boots to fight for liberation of India' summed up the temper of that time.
Trial of INA heroes
The trial of INA heroes Colonel Prem Sahgal, Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Major-General Shah Nawaz Khan became a trial of the British empire.
British intelligence officer Hugh Toy, in his book The Springing Tiger, paid tribute to Netaji and wrote that that trial and subsequent Naval Mutiny hastened the independence of India.
While explaining to the visitors about the exhibition, Sagari said that when the three heroes were put on trial, the slogan of that time – 'Lal Quila Se Aai Awaj, Sahagal, Dhilon and Shah Nawaj (A voice rose from the Red Fort, of Sehgal, Dhillon and Shah Nawaz)' – stirred new heights of inclusive nationalism for people
Gandhian era
Finally, the section on Mahatma Gandhi in the exhibition shows how women, and that too ordinary women from all parts of India, willingly participated in the freedom struggle because of Gandhi's non-violence movement for the freedom of India.
This section depicts specifically the Dandi March of 1930 launched by Gandhi to break the iniquitous salt law, preventing Indians from manufacturing salt, and achieve independence.
A multitude of women joined the Salt Satyagraha, the exhibition shows, breaking the salt law with the march that shook the British empire by the sheer strength unleashed by totally unarmed men and women.
Gandhi, who was arrested and put behind bars, was declared 'Man of the Year' by the Time magazine in 1930.
The exhibition also screens the documentary film, ' Asli Azaadi', directed by Sagari Chhabra, 1999, on women freedom fighters.
In these trying times, when history is distorted and people operating the state apparatus are deriding the values of freedom struggle, this exhibition serves not just as inspiration but also as education.
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