Immediate CauseDiscontent and resentment against British rule had been growing among the Indians for a long time. By AD 1857, the stage was set for a massive revolt. Only a spark was needed to set the country ablaze. That spark was provided by as small a thing as a rifle cartridge. At this time, the Enfield rifle was introduced in the army. Its cartridges were covered with a greased paper cover. This greased cover had to be bitten off before the cartridge could be loaded into the rifle. The news spread that the grease was made of cow and pig fat. As the Hindus consider the cow sacred and the Muslims do not eat pit’s meat, both these communities were enraged at such a blatant attempt to harm their religion. This incident, popularly known as the Greased Cartridges Incident, became the immediate cause of the revolt. The first soldier to protest against using the greased cartridges was Mangal Pandey. He belonged to the 34th Infantry stationed at Barrackpore. He refused to use the cartridges and was subsequently hanged. On 24 April 1857, some soldiers stationed at Meerut also refused to use the cartridges. On 9 May 1857, they were severely punished for this. This incident sparked off a general mutiny among the sepoys of Meerut. On 10 May 1857, these rebel soldiers killed their British officers, released their imprisoned comrades and hoisted the flag of revolt. This was the official beginning of the ‘Great Revolt’. The soldiers then set off for Delhi. On 11 May 1857, they reached Delhi. Here, they were joined by the local infantry. The rebels seized Delhi and declared the Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor of India.
The younger sections in the congress laid by Subhash Chandra Bose were loosing faith in the non-violent programs and in the leadership of Gandhiji. 1. Subhash Chandra Bose was in sympathy with the farmer’s movement, whereas Gandhiji was opposed to the lawless activities of the farmers. 2. Bose’s idea of socialism was not much liked by Gandhiji. 3. Subhash Chandra Bose looked upon a war between Britain and Germany as God sent opportunity to exploit and situation. Pandit Nehru and Gandhiji were definitely opposed to the idea of taking advantage of Britain’s peril. 4. Subhash Chandra Bose favoured the policy of large scale industrialization. On the other hand Gandhiji favoured the idea of small scale industries to make the villages’ self-sufficient. 5. Gandhiji’s candidate Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya was defeated and Subhash Chandra Bose was reflected as congress president in 1939 at Tripura. This defeat was taken by Gandhiji as his own defeat. Thus both could not come to any agreement on...
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