In 1909, Mahatma Gandhi wrote an open letter to Lord Ampthill, the former Governor of Madras. Here he criticized the British Raj’s governance of India and how it had affected the nation. He insisted that the British were mismanaging the country and it had caused considerable harm to the Indian people. Instead, he advocated for self-governance and granting Indian independence. Even before WWII and Indian independence, the call for independence was strong among Indian nationals such as Gandhi.
Indian Letter for Freedom Against Lord Ampthill
As early as 1909, the independence movement in India was already strong. Before this, Mahatma Gandhi spent several years advocating in South Africa to fight for stronger rights among the Indians living in South Africa. It was here where he experimented and perfected Satyagraha or nonviolent resistance. This was due to the discriminatory practices in South Africa that hurt non-white residents there like Indians. It also gave Gandhi a deeper understanding of discrimination and motivated him to stand up for equality.
When he returned to India, he began noticing the existing system that took advantage of the Indian people, exploiting them politically and economically. The British Empire extracted wealth from India for centuries, leaving its people poor while the UK became rich. Meanwhile, racist policies denied Indians the right to hold government offices in their own country.
The Viceroy of India was Lord Ampthill from 1904-1905 and was considered more moderate than previous officials. He was willing to pass reforms and had less stringent policies that gave Indians more rights. Lord Ampthill even supported the Indian’s calls for equality in South Africa.
By 1909, Lord Ampthill was no longer active in Indian politics but remained popular, leading to Gandhi reaching out to him. At the same time, he was traveling to England and finishing his most important work, “Hind Swaraj” (Indian Home Rule). Here he laid out his plan for a possible future with a free India.
In the spirit of this book, Gandhi wrote to Lord Ampthill where he shared his ideas and gave his criticism on colonialism. Here he implored him to understand Swaraj (self-rule) for India and asked for his support.
“My Lord,
I have for some time past been wishing to place before Your Lordship the result of my observations made here during my brief stay on the nationalist movement among my countrymen.
If you will permit me to say so, I would like to say that I have been much struck by Your Lordship’s candour, sincerity and honesty of which one notices nowadays such an absence among our great public men. I have noticed too that your imperialism does not blind you to matters of obvious justice and that your love of India is genuine and great. All this coupled with my desire to withhold nothing from Your Lordship regarding my own activity about Indian matters as they may have a direct or an indirect bearing on the struggle in the Transvaal, emboldens if it does not require me to inform you of what I have seen.
-Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Civil Rights Activist
Despite these efforts, India would remain a British colony for almost four decades when they would finally be freed in 1947 which began with the famous Tryst of Destiny speech.
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