The Jai Hind Postmark(marking made by post office on the letter) is the first philatelic expression of Independent India. It was probably made available at Head Post Offices throughout the country. It was used till the end of 1947 and was used in Cooch Behar even in 1959. There is no official documentation about the postmark.

Jai Hind was Netaji’s slogan. He made it the mandatory greeting in the Indian National Army. Some say the slogan was coined by Netaji’s personal secretary, Abid Hasan. Netaji wanted to use a non religious slogan in the INA and he tasked Abid for this.

Source: www.jaihindcollection.in, Deccan Chronicle

Picture: www.jaihindcollection.in

“Vande Mataram means I bow to thee, Mother.” It is from the 1882 novel Anandamath, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. It was written in Bengali as well as in Sanskrit. It played a crucial role in the freedom movement. It was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore in a political perspective at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.

On 20 November 1909, the complete poem translated by Sri Aurobindo in prose appeared in Karmayogin, a weekly newspaper. In 1950, the first two verses of the song were given the official status of the “National Song” of India. Officially Vande Matram enjoys the same status as the national anthem.

The song has been composed to many tunes, with the oldest audio recordings dating back to 1907. Over a hundred different versions of the song have been recorded.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) was a scholar, mathematician, philosopher, and ardent nationalist. He channelised the Indian people’s urge for freedom into a national movement. He converted private celebrations of Ganeshotsav & Shiva Jayanti in Maharashtra into massive public festivals. He robustly opposed the British and they branded him as an extremist. This compelled him to leave the Congress party.

After this he started his own Home Rule movement and uttered the famous phrase “Swarajya is my birth right and I shall have it.” He later reconciled with the Congress. Gandhi called him “the Maker of Modern India,” and Nehru called him, “the Father of the Indian Revolution.”

Source: Britannica.com

Picture: Image is of a stamp issued in 1988 to commemorate the slogan.

On February 27, 1931, after single-handedly fighting the police for a while with just a pistol and a few cartridges, Azad shot himself in the head. He fulfilled his vow of dying as a free man and not as a British captive.

One of the most active revolutionaries in the decade of the 20s, he played a role in many revolts including the Kakori train robbery in 1925. He was involved in the assassination of police chief Saunders as a revenge for Lala Lajpat Rai’s death due to police assault in 1928. He also attempted to bomb the Viceroy’s train in 1929.

Born Chandrasekhar Tiwari, he took on the pseudonym Azad to underline his longing for India’s freedom. Azad used to fondly recite a Hindustani couplet which was his only poetic composition: ‘Dushman ki goliyon ka hum saamna karenge. Azad hi rahein hain, azad hi rahenge’ (I will face the bullets of the enemy. I have lived free and will remain free)

Source: hindustantimes.com

Picture: Wikimedia image is of the stamp commemorating Azad issued in 1988

Lala Lajpat Rai is known as the lion of Punjab. “Freedom is not given; it is taken. Fight for your rights,” Lajpat Rai asserted that individuals must be assertive in their rights. He believed that freedom requires active engagement and struggle.

The Simon Commission came to offer constitutional reform in India in 1928. Inspired by Rai, most Indians responded that they only needed freedom and said ‘Simon go back.’ Rai was brutally assaulted while leading a protest against the commission. His defiance became a symbol of resistance against British tyranny.

Source: indianexpress.com

Picture: The image from Britanica is of the famous troika – Lal Bal Pal – Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak & Bipin Chandra Pal

Bismil Azimabadi, born in 1901, was an Urdu poet from Patna, Bihar. He was also a freedom fighter and social activist. He wrote many nationalist and patriotic poems. After the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, he wrote Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna.

The poem was first recited in 1920 at the Congress session of Kolkata. In 1921, it was published in the Urdu daily Sabah. It later became a war cry for several other freedom fighters. In 1927, Ram Prasad Bismil was convicted along with Ashfaqullah Khan in the daring Kakori train loot. Kakori was the station in UP where Bismil & his friends stopped the train to loot the money that was being transported.

Source: https://amritmahotsav.nic.in/

Picture: Wikimedia image is a stamp issued in 1997 commemorating the Kakori case.

‘Inquilab Zindabad’- Long Live the Revolution, came into popular usage following the bombing. They shouted this slogan as they threw crude bombs into the Assembly’s well. The bombs were not damaging, but they made a case for India’s freedom in an important institution of the British Raj. Both revolutionaries were hanged but their actions immortalized them.

The coining of the slogan is generally attributed to Maulana Hasrat Mohani. He was a pan-Islamist scholar who was part of the Khilafat movement and one of the founders of the Communist Party of India. He used the slogan for the first time at the Communist Conference held in Kanpur in 1920. Hasrat Mohani and Bhagat Singh were in contact during the latter’s sojourn in Kanpur in year 1924 and perhaps it was from there that Bhagat got the idea to use the slogan.

Source: Aparna Vaidik, Cambridge.org

Picture: Image is a newspaper headline of the bombing incident courtesy https://proud2bindiangroup.blogspot.com/

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose gave the slogan of ‘Dilli Chalo’ in July 1943 from Padang, Singapore. The Padang, meaning a field in Malay, was distinguished by its public nature, as one of the only few open spaces accessible to the public in the colonial period.

The Padang has special significance for the Indian community in Singapore. It was here that Indian sepoys first established their camp sites when the British established their outpost on the island. This was also the place where Netaji delivered several speeches to the tens of thousands of INA soldiers and the local Indian population. It was here that he gave the Dilli Chalo slogan, set up the Rani of Jhansi regiment, and called for the total mobilisation of Indian resources to free India from British rule. Just before the war ended Bose established the INA memorial at the southern edge of the Padang

Source: theprint.in

Picture: Wikimedia image shows calendar art celebrating the Dilli Chalo slogan.

Quit India movement started on Aug 8th 1942 at Gowalia tank maidan in Mumbai. Mahatma Gandhi said “The mantra is do or die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt. We shall not live to see the perpetuation of slavery.” His call galvanised widespread protests and civil disobedience.

Source: indianexpress.com

Picture: Wikimedia image is of Gandhi’s convoy arriving at Gowalia Tank for the Quit India movement

It means ‘Truth Alone Triumphs.’ The slogan is part of the Mundaka Upanishad. It was first used in a political context by Madan Mohan Malviya. He used it as a part of his presidential address in the Congress convention in 1918. It was adopted as the national motto when the Republic of India was promulgated in 1950. It is embossed below the Sarnath Lion figure as part of the national emblem.

Malviya was a preeminent leader in the early part of the 20th century. He is also an eminent educationist and the founder of Banaras Hindu University. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2014.

Picture: Image from Wikimedia