Today’s History: From Nehru’s historic speech to Mountbatten’s banquet, know what happened in the first 24 hours of independent India

India is celebrating its 75th Independence Day today. After years of struggle and the martyrdom of millions of people, on 15 August 1947, Indians breathed their first time in independent India. The celebration of independence started from 14th August and continued till the night of 15th August. Lakhs of people were dancing happily on the streets with the tricolor in their hands.

In today’s history, read the condition of 24 hours of independence celebration…

14 august

11 p.m.: Independence Day celebrations officially started in New Delhi. During the British Raj, a special session of Parliament was held in a building being used as the Legislative Council. The whole building was beautifully decorated with flowers and lights.

11.30 am: Vande Mataram was sung as the national anthem. A 2-minute silence was observed to pay tribute to the martyrs of India’s freedom struggle.

11.55 am: Prominent leaders gave speeches in Parliament. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Chowdhury Khaliqazma and Jawaharlal Nehru were the 3 prominent people who delivered the speech. Nehru gave his famous speech ‘Tryst with Destiny’ in this special session of Parliament. He said that “at midnight when the whole world is sleeping, India is breathing a sigh of freedom.”

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India delivering a speech in Parliament.

12:00 pm: As soon as the clock struck 12 o’clock, the conch shell started blowing in the Parliament Hall. People hugged each other and started congratulating them. Thousands were immersed in celebrations outside Parliament despite heavy rain. Slogans of Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai started being raised all around.

Around 12.30 pm: The National Flag of India was presented at the end of the session. Jawaharlal Nehru handed over an envelope to Governor General Mountbatten, containing the names of the ministers to be included in the cabinet. When Mountbatten opened the envelope and saw it, it came out empty. In fact, Nehru had forgotten to put the list of ministers’ names in the envelope in a hurry.

August 15

at 8 amThe first thing on the morning of independence was the swearing-in ceremony. The ceremony was held at the Government House. Jawaharlal Nehru took oath as the Prime Minister. There were 13 more ministers in his cabinet. About 500 special guests were invited for this entire ceremony. These people were the kings of the princely states and ambassadors of the countries.

9.40 am: The swearing-in ceremony is over. The ministers of the first cabinet of India went out to attend the Constituent Assembly. During this the streets were littered with people immersed in celebration. Hundreds of police personnel were also unable to stop the enthusiastic people.

9.55 am: Governor General Mountbatten was given the royal salute.

10.30 am: The national flag was hoisted for the first time in the Constituent Assembly.

5 pm: Mountbatten was to hoist the tricolor at the Princess Park near India Gate. A crowd of about 5 lakh people gathered here. The batons and ropes used to stop the crowd were also helpless in front of the people. Army, Navy and Air Force parade took out on Rajpath.

Mountbatten set out on a wagon to go to the stage, but the crowd was so large that he could not even get down from the wagon. He shouted from the wagon and said that the flag should be waved. The tricolor was hoisted and Mountbatten saluted the tricolor while standing on his carriage.

Mountbatten saluting the tricolor from his wagon.

7.45 pm: There was a grand fireworks display, which lasted for about half an hour. During this, every major building in Delhi was bathed in green, white and saffron colored lights.

10 pm: An official banquet was hosted by Mountbatten at Government House. Two and a half thousand special guests were invited to this banquet.

Mahatma Gandhi did not participate in the celebration of independence. He was in Bengal where communal violence was taking place between Hindus and Muslims. On the day of independence, he kept a fast for 24 hours. He had not even heard Nehru’s speech, as he had gone to sleep early that night.

The day of 15th August is remembered in history because of what other important events…

2018: 48 people were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

1975: Ramesh Sippy directed film ‘Sholay’ released.

1971: Bahrain became independent from Britain and became an independent nation.

1960: The Republic of Congo declared independence from France.

1950: About 30 thousand people died in the earthquake in the region of Assam and Tibet.