India joins Korea in celebrating its own independence from colonialism on Aug. 15. Colonial India’s last viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten of Britain, chose the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II in 1947 as the date to transfer power to the new Republic of India, ending 90 years of dominion.
Unlike Japan, which forsook its 36-year occupation of Korea following a military defeat, Britain relinquished its colonial grip voluntarily as escalating anti-British uprisings threatened the viability of its imposed rule.
Like Korea that was divided into the communist North and democratic South, India was partitioned into Muslim-dominated Pakistan and Hindu-dominated India in 1947, with nearly 1 million killed in the process.
India’s Independence Day is celebrated relatively simply with a guard of honor for the prime minister, who delivers a speech on the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi ― a symbolic site of the Moghul Empire and the place where the Indian national flag was raised immediately after independence was gained.
The speech is an address to the people and an agenda for the government for the year ahead.
"... It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings."....I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Sunday, August 9, 2015
INDIA TO CELEBRATE ALONG WITH S KOREA THE ANNIVERSARY DATE OF AUGUST 15TH 1947 TO CELEBRATE ITS INDEPENDENCE DAY THAT COINCIDES WITH THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY ENDING OF WW2 IN 1945 WITH THE POTSDAM ACCORD AND EVENTUAL OFFICIAL SIGNING OF SURRENDER OF JAPAN TO THE ALLIES SEPTEMBER 2ND 1945 ON THE USS MISSOURI
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