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Freedom at Midnight: Why August 15 was chosen as India’s Independence Day

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India will celebrate its 75th Independence Day on August 15
August 15 is also the day Japan surrendered in World War II
The theme for this year’s Indian Independence Day is “Nation first, Always first”

When India became independent on August 15, 1947, the whole world was watching. A country of 340 million was being broken into two political and three geographical parts; and India, at the center of the churn was about to undertake a political experiment never done in the history of the world at such a scale — democracy. But how did August 15 come to be India’s Independence Day and why was this date special? Here’s why.

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The first informal declaration India’s independence from British rule was made in 1929. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the erstwhile Congress president who would later go on to become the first prime minister of India, gave the call for “Poorna Swaraj” — complete independence. It was at that declaration that January 26, 1930 was declared as India’s Independence Day. The Indian National Congress continued to observe the day through years even though the British remained in control of India till 1947.

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In the 1940s, Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, was given a mandate to ensure transfer of power from the British Parliament to Indian hands by June 30, 1948. However, the conditions in India were such that C Rajagopalachari, the Indian freedom fighter who would succeed Lord Mountbatten as Governor General of India, said that if one were to wait till 1948 for the transfer of power, there would be no power left to transfer.

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Therefore, it was decided that India would become independent on August 15, 1947. While making this declaration, Lord Mountbatten claimed that he was doing this to ensure that there was no bloodshed or rioting during independence. That goal, however, remained unrealised as India broke into fierce rioting and violence on the eve of independence.

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But that wasn’t the only reason why August 15 was chosen as India’s Independence Day. In Freedom At Midnight, one of the canonical texts on Indian independence written by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, Mountbatten is quoted to have said, “The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was master of the whole event.”

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“When they asked had we set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it out exactly then — I thought it had to be August or September and I then went out to the 15th August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender (in World War II).”

The Indian Independence Bill was introduced in the British Parliament on July 4, 1947 and passed within a fortnight. The bill provided for the establishment of two dominions, India and Pakistan, on August 15, 1947.

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Freedom at Midnight: Why August 15 was chosen as India’s Independence Day

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