An Analysis of the Reasons for the Different
Paths followed by African nations & India after Independence
India was the first nation in the world to achieve Independence from foreign rule through the path of non-violence. It was a unique precedent in the world, as so far in history, only through armed violence had nations freed themselves from the purge of foreign rule. One can only admire and respect the vision and leadership of great men like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dadabhai Naoroji, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, B R Ambedkar etc. It was our good fortune that we had visionaries like these and men of such high magnitude of charisma and ideas, as without them, our nation would have easily slipped into chaos after independence. I believe that the importance of these men lie not only in bringing about our freedom, but also in consolidating our nation’s independence even in the disturbing circumstances that prevailed then and putting our country firmly on the path of development and prosperity.
To further my point, I would like to point out the example of many of the African nations, which, after they gained independence have found the going tough. Africa is in fact endowed with more natural resources than our own country and more diversity in nature than our own. Yet, there are only few African countries that can claim to have a stable government, a comfortable living for at least some of its citizens, employment, minimum wages etc. Instead, nearly all of them have high rates of unemployment, unstable governments, and the people in these African countries are some of the most backward in this world. The problem as I see it, lies in the foundation of these nations. As the saying goes, well begun is half done. Most of these Nations acquired independence through armed revolution or because their foreign occupiers found it too much of a concern to maintain their stronghold in these colonies. These nations where in a state of chaos at the time of independence and there was a huge power vacuum when the occupiers left, which was filled by the armed gangs who took to looting and violent activities in the absence of a strong central governing body. The scenario of a power vacuum arose because there was no machinery ready to take over from the occupiers when they left nor was there a single banner under which the people were organised.
These nations, even after years of Independence have not been able to come to grips with various problems they are facing and are unable to tackle these problems as they are affected by various stumbling blocks like poverty, armed violence, looting and inflation. Although poverty and similar problems exists even India, efforts are on to tackle the situation, unlike the African nations, where it is the international aid organisations that ensure the survival of the people through the distribution food and medicine and it is the International Peace Keeping force that is keeping violence under control in many of these places.
This represents a strong contrast to India where there was a constituent assembly formed to frame a constitution and oversee the handover and there were highly respected leaders, whom the people trusted. There was mechanism in position to take over from the British when they left. Although there was immense bloodshed as a result of the Hindu-Muslim conflict, it did settle down at a gradual pace inspite of the fact that a large number of lives were lost, but considering the violence that took place as the aftermath of independence in various African nations, this was not as huge, because of the numbers and the exact reason of the violence. In India, the post Independence violence took place as a result of the seeds of discontent sown by the British when they left India which divided India and is still the cause of friction between two nations of nearly 1.4 billion people.
We need to thank those leaders who had a vision, a vision of a free and independent India, who foresaw the requirements of a young nation and acted accordingly, who laid the foundation for economic independence and agricultural self-sufficiency, who gave us a constitution that is the most comprehensive in the entire world since it guarantees us all the necessary rights, freedom to elect our government, to speak out, to protect ourselves against exploitation, and bestowed upon us our duties to protect our nation and its people, culture and freedom. These ideals come only with the struggle for our own freedom as we earned our freedom with the blood, sacrifice and pain of thousands of our ancestors who realised the immense value of the freedom that had been gained after years of oppression.
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