Why the Red Fort became the venue for the PM’s Independence Day speech

Why the Red Fort became the venue for the PM’s Independence Day speech

Subject :History

Section: Art and culture

Why was Red Fort Chosen:

• Red Fort has historical significance in Indian history since Mughal time. When the country got its independence India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru chose the monument to hoist the national flag and address the nation back in 1947.
• Delhi became a major capital under the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1506) under the rule of Qutubuddin Aibak, first ruler of the Slave or Mamluk dynasty, who ruled a large part of north India.
• Babur (1483-1530), the first ruler of the Mughal dynasty, referred to Delhi as the ‘capital of all Hindustan’ after he began ruling Delhi in 1526. Though Akbar, the third Mughal ruler, shifted his capital to Agra for some time, Delhi remained as the centre of rule in India.
• However, under Shah Jahan (1592-1666), Delhi became the capital of Mughal empire once again and came to be known as Shahjahanabad in 1648 (which is situated in present-day Old Delhi).
• The Red Fort became the citadel of Shahjahanabad till 1857 and even when the Mughal rule shrank, Delhi was seen as their source of legitimate sovereign authority,
• During the 1857 sepoy mutiny, also referred to as the First War of Independence, the rebels headed to Delhi and declared the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862) as their king at the iconic Red Fort.
• During the last stages of the Freedom Movement, Subhash Chandra Bose-led Indian National Army (INA) senior officers were publicly tried at the Red Fort. The trials firmly established the Red Fort as a symbol of power and resistance in the minds of the Indian public
• Therefore, the monuments become the symbol of indigenous authority, around which the authority of the entire country revolved.

How is Delhi’s symbolic authority co-opted:

• After 1857, the British deliberately downgraded Delhi to a minor provincial town. Despite the demotion, Delhi continued to hold significant symbolic authority in India.
• The British recognized Delhi’s symbolic importance and exploited it for their own purposes. The British organized Delhi Durbars (1877, 1903, 1911) on notable occasions. These events proclaimed the British monarch as the Emperor of India..Princely State rulers were invited to Delhi to pay homage to the British Crown.
• The British finally decided to shift their capital to Delhi from Calcutta in 1911, building a grand new city which would be completed in 1930.