Authors: Valencia Nicholas Dsouza, Sushil Verma
Abstract: The role of Indian youth and Indian students in the Indian independence movement was decisive and transformative in that they were not just followers of elite leadership, but independent political actors, which formed nationalist ideology, mobilisation tactics and revolution. Both Swadeshi movement and revolutionary terrorism in Bengal and mass participation during the Quit India Movement had the youthful Indians leading the way in fighting against the colonial powers. The article studies three aspects of the historical development, ideological inclinations, institutional shapes, and socio-political influence of youth in the Indian resistance to colonization in the early years of the twentieth century and regarding 1947. The research approach is a historical study, qualitative in nature, taking the form of analysis of existing academic monographs, journal articles, and government archives about the history of being young to reveal the importance of the role of youth in nationalistic politics. The results show that youth activism not only gave the movement ideological dynamism, continuity of the movement organization, and mass legitimacy but also created tension of discipline, violence, and post-independence political integration. The paper will conclude that the issue of Indian independence can not be complete without highlighting that of youth, who happen to be a critical force to bridge the facets of elite nationalism and popular mobilization.
