US Independence Day 2023: How America's freedom struggle has been similar to India's

THE US was observing its 248th Independence Day on Tuesday (4) and its leaders and people were gearing up for celebrations.

The independence of the US, which is known to be the world's oldest democracy today, refers to the historical event in the late 18th century when the colonies of America ended their political ties with Great Britain and set themselves up as an independent nation.

The process that led to the USA's independence culminated in the inking of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

India, with which the US has grown closer in recent years, also became independent from colonial rule nearly 76 years ago, in August 1947. And there are certain similarities in the stories of independent US and India.

Struggle against British colonialism

Both the US and India fought against foreign colonialists for their independence. While the American Revolution (1775-83) led to the emergence of the US as an independent nation, free from the rule of the British, India too experienced a similar freedom struggle against the British and eventually saw an end to it on August 15, 1947.

Freedom struggles that promoted liberty, equality

Both the US and India embarked on a journey of a democracy after achieving freedom from foreign rule. The USA's Declaration of Independence of 1776, which proclaimed fundamental principles such as liberty, equality and the right to self-governance, had inspired India's freedom fighters and after achieving independence, the fathers of the Indian Constitution drew inspiration from the US Constitution on many counts.

Both the US and India had witnessed movements that advocated for civil rights and equality. While in the US, leaders such as Martin Luther King Junior preached non-violence as the way forward. In India. Mahatma Gandhi led a non-violent struggle for freedom.

Inspiration for other freedom struggles

For other parts of the world that also struggled against foreign rule, both the American Revolution and the Indian movement for independence gave hope. While the USA's achievement of freedom inspired India's fight, the South Asian nation's freedom in the late 1940s also bolstered the freedom movement in a number of Asian and African nations.

Both the countries also had their challenges of unification at the time of freedom or after it. While in the US, the civil war of 1861-65 had seen the survival of the country as a united one, in India, the first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was also known as the 'Iron Man of India', ensured that the country was not divided further by integrating a number of princely states.