Indian Freedom Fighters — Were they someone’s terrorists?
In the wake of the heinous event of October 7th and the aftermath that followed, we are continually horrified by the news emerging from Israel and Gaza. Imagine how terrible it is for the people who are the news, living in that hellish condition on either side of the conflict. We, Bengalis, have a long tradition of meeting over the weekends — adda — and spending time having tea and trying to solve world problems. These often lead to severe argumentation. I guess fellow Bengali esteemed Prof. Amartya Sen, Noble Laurate, also pointed to this tradition in his book The Argumentative Indian (ISBN: 978–0312426026). So the topic came up whether the Indian Revolutionaries fighting against the British Raj were haloed freedom fighters or despicable terrorists. I am no historian, so with limited knowledge and coming from a family of “Indian Freedom Fighters,” I will attempt to rationalize why within a scope, the Indian revolutionaries were not terrorists by today’s definition. In the annals of