Harshita Sachan

The year 1857 witnessed armed revolts in parts of central and northern-India, of which the event of 10th May 1857, when the 11th and 20th Native Cavalry of the Bengal Army, assembled in Meerut, turned on their commanding officers, is a significant one. The rebels turned for leadership to Delhi to get the blessings of the Mughal Emperor and thus give to their actions legitimacy. The Revolt of 1857, irrespective of its true nature and character, was so intense that it appeared for a time that the Company’s Raj would disappear from India until the spring of 1858, when order was restored again by the advancing imperial forces.

It is difficult to define Socialism as what it is and what it is not is a contentious debate. However, some common features of Socialism can be summarised as follows. It is concerned with the relationship between the individual, state, and society. Socialists believe that a well-ordered society cannot exist without a state apparatus, not least because the state is seen as the most effective vehicle for coordinating and administering to the needs of all.

There were trends of liberalism and catholicity conflicting with rigid exclusiveness and conservatism in both Hinduism and Islam during the sixteenth, seventeenth centuries. There was a dissension between shariat and tariqat which had started in West Asia with the rise of Sufism was very much evident in India also. M. Wahid Mirza opines that the official ulama who held important and lucrative posts was hostile to any religious movement which in their opinion, was "calculated to mar the pristine purity of Islam and to open a way towards conciliation between kufr (infidels) and iman (faith)".