Freedom Written in Stone: India Gate and the Muslim Contribution to India’s Independence

On a clear day in New Delhi, millions of footsteps converge on a monument of sandstone and memory—India Gate. Towering over Rajpath, it is not merely an architectural landmark: it is a hall of names, a collective inscription of sacrifice. While the arch itself memorializes Indian soldiers who died in World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, the land around it and later additions to it carry the spirit of a nation forged in struggle.

When visitors stand before the India Gate, they see a towering inscription commemorating service to a larger cause. But beneath the stone lies a deeper story: a tapestry of individuals from many communities who gave their youth, limbs, and lives to resist colonial rule and shape the future. Among these countless names, a significant number were Muslim soldiers, activists, thinkers, and martyrs whose courage helped define modern India.

The Numbers Often Cited

In popular discourse, especially in social memory and educational contexts, two numbers are frequently mentioned. Approximately 93,000 freedom fighters’ names are associated with the independence movement of these, around 61,300 are said to be Muslim names. These numbers circulate widely, especially in commemorative speeches, educational material, and community histories. However, it is essential to note that India Gate itself primarily lists the names of soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in the World Wars, not exclusively freedom fighters who resisted colonialism. The figures (93,000 and 61,300) are not published in official gazettes or in the India Gate archives maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). They are, instead, estimates born of collective memory, reflecting the acknowledged scale of Muslim participation in the freedom struggle. In other words: the names and numbers are part of a living civilizational memory—a way communities remember their own contributions—rather than a literal catalog engraved on the monument’s main stone.

India Gate: Beyond the Inscription

India Gate was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931. Its original purpose was to commemorate the Indian soldiers who died in World War I (1914–1918) and in the 1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War. Under its arch, the names of more than 13,000 soldiers appear. For many years, these names were the primary official inscriptions. After independence, the monument’s symbolic meaning shifted. The Amar Jawan Jyoti, the eternal flame beneath the arch, added after 1971, transformed India Gate into a national shrine to sacrifice more broadly. In widespread usage, it has come to represent all those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom, and many names and narratives have been associated with it in collective memory.

Muslims and the Freedom Struggle: A Shared Legacy

Whether or not exact counts can be authenticated, the substantial involvement of Muslims in India’s struggle for freedom is indisputable. Across regions, classes, and movements, Muslim leaders and ordinary people stood beside others in resisting colonial rule.

Some notable Muslim freedom fighters and martyrs include Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Scholar, orator, and one of the foremost leaders of the Indian National Congress, the first Education Minister of independent India. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan) – Pashtun leader known as the “Frontier Gandhi,” who led a non-violent movement in the North-West Frontier Province. Begum Hazrat Mahal – A leading figure in the 1857 Uprising in Awadh. Ashfaqulla Khan – Revolutionary, remembered for sacrifice in the Kakori Conspiracy—Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari – President of the Indian National Congress and an advocate for unity. Tajuddin Ahmad (though later associated with Bangladesh) had roots in the struggle against imperialism in the broader subcontinent context: Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Sultan Ahmed, and Shaukat Ali—political leaders whose mobilization widened the movement.

Thousands of soldiers and volunteers from regions such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Hyderabad, and Punjab participated in the Quit India Movement, Civil Disobedience, the Khilafat Movement, and other movements. This list is only a brief sample; local histories across the subcontinent preserve countless names—many forgotten, many unrecorded in official archives, yet honored by communities whose memory survives. Whether the figures are 93,000 names or 61,300 Muslim names, they point to an important truth: India’s struggle for freedom was not a singular story but a shared one. Communities from all regions and religious identities took part in an extended, multi-layered resistance to colonial rule: peasants and scholars, revolutionaries and parliamentarians, soldiers and poets. Muslim participation was part of the larger fabric, resisting reductive narratives that imagine freedom as the exclusive achievement of any one group.

It is tempting to reduce history to numbers carved in stone. Yet the actual memorial lies in stories of sacrifice, courage, and solidarity. Whether etched on stone or preserved in memory, names serve their highest purpose when they remind us that freedom was won not by one community alone, but by many hearts united in a common hope. India Gate may not literally list 61,300 Muslim names. Still, in the hearts of millions, it stands as a testament to all who struggled for dignity—Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian, and every other community. Their legacy is not just a number— it is a commitment to justice, unity, and shared humanity.