NEW DELHI, May 11: India paid homage with full pomp and honour on Friday to the martyrs who battled British rule 150 years ago in the sub-continent’s first war of independence.

Thousands of flag-waving marchers shouting “Jai Hind” converged on the Mughal-built Red Fort in Old Delhi after retracing the route of the soldiers defying the East India Company for ceremonies kicking off a year-long celebration of the uprising against the British rule.

The insurrection was termed “Indian Mutiny,” but Indian historians now say the term ‘mutiny’ belittles what actually happened.

“The fight for freedom united people from different religions and speaking different languages,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a speech from the ramparts of the imposing 17th-century sandstone fort.

Actors re-enacted events that led to the uprising, which helped pave the way for independence 90 years later of the ‘jewel’ in Britain’s imperial crown, and dancers performed in a swirl of colour.

Security was stepped up in New Delhi, particularly at the Red Fort, police said.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the ruling Congress party, dismissed attempts by some historians to project the uprising as only a mutiny of foot soldiers, known as sepoys, and called it ‘the first war of independence’. “Those who thought the sun would never set on their empire were brought to their knees and forced to leave the country and that, too, within a century after the whole of India stood united to take charge of their destiny,” she said.

“This proved that unity in diversity is our biggest asset and secularism formed the basis of this great unifying force,” she added.

The government has been using the anniversary as a springboard to promote unity in the country of 1.1 billion people, where religious tensions flare regularly and there are serious regional, linguistic and caste divides.

“In the fight for freedom, Hindus and Muslims stood together shoulder-to-shoulder” holding out an “an example for subsequent generations,” Dr Singh said.—AFP