1948 - Clement Attlee, the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced on 20 February 1947 that the British Government would grant full self-government to British India by 3 June 1948 at the latest.
Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, thought that waiting until June 1948 might be too late. So he moved the date for India's independence to August 1947.
1630 - Birth of Shivaji. Founder of the Maratha kingdom in 17th-century, Shivaji was born in the hill-fort of Shivneri near Junnar (in the Pune district of Maharashtra) on February 19, 1630. However, according to one school of thought, he was born in 1627.
1915 - Death of Gopal Krishna Gokhale on 19 February in 1915. Born on 9 May in 1866, Gopal Krishna Gokhale was an Indian freedom fighter and political guru of Mahatma Gandhi. He was the president of the Benares session of Indian National Congress in 1905. In that year he had founded Servants of India Society.
Ridiculing the idea of Swaraj in 1903, Gopal Krishna Gokhale had said "Only mad men outside lunatic asylums could think or talk of independence"
In 1907, the Congress had been divided into two factions in the Surat session. While the moderate faction was headed by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the leader of the extremist group.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was also a mentor to Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Gokhale had described Jinnah as "an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity". Once Jinnah had expressed the desire to become "the Muslim Gokhale".
1486 - Birth of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu on 18th February in 1486. Considered to be one the greatest saints of Bhakti Movement, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born on 18th February in 1486 in Navadwip (Nadia) in a Brahmin family in West Bengal. Nimai and Gauranga were his other names.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave great impetus to Vaishnavism in Bengal. This greatest religious reformer laid the foundation of the Gaudiya sect of Vaishnavs. He was an exponent of a new style of Bhajan singing.
1905- Foundation of the Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS) in 1905. The Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS) was an Indian organisation founded on 18 February in London in 1905 that sought to promote the cause of self-rule in British India. It was founded by Indian revolutionary leader Shyamji Krishna Varma.
1792- Birth of Budhu Bhagat on 17 February, 1792 in Jharkhand.
Budhu Bhagat was the leader of Kol rebellion and Larka rebellion in 1831—32 in Chhotanagpur. Born on 17 February 1792 into an Oraon farmer family, Budhu Bhagat had employed tactic of guerrilla warfare against the British.
His resistance to the British forces ended when he was killed on 13 February 1832 by them .
Prayagraj is at its exuberant best when the Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious congregations in the world, is being held here
Legend has
it that Prayagraj was one of the four sites where a drop of Amrita (nectar)
from the Kumbh (pot), carried by Gods, fell. It is therefore one of the four
venues where the Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain are the other three.
.
The Kumbh
Mela is a riot of religious activities, worship, faith, rituals, colours and
celebration, attracts millions of pilgrims who dip themselves in the waters to purify
themselves of the sins.
1759- "Siege of Madras" comes to an end on 16th February in 1759. Madras, held by the British, was besieged between December 1758 and February 1759 by French forces under the command of Comte de Lally during the Seven Years' War.
The French forces captured Madras in 1746 during the War of the Austrian Succession, but it was returned to the British in 1748. After ten years, the French army, under the command of Comte de Lally, marched to besiege Madras. The series of battles fought between December 1758 and February 1759 is called the "Siege of Madras". The French army retreated on 16th February, 1759.
1956 - Death of Meghnad Saha on 16 February 1956. Meghnad Saha was an Indian astrophysicist. He was elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1951 as an independent candidate.
1869 - Death of Mirza Ghalib on 15 February 1869. He was a famous Urdu poet during the Mughal period. Ghalib was buried near the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya in Hazrat Nizamuddin locality in Delhi
Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, Mirza Ghalib was patronized by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (Zafar ascended the Mughal throne in 1837). He was born in Agra on 27 December 1797.
Ghalib was also well versed in Persian.
1948- Death of famous Hindi poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan on 15 February 1948. One of her most popular poems is Jhansi Ki Rani. She was born on 16 August 1904.