१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

THE ERUPTION
left Ludhiana. Now, they could do nothing but march
towards Delhi. And so they proceeded towards Delhi,
crying that they would now decide, at the walls of Delhi
itself, the question of slavery or Swaraj. The English
were so much demoralised then that, though the Sepoys
used to march in procession by day, yet no one dared to
suggest pursuit !
But the enforced idleness of the Revolutionary party
at other places for three weeks after the Meerut rising,
was completely taken advantage of by the English in the
Panjab. Because there were large forces of European
troops in the Panjab, it became easy either to disarm
the Sepoys, or compel them to revolt under odds of time
and place, and then destroy them. Seeing that the Sikh
princes and people were joining them instead of the Re-
volutionaries, the English expelled all the Hindusthanees
in the Panjab from the frontier up to the Sutlij and crush-
ed the seeds of the Revolution in that part of the country.
At this time, not only the Sepoys, but thousands of peace-
ful and well-to-do non-Punjabee Hindusthanees in towns
and villages, were deported at the mere will of the autho-
rities. And when the Punjab was, thus, completely in
hand, the movement of European troops towards Delhi
began on a large scale. There were two chief reasons why
the Panjab remained in English hands. One was that the
Sikhs sided with the English. If they had even been
indifferent, the English could not have retained the Panjab
for a single day. The Revolutionaries, naturally, spared
no pains to bring over the Sikhs to their side. As soon
as Delhi was free, a devoted servant of the Emperor sent
him a long, detailed, and very interesting account of the
state of feeling in the Panjab. In it, the faithful
servant Taju Din says, "The Sikh Sirdars in the Panjab
are all idle and cowardly, and unlikely to join the Revo-
lutionaries. They have become the playthings of the
Feringhis. I saw them personally in private, had conver-
sations with them, and spoke to them most earnestly. I
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