And India won its freedom from the British at the midnight of August 15. Jawaharlal Nehru took over the reigns of power from the British and was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of India. The long nightmare was over. 

When the whole world was asleep, India awoke to freedom, as Nehru put it in his inimitable style. Gandhi declined to attend the celebrations in the capital according to his biographers. Communal riots were still going on in many places. 

“But on the day of independence a miracle happened,” a biographical note on Gandhi describes the events of that day. “And then on the day of Indian independence a miracle happened. A year-old riot stopped as if by magic and the Hindus and the Muslims began to fraternize with one another. Gandhi spent a day in fast and prayer.

But Gandhi was not there. Not anywhere in Delhi. Where was he, the architect of India’s freedom, the one who has been officially described as the Father of the Nation?