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The first flames of freedom were lighted in the 1857 revolt in India. After that in 1900s, the movements became stronger and spread over the country. There was diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes for the movement in the country. It lasted until 1947 and during this interval England could have tried to suppress and end these protests. There were definitely many military actions against it.

Game of Thrones is not just a military play, its actually a game of political and ideas against the conquering people. Apart from the military actions, since the British had many intelligent officers, could there have been different strategies/ideas exerted against the Indian independence movement? What are they and how successful were those strategies in delaying the independence of India?

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The takeover of India, creating the British Raj, was the first step to controlling India. After the 1857 uprising, the British rewarded those who had not joined in the rebellion.

It was also felt that both the princes and the large land-holders, by not joining the rebellion, had proved to be, in Lord Canning's words, "breakwaters in a storm". They too were rewarded in the new British Raj by being officially recognised in the treaties each state now signed with the Crown. At the same time, it was felt that the peasants, for whose benefit the large land-reforms of the United Provinces had been undertaken, had shown disloyalty, by, in many cases, fighting for their former landlords against the British. Consequently, no more land reforms were implemented for the next 90 years: Bengal and Bihar were to remain the realms of large land holdings (unlike the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh).

Lastly, the British felt disenchanted with Indian reaction to social change. Until the rebellion, they had enthusiastically pushed through social reform, like the ban on suttee by Lord William Bentinck. It was now felt that traditions and customs in India were too strong and too rigid to be changed easily; consequently, no more British social interventions were made, especially in matters dealing with religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_Raj&redirect=no

In WWI,

The British themselves adopted a "carrot and stick" approach in recognition of India's support during the war and in response to renewed nationalist demands.

and created the Government of India Act 1919 to try to appease the Indians with a diarchy.

In WWII, the Cripps Mission was launched and failed as well.

The Cripps mission was an attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II. The mission was headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, a senior left-wing politician and government minister in the War Cabinet of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Cripps was sent to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist leaders, speaking for the Hindus , and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, speaking for the Muslims. Cripps worked to keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of full self-government after the war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_independence_movement

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  • Each of these could be stated to have succeeded in that the Indians didn't gain independence until years after their completion, but each is also an abject failure.
    – Plumbing for Ankit
    May 13, 2015 at 16:22
  • they were of course delaying tactics, and no doubt the British realised that (certainly those on the scene would have). The only thing that might have stopped an independence movement was full citizenship for Indians, complete integration as part of the United Kingdom, and educating the Indian population at all levels and ages to adopt British culture, effectively eliminating all traces of Indian national identity. This is effectively what the USSR tried to do in its republics and to a degree succeeded in (would likely have succeeded fully if they'd had more time).
    – jwenting
    May 15, 2015 at 5:49

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