on the Indian society. The seeds of
nationalism were sown by the reforms of
newly educated society. Due to various
movements in different parts of India a
favourable situation was created to build
a political organisation on an all India
level which will bring together the various
provincial political organisations, different
groups of politically aware people and to
express the aspiration of the nation by
diverting the public attention towards the
questions of the nation.
Centralisation of administration
during British rule : Due to the British
administration, its implementation on India
brought the nation under one roof in its
true sense. Due to identical reforms all
over the country and equality before law,
the feeling of nationalism developed among
the people. For the convenience of
administration and swift movement of the
army the British built network of roads
and railways. But these facilities benifited
the Indians as well. People from different
parts of India came in contact of each
other, there was increase in communication
and the feeling of nationalism grew up.
Economic exploitation : The Indian
wealth was flowing towards England by all
means. Due to the imperialist policy of
England there was beginning of economic
exploitation of India. Farmers were
compelled to take cash crops, burden of
land taxes, continuous famines all this
broke down the backbone of Indian
agriculture. Traditional industries declined
which led to rise in unemployment. The
Capitalists exploited the worker class.
Various new taxes were imposed on the
middle class. This led to growth of discontent
among the people.
Western Education : Due to spread
of western education, new ideas such as
Justice, Liberty, Equality, Democracy etc.
were introduced to the Indians. Rationalism,
Scientific attitude, humanity, nationalism
these principles were accepted by the
Indians. Therefore there inculcated a
feeling that we are capable of carrying out
the work of the country and its progress
is possible by following these principles.
India is a country of diverse languages but
with the introduction of English language
India got a new medium of communication.
Study of Ancient Indian History :
The ‘Asiatic Society’
was established at
Kolkata by the British.
Many Indian and
western scholars started
study of Indian culture.
The manuscripts in
Sanskrit, Persian and
other languages were
examined and research
was published.
Indian scholars like Dr.Bhau Daji Lad,
Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar made intensive study
of ancient Indian culture. After
understanding that we
are blessed with
glorious ancient
tradition, the Indians
were awakened with
a sense of Identity.
The ‘Bhandarkar
Oriental Research
Institute’ is working
since last 100 years in
Pune.
Contribution of Newspapers : During
this period, English and Vernacular
newspapers and periodicals came to be
published. Through these newspapers,
political and social awakening took place. Newspapers like Darpan,
Prabhakar, Hindu, Amrit
Bazar Patrika, Kesari,
Mahratta started criticising
the Government.
Establishment of
Indian National
Congress : On 28
December 1885, the first
session of Indian National Congress was
held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit School in
Mumbai. 72 delegates from different
provinces of India participated in this
session. Wyomesh Chandra Banerjee, a
renowned lawyer from Kolkata, was the
President of this session. In this session
they established the Indian National
Congress. Allan Octavian Hume, a British
officer, took lead in the establishment of the
Indian National Congress. Increased
proportion of Indians in the administration,
reduction of military expenses by the British
government such statements were sent to
the British.
Objectives of the Indian National
Congress : To make the people from
different parts of India forget the differences
in religion, race, caste, language,
geographical territories and bring them on
a common platform, to understand each
others problems and views, to increase the
feeling of oneness among the people, to
take efforts for the development of the
country were the objectives of the Indian
National Congress.
Moderate Phase (1885-1905) : The
early ten years after establishment of
Indian National Congress their contribution
was very slow but consistent. The leaders
of Indian National Congress were realistic
and highly educated. They were aware that
through organised work a strong foundation
needs to be built up. Western thinker’s,
philosophy of liberalism, freedom, equality,
fraternity these values had an impact on
them. They believed in constitutional methods. They had a hope that if we
demand through constitutional methods
then the British will give justice to our
demands. Gopal Krishna Gokhale,
Ferozshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjee
were all moderate leaders.
In the session of Indian National
Congress different resolutions were put
forward by them such as, to get
representation in provincial legislature,
jobs for educated Indians, cutting down the
increasing expenses on military, Legislature
and Judiciary should be seperated for
safeguarding legal rights of Indians etc.
To cause a split in the national
movement the British implemented the
policy of ‘Divide and rule’.
Extremist Phase
(1905-1920) : All
Indian leaders who
were politically aware
kept aside their
differences of caste,
religion, language,
province and gathered
on a single platform
of Indian National
Congress. There were
unanimous decisions regarding the
objectives of the Congress and taking
forward the movement by constitutional
means, but there were differences regarding
the working system. These were ideological
differences. From these differences two
main political groups were formed. The
Moderates who advocated peaceful and
constitutional manners and the Extremist
who believed in severe struggle for
attainment of freedom. Lala Lajpat Rai,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra
Pal were believed to be extremist leaders.
In the early period, the Extremist
leaders, for bringing political awakening
among the Indians used methods like
newspapers, national festivals and national
education. ‘Kesari’ and ‘Maratha’ were the newspapers through which Lokmanya
Tilak made severe criticism on the
suppressive policy of the British. In Bengal
province, ‘Amrit Bazar Patrika’ was a
mouthpiece of extremist ideology. By
forgetting the internal differences people
should come together and exchange their
ideas, common people should get
inspiration from contribution of national
personalities, with these objectives Tilak
started organising of Shiv Jayanti and
Ganesh Utsav. For political reasons if
people come together then government
will ban them, but for religious reasons
if people come together the government
will not ban them was his opinion. In the
Mandalay prison, Tilak wrote ‘Geetarahasya’. Its core was philosophy of
karmayoga and stressed that people should
always be in action. The extremist leaders
established education institutions for
creating a generation concerned about own
language and tradition. The extremist
leaders were of the opinion that if lakhs
of people take part in the freedom
movement and challenge the British
government by struggling against them
only then success will be achieved. They
unanimously believed that the movement
should be made more severe. But they did
not adopt the means of armed revolution
rather insisted for an extensive public
agitation. The moderates laid the foundation
of freedom movement and the extremists
carried forward the movement.
In 1897, in Pune, the epidemic of
Plague had spread on a large scale.
Hundreds of people died due to it. An
officer named Rand was appointed. The
plague patients were searched out and
oppressive measures were adopted. As a
revenge, the Chapekar brothers assasinated
Rand. The government tried to connect
relation of Lokmanya Tilak with this
conspiracy. After being unsuccessful the
government imprisoned Tilak with revenge.
Partition of Bengal : The British
decided to use the policy of ‘Divide and
Rule’ to create a rift between Hindu-Muslim
community. The then Viceroy Lord Curzon
contributed to it. Bengal was a very large
province. To carry out the work of this
province was difficult from administrative
point of view. By putting up this reason, in
1905, he declared the partition of Bengal
province. With this partition, arrangement
was made such that majority Muslims will
remain in East Bengal and West Bengal for
majority of Hindus. The hidden strategy of
the British was, if the Hindu-Muslims were
divided, due to partition, then the freedom
movement will be weakened.
Anti Partition Movement : There
was public awakening against partition not
only in Bengal but all over India. 16
October, the day of partition was observed
as National Mourning Day. All over India
there were protest meetings to condemn the
Government’s decision. ‘Vande Mataram’
came to be sung everywhere. As a symbol
of unity, ‘Raksha Bandhan’ programmes
were held. Students in large number
boycotted government schools and colleges
and participated in the movement. The
leadership of this movement was in the
hands of Surendranath Banerjee, Anand
Mohan Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and
such other leaders. The extent of Indian
National Congress increased due to the
anti partition movement. It became a
national movement. Owing to the severity
of dissatisfaction, the British anulled the
partition of Bengal.
Four point programme of Indian
National Congress : Gopal Krishna
Gokhale was the President of Indian
National Congress session of 1905. He
supported the anti partition movement.
Dadabhai Nowrojee was the President of
1906 session. For first time he pronounced
the word ‘Swaraj’ from the stage. In his
Presidential speech he gave the message
that remain united, try sincerely and fulfill the aim of Swaraj, so
that today we will be
able to save lakhs of
people suffering from
poverty, hunger,
diseases and India
will get a respectable
position among
developed countries.
In the same session
Swaraj, Swadeshi,
National Education and Boycott, this 4
point programme was unanimously accepted
by the Indian National Congress. Due to
Swadeshi movement we will be self
sufficient. To follow the path of Swadeshi
we need to bring together capital, resources,
manpower and such other forces and from
this the benefit of the country could be
achieved. It was decided that boycotting of
foreign goods is the first step and boycott
of foreign rule will be the next step. Due
to boycott we will be able to attack the
roots of British imperialism, was the
opinion of some of the leaders.
Lal-Bal-Pal
Dadabhai Nowrojee
Gopal Krishna
Gokhale founded the
‘Servants of India
Society’ in 1905. To
create love for the
country, teach them
sacrifice of self
interest, differences
between religion and Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Do you know?
caste should be
destroyed and to create social harmony,
spread of education were the main
objectives of the servants of India society.
Differences between Moderates and
Extremists : The differences between the
ideologies of Indian National Congress rose
to great extent in the Surat session in 1907.
The moderates were trying to keep aside
the resolution of swadeshi and boycott. The
Lokmanya Tilak for which he was sent to
Mandalay jail at Myanmar for 6 years
imprisonment. Bipin Chandra Pal was
sentenced to jail and Lala Lajpat Rai was
deported from Punjab.
Establishment of Muslim League :
The British became very disturbed looking
at the overwhelming response to the Indian
National Congress in the anti partition
movement. The British once again followed
the policy of ‘divide and rule’. They
started using the propaganda that for
safeguarding the interest of Muslims they
should have a seperate political
organisation. Due to the motivation of the
British government a committee of upper
class Muslims under the leadership of Aga
Khan met Governor General Lord Minto.
Due to the motivation from Lord Minto
and other British officers, the Muslim
League was established in 1906.
Morley-Minto Act : There was
dissatisfaction among the Indians regarding
the work of British government. The
Indians felt that the reason of poverty in
India was the economic policy of the
British. Oppressive policy of Lord Curzon,
exclusion of educated Indians in
government services, unjust behaviour
towards Indians in Africa, all this added
to the dissatisfaction of the Indian people.
As a temporary remedy on the discontent
among Indians, the Morley Minto Reform
Act of 1909 was passed. According to this
act, it increased the number of Indian
members in the Legislative Assembly and
provision of inclusion of some elected
Indian representatives in Legislative
Assembly was made. In the same act
seperate electorates were provided to the
Indian Muslims. Due to this conspiracy of
the British the seeds of division in India
were sown.
Lucknow Pact : In the Lucknow
session of Indian National Congress in
1916, under the leadership of Lokmanya
Tilak, an attempt was made to resolve the
dispute in the Indian National Congress.
In the same year there was an agreement
between Indian National Congress and
Muslim League known as the ‘Lucknow
Pact’. According to this pact, the Indian
National Congress agreed to seperate
electorates to Muslims and Muslim League
agreed to support the Indian National
Congress in its work for getting political
rights to India.
Home Rule
Movement : In 1914,
when Lokmanya Tilak
was released from the
Mandalay Jail, the first
world war had begun
in Europe. The direct
consequences of this
war had to be beared
by India as well. The
rates of basic necessary
commodities increased.
Many restrictions were put up on the Indians
by the British government. This led to
increased dissatisfaction in the minds of
Indians. In these circumstances, Dr. Annie
Besant and Lokmanya Tilak started the
Home Rule movement. Home Rule means
self government. Such movement also
began in Ireland against Colonialism. On
similar lines, Home Rule movement
demanded right of self government in India.
Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak made
extensive tour in different parts of the
country and the demand for self government
reached the common people. Tilak firmly
stated that, ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I
shall have it’.
First World War and India : The war
atmosphere in Europe, growing
dissatisfaction in the minds of Indians,
popularity of Home Rule movement; in
such conditions it was necessary for the
British to get cooperation from the Indians. The British government decided to provide
some political rights to the Indians. In 1917,
Montague, Secretary of State for India,
declared that step by step Indians will be
given the right to self government and
responsible political system. Tilak also
declared that if the government is going to
show sympathy and considerable attitude
towards the demands of the Indians, only
then Indian public is ready to co-operate
the British. This policy of Lokmanya Tilak
is known as ‘Responsive Cooperation’.
Montague Chelmsford Reform Act :
In 1919, the British Parliament passed
another act to bring constitutional reforms
in India. This act is known as ‘Montague
Chelmsford Reform Act’. According to this
Act, less important departments were
transfered to the Indian ministers, whereas
the important departments like Finance,
Home affairs and Revenue were under the
control of the Governor. The 1919 Act did
not give much exposure to the demand for
Responsible Government of Indians.
Everybody was disappointed due to this
act. Tilak criticised the act in following
words, ‘This is neither Swaraj nor its
foundation’. The Indians understood that
if they have to subdue the British
government then the agitation needs to be
more rigorous. India got prepared for a
new movement.
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