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Eminent Personalities Of Modern India

Sachin Sanyal

A prominent revolutionary, he first shot into the limelight while he, along with Rash Bihari Bose threw a bomb on Lord Hardinge in Delhi. He later organized a meeting of all revolutionaries at Kanpur in October 1924 and founded the Hindustan Republican Association to overthrow colonial rule through a mass revolution and establish the Federal Republic of the United States of India. He wrote the book Bandi Ziban, a textbook for all revolutionaries.

Rash Bihari Bose

He was a firebrand revolutionary who threw a bomb on Lord Hardinge and then escaped to Japan where he founded the Indian Independence League in 1924. He later formed the Indian National Army (I.N.A) with the help of Mohan Singh and assisted Subhas Chandra Bose in the invasion of India. But when the I.N.A. was defeated, he took Japanese citizenship and died there.

Mandanlal Dhingra

A young revolutionary who came on a fellowship to India House at London, he shot dead Col. William Curzon Wyllie, the political A.D.C. to the India Office in London and was sentenced to death.

Madam Bhilkaji Cama

The first female revolutionary, inspired by Dadabhai Nauroji, assisted Indian revolutionaries by supplying bomb material and literature. She edited the Vande Mataram newspaper in Paris and unfurled her version of the flag of free India at the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in Germany in 1907.

Lala Hardayal

A revolutionary from Punjab, he was educated in England and founded the Ghadr movement in the U.S.A. which aimed at overthrowing the British through an armed revolt. He was arrested but escaped and tried to enlist the support of Germany for the struggle. He was the chief ideologue of the Ghadr movement and imparted an egalitarian and secular outlook to it. He spent his later years in the U.S.A. advocating India’s cause for freedom.

Sohan Singh Bakhna

One of the founders of the Hindi Association and the Ghadr movement, he launched a campaign in the U.S.A. to mobilize people for a rebellion against the British rule in India. He later became a prominent communist peasant leader in Punjab and led the peasant agitation in Punjab during the 30s and 40s.

Mohd. Barkatullah

A Bengali revolutionary, he joined the Ghadr movement in the U.S.A. He toured European countries propagating the cause of India’s freedom. He tried to enlist the support of the Amir of Afghanistan, along with Obeidullah Sindhi and Mahendra Pratap but it failed. He participated in the International Anti-Imperialism Conference in Brussels in 1927 where he died in exile.

Indulal Yagnik

A prominent leader during the Home Rule Movement, he set up a paper called Young India. He later joined Gandhi in Champaran Satyagraha. He then went on to become a left-wing peasant leader of the All India Kisan Sabha and brought out the Kisan Manifesto which influenced the Congress Manifesto for the 1937 elections. He remained in Congress when the Sabha split in 1943 over the question of support to Allies during World War II.

M.M. Malavya

A moderate nationalist leader, he was nominated to the Imperial Legislative Council but joined the Home Rule Movement in 1916. He helped form the U.P. Kisan Sabha but was a believer in Constitutional agitation. He founded the Hindu Maha Sabha (H.M.S) in 1915 and the Benares Hindu University in 1916. He opposed the Lucknow Pact and cooperated with the Government in the Council to protect Hindus interests and argued for Hindu solidarity. He represented the H.M.S. in the Round Table Conferences (R.T.Cs) in London but retired from politics in 1937.

Rajendra Prasad

A lawyer from Bihar, he was the first President of the Indian Republic and was the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. He assisted Gandhi in the Champaran Satyagraha and went on to become a prominent Congress leader by participating in all the movements led by Gandhi. He also became the chairman of the Patna Municipality. A strong supporter of secularism, he emphasized its inclusion in the Constitution of India.

Mahadev Desai

A follower of Gandhi since the Champaran Satyagraha, he was his private secretary, edited Gandhi’s paper Navjivan and translated Gandhi’s autobiography. He accompanied Gandhi all over India and abroad and was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement at the Aga Khan Palace in Poona where he died in 1942.

J.B. Kriplani

One of the ardent followers of Gandhi since the Champaran Satyagraha and an exponent of Gandhian philosophy, he remained an active Congress worker and was involved in the negotiations for the transfer of power, being the President of the Congress in 1947.

Vittalbhai Patel

A successful lawyer from Gujarat, he assisted Gandhi in the Kheda Satyagraha in 1918. He joined the Swaraj Party and was elected as the President of the Central Legislative Assembly and as the President of Bombay Municipal Corporation.

Saifuddin Kitchlew

A prominent Muslim barrister from Punjab, he gave up his legal practice to join the Rowlatt Satyagraha. He was given the keys to the Golden Temple as a measure of communal harmony during the Non-Cooperation Movement. He argued for the nationalists in various conspiracy cases and was the founder President of the All India Peace Council and vice president of the World Peace Council. He was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1954.

Check out History of India notes in detail. 

The Nationalists’ First World War And Lucknow Session

In June 1914, the First World War broke out between Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia, Japan and the U.S.A. on one side and Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey on the other. In India, the years of War marked the maturing of nationalism.

In the beginning, the Indian nationalist leaders, including Lokamanya Tilak, who had been released in June 1914, decided to support the war effort of the Government. This was not done out of a sense of loyalty or sympathy with the British cause but with the mistaken belief that Britain would repay India’s loyalty by taking steps to put India on the road to self-government. They did not realise fully that the different powers were fighting the First World War precisely to safeguard their existing colonies.

The Home Rule Leagues

At the same time, many Indian leaders saw clearly that the government was not likely to give any real concessions unless popular pressure was put on it. Hence, a mass political movement was necessary. Some other factors were leading the nationalist movement in the same direction. The World War, involving a mutual struggle between the imperialist powers of Europe, destroyed the myth of the racial superiority of the western nations over Asian peoples. Moreover, the War led to increased misery among the Indian poor as the war brought heavy taxation and soaring prices of the daily necessities of life. They were getting ready to join any militant movement of protest. Consequently, the war years were years of intense nationalist political agitation.

But this mass agitation could not be carried out under the leadership of the Congress, which had become, under Moderate leadership, á passive and inert political organisation with no political work among the people to its credit. Therefore, two Home Rule Leagues were started in 1915-16, one under the leadership of Lokamanya Tilak and the other under the leadership of Annie Besant. The two Home Rule Leagues carried out intense propaganda all over the country in favour of the demand for the grant of Home Rule or self-government to India after the War. It was during this agitation that Tilak gave the popular slogan: Swaraj is my birthright, and I will have it. The two Leagues made rapid progress and the movement acquired a mass character.

The war period also witnessed the growth of revolutionary terrorism. The terrorist groups spread from Bengal and Maharashtra to the whole of northern India. Many Indians stationed abroad began to plan a violent rebellion to overthrow British rule. Indian revolutionaries in the United States of America and Canada had established the Ghadar (Rebellion) Party in 1913. While most of the members of the party were Sikh peasants and soldiers, their leaders were mostly educated Hindus or Muslims. ·

The Ghadar Party was pledged to wage a revolutionary war against the British in India. As soon as the First World War broke out in 1914, the Ghadarites decided to send arms and men to India to start an uprising with the help of Indian soldiers, stationed in India and abroad, and local revolutionaries. Several thousand men volunteered to go back to India. Finally, 21 February 1915 was fixed as the date for an armed revolt. Unfortunately, the authorities came to know of these plans and took immediate action. The rebellious regiments were disbanded and their leaders were either imprisoned or hanged. Many of them, after their release, founded Communist movements in Punjab. Some of the prominent Ghadar leaders were Lala Hardayal, Kartar Singh Saraba, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Bhai Parmanand, and Mohammad Barkatullah. Rash Bihari Bose, Raja Mahendra Pratap, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Champak Raman Pillai, Sardar Singh Rana, and Madam Cama were some of the prominent Indians who carried on revolutionary activities and propaganda outside India during this period.

Lucknow Session of the Congress (1916)

The nationalists soon saw that disunity in their ranks was injuring their cause and that they must put up a united front in the freedom struggle. The growing nationalist feeling in the country and the urge for national unity led to two historic. developments at the Lucknow session of the Congress in 1916. Firstly, the two wings of the Congress were reunited as both the groups realised that the split in the Congress had not benefited either group. The old Moderate leaders were compelled to welcome back into the Congress fold, Lokamanya Tilak and other Extremists. The Lucknow Congress was the first united Congress since 1907.

Secondly, at Lucknow, the Congress and the Muslim League sank their old differences and put up a common political programme. While the War and the two Home Rule Leagues were creating a new sentiment in the country and changing the character of the Congress, the Muslim League had also been undergoing gradual changes. It gradually began to outgrow the limited political outlook of the Aligarh school and moved nearer to the policies of the Congress as the League was now dominated by young radical Muslims who were more attracted by ideas of self-government.

The unity between the Congress and the League was brought about by the signing of the CongressLeague pact, known popularly as the Lucknow Pact. An important role in bringing the two together was played by Lokamanya Tilak. The two organisations put forward a joint scheme of political reforms based on separate electorates and demanded that the British Government should make a declaration that it would confer self-government on India at an early date. The Lucknow Pact marked an important step forward in Hindu-Muslim unity. Unfortunately, it was based on the notion of bringing together Hindus and Muslims as separate entities, without secularisation of their political outlook which would make them realise that in politics they had no separate interests as Hindus or Muslims. The Lucknow Pact, therefore, left the way open to the future resurgence of communalism in Indian politics.

But the immediate effect of the developments at Lucknow was tremendous. The unity between the Moderates and the Extremists and between the Congress and the Muslim League aroused great enthusiasm in the country. Even the British Government felt it necessary to stop repression and placate the nationalists. It now decided to appease nationalist opinion and announced on 20 August 1917 that its policy in Indian was “the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realisation of Responsible Government of India as an integral part of the British Empire”. In July 1918, the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms were announced. Many revolutionary terrorists were released from jail to create a favourable atmosphere for the Reforms. But Indian nationalism was not appeased. In fact, the Indian national movement was soon to enter its third and last phase – the era of struggle or the Gandhian Era.

Social Reform Movements In India

Social Reform Movements In India: Young Bengal Movement

The leader of this movement was a young Anglo-Portuguese

Indian called Henry Vivian Derozio”, a lecturer at Hindu College in Calcutta and his followers were called Derozians. The movement attacked old and decadent customs and traditions. It was a passionate advocate for women’s rights and education, a free press, trial by jury, protection of ryots against oppression by zamindars and employment of Indians in higher Civil Services.

Social Reform Movements In India: Social Service League

Founded by Narayan Malhar Joshi” in 1911 in Bombay inspired by Servants of India Society, the main aim of the League was “to secure for the masses of the people better and reasonable conditions of life and work”. The League ran free schools for illiterate labourers, built libraries, provided legal assistance to the poor, besides organizing theatre and medical camps.

Social Reform Movements In India: Seva Samithi

Set up by Hrudayanath Kunjru in Allahabad, inspired by Servants of India Society it worked for the promotion of education, sanitation, physical culture etc. and did social service during natural calamities. The Boy’s Scouts Association of Seva Samithi was founded by Ram Bajpai” when Baden Powell refused to induct Indians into the Boy’s Scout Movement.

Social Reform Movements In India: Servants of India Society

Founded by G.K. Gokhale, its main motives were social reform and national regeneration. Its main activities included working for women’s education, communal harmony, upliftment of backward classes and promotion of native industry, besides others. In the south, the movement was led by Srinivas Shastri who was the President of the Society after Gokhale. Its main contribution was that it created a cadre of committed nationalist leaders.

Social Reform Movements In India: Vaikom Satyagraha

Launched in March 1924 by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, it was directed at temple entry and eradication of untouchability. Led by K.P. Kesava Menon, it aimed at opening the Vaikom temple in Travancore state, to Depressed Classes called Avarnas.

Social Reform Movements In India: Guruvayur Satyagraha

A temple entry movement that was a part of Gandhi’s Constructive Program, this Satyagraha was launched under the overall leadership of K.C. Kellappan of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee on November 1st 1931, for the backward castes to gain entry into the Guruvayur temple. The agitation was supported by the poet Subramanian Tirumambu, also called the “Swinging Sword of Kerala”. November 1st 1931 was observed as the All India Temple Entry Day. Other prominent leaders were A.K. Gopalan and Krishna Pillai.

Social Reform Movements In India: Akali Movement

Organized by the Sikh reformers of the Shiromani Akali Dal, it was directed against the corrupt loyalist Mahants of the Gurudwaras. The Jat peasantry of Punjab supported the movement and accepted non-violence as a part of the programme. The Government passed the Gurudwara Act, 1925 handing over all the Gurudwaras to the SGPC (Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee). It was a model movement because it was a secular movement for a religious cause.

The movement brought the Jat peasantry of Punjab into the freedom struggle for the first time. Singh Sabha Movement: A socio-religious reform movement in 1873 launched by the Sikhs. it wanted to spread the message through education. The movement led to the establishment of a network of Khalsa colleges which served as centres of social awareness in Punjab.

Social Reform Movements In India: Nirankari Movement

A movement by the Sikh reformers against idolatry and advocate “Nirankari or a formless god. It pleaded for a simple life and was against ritual mainstage and advocated a simple marriage called “Anand Karaj” which was legitimized by the passage of the Anand Marriage Act, 1909. Prominent leaders include Baba Dayal Das, Baba Darbara Singh and Baba Ratanji.

Social Reform Movements In India: Ahrar Movement

A militant Muslim nationalist movement under the leadership of Hakim Ajmal Khan, Hasan Imam and Mazar Ul Haq. Inspired by the modern ideas of self Government, it strongly advocated the participation of the Muslims in mainstream nationalist politics. Aligarh School: Begun by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to reform Muslim society, it sought reinterpretation of Islam on modern scientific lines. It called for the spread of western education among Muslims and advocated higher status for women in Muslim society. Sir Syed was supported by Chirag Ali, Nazir Ahmed and Altaf Hussain Ali. In its later years, the Aligarh School lost its secular character and Sir Syed laid down the basic themes of Muslim communalism in India.

Social Reform Movements In India: Ahmediya Movement

A Muslim reform movement started by Mirza Gulam Ahmed in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab who expounded the doctrine of Bahrain-e-Ahmediya which emphasized the universal and humanitarian character of Islam. The movement worked for harmony between Hindus and Muslims and did considerable work in social reform education. Deoband Movement: The Deoband movement drew its doctrines om Shah Waliullah Dehlavi and preached religious tolerance and nationalism. It established the Dar-ul-Uloom at Deoband in UP. One of the most important products of this school was Moulana Abul Kalam Azad. Tatvabodhini Sabha: Established by Devendranath Tagore in 1832 ton of Raja Rammohan Roy. It ran a Magazine called Tatvabodhini Patrika which was dedicated to the systematic study of India’s past in Bengali.

Social Reform Movements In India: Brahmo Samaj of India

It was a breakaway group of Brahmo Samaj formed by Keshab Chandra Sen who was dismissed from the Brahmo Samaj for his liberal ideas in 1865. Sen popularized the Brahmo movement in Punjab, United Provinces and Madras. Social reform reached a peak under Sen’s leadership, especially in the area of emancipation of women. Prarthana Samaj: It was formed in Bombay in 1867 under the guidance of Keshab Chandra Sen and was first headed by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang. It literally meant a “Prayer Congregation”. Its main emphasis was on social reform and a rational form of worship and denounced purdah, polygamy and child marriage. It championed women’s education and widow remarriage. A prominent personality associated with this association was Justice M.G. Ranade.

Social Reform Movements In India: Ramakrishna Mission

It was founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1898 at Belur near Calcutta basically to propagate the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahansa and train workers entirely devoted to social service. It recognized the utility of idol worship as a means to attain devotional fervour. The emphasis of the mission was both on personal salvation and social good.

Social Reform Movements In India: Arya Samaj

It was founded by Swami Dayanand in Bombay in April 1875. It stood for infallibility. It decried untouchability and idol worship and advocated widow remarriage and universal brotherhood. It started two movements called Shuddhi which was a ceremony for the reconversion of non-Hindus to Hindus and Sanghatan which called for greater solidarity among Hindus; this laid the foundation of Hindu communalism. Arya Samaj stood for western education and the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools were started in 1902 by Lala Hansraj. It gave the slogan “India for Indians” and gave it to the nation committed national leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai.

Social Reform Movements In India: Rehnumai Masdayasan Sabha

A socio-religious reform movement among the Parsis started by Dababhai Nauroji, Nauroji Furdanji and S.S. Benegalee, emphasized the pristine purity of the Zoroastrian religion and initiated the modernization of Parsi social customs regarding marriage, the position of women and education.

Social Reform Movements In India: Theosophical Society

Founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Col. Olcott in USA, they shifted the headquarters to Adyar near Madras. It was a movement by European Indologists to revive and rejuvenate the ancient Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism and thereby glorify the rich religious and philosophical heritage of India. The movement became powerful under Annie Besant in South India and played a prominent role during the Home Rule Movement.

The Nationalist Movement(1858-1947)

Growth of Political Ideas and Associations:

One important effect of the introduction of Western culture in India was the growth of modern political concepts like nationalism, nationality, political rights etc. India witnessed the growth of political ideas and political organisations, hitherto unknown to the Indian world. And it were political associations which heralded the 19th century India into modern politics. What distinguished these new political associations from earlier associations were the secular interests that bound together the new classes. But it should be noted that before the formation of Indian National Congress (hereafter referred to as I.N.C.) in 1885, these associations were essentially provincial in nature.

Political Associations in Bengal Presidency

Raja Rammohun Roy was the first Indian to focus the attention of the Englishmen on the grievances of India and to ask for remedial measures. He demanded liberty of the press, appointment of Indians in higher civil service and other higher posts, codification of laws etc.

The first political association was formed by the associates of Rammohun Roy, and was called the Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha, founded in 1836. The association discussed topics connected with the policy and administration of the Government and sought redress by sending petitions and memorials to the Government.

In July 1838, the Zamindari Association or Landholders Society was founded to safeguard the interests of the landlords. Although limited in its objectives, this marks the beginning of an organised political activity and use of methods of constitutional agitation for the redressal of grievances.

In April 1843 another political association called the Bengal British India Society was founded. The Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society were merged into a new association named the British Indian Association in 1851. This Association was dominated by the landed aristocracy and its primary objective was to safeguard their class interests. This association continued to exist till the 20th century even though it was overshadowed by the more popular Indian National Congress.

By 1870s there were signs of change inside Indian society. In the Presidency towns where higher education was well established, a new elite had grown which had new ambitions and aspirations. These were good developments for the formation of more popular and broad-based associations. In September 1875, Sisir Kumar Ghose founded the Indian League with the object of “stimulating the sense of nationalism amongst the people” and of encouraging political education. Soon, the India league was superseded by the Indian Association founded in July 1876 by Ananda Mohan Bose and Surendranath Banerjee. Soon the Indian Association became the leading representative of the educated community of Bengal.

Lytton’s unpopular measures whipped up political activity in India. A regulation of 1876 reduced the maximum age for appearing in the Indian Civil Service (hereafter referred to as I.C.S.) examination from 21 to 19 years which compounded the difficulties young Indians had to face in appearing for this prestigious examination. The Indian Association took up this question and organised an all-India agitation against it, popularly known as the Indian Civil Service Agitation. Surendranath Banerjee went on a whirlwind tour of northern India in 1877 and the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras in 1878 to mobilise public opinion against this measure which awakened the Indian public opinion on the issue.

Political Associations in Bombay Presidency

On the lines of the British India Association of Calcutta, the Bombay Association was founded in August 1852. It sent a petition to the British Parliament urging the formation of new legislative councils to which Indians should be also represented. It also condemned the policy of exclusion of Indians from all higher services. However, the Bombay Association did not survive for long.

The reactionary policies of Lytton and the Ilbert Bill controversy caused political commotion in Bombay. The credit for organising the Bombay Presidency Association in 1883 goes to the popularly called brothers-in-law- Pherozeshah Mehta, K.T. Telang and Badruddin Tyabji, representing the three chief communities of Bombay town i.e., Parsis, Maharashtrians and Muslims. At Poona, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha was established in 1867 with the object of serving as a bridge between the Government and the people. The Bombay Presidency Association and the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha worked in close collaboration in this direction.

Political Associations in Madras Presidency

A branch of the British Indian Association of Calcutta was set up at Madras under the name of the Madras Native Association. However, the Madras Native Association right from its inception possessed very little vitality and languished into obscurity after 1857.

The Madras Mahajana Sabha was formed by young middle class intellectuals in May 1884 on the same lines of similar associations in the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies. The Sabha demanded expansion of legislative councils, representation of Indians in it, separation of judicial from revenue functions etc. Although the idea of a common political organisation for the whole country was quite old, it took decades to ferment and materialize.

It was only in the 1870’s that Indian nationalism gathered momentum. However, it required the reactionary require of Lord Lytton to give it a more visible form and the controversy around the Ilbert Bill to make it take up an organized and a national form.

During Lytton’s period (1876-80), most of the import duties on British textiles were removed to please the textile manufacturers of Britain which was interpreted by Indians as proof of the British desire to ruin the growing textile industry of India. This led to widespread nationalist agitation. The Second War against Afghanistan drew vehement criticism against the heavy cost of the war which the Indian Treasury was made to bear. The Arms Act, 1878, which disarmed the people, appeared to them as an effort to emasculate the entire nation. The Vernacular Press Act, 1877, was condemned by the nationalists as an attempt to suppress the growing criticism of the alien government. The holding of the Imperial Durbar at Delhi in 1877 at a time when the country was suffering from a terrible famine led people to believe that their rulers cared very little even for their lives. In 1876, the government announced new regulations reducing the maximum age limit for sitting in the Indian Civil Service Examination from 21 years to 19 which reduced the chances of Indians entering the Civil Service. This made the Indians protest vehemently and Surendranath Banerjee organised a successful all-India agitation. Thus, Lytton’s viceroyalty helped intensify discontent against foreign rule and also helped unite Indian opinion.

If Lytton fed the smouldering discontent against British rule, the spark was provided by the Ilbert Bill controversy. In 1883, Ripon, who succeeded Lytton as the Viceroy, tried to pass a law which enabled Indian district magistrates and session judges to try Europeans in criminal cases. It was a meagre effort to remove a glaring instance of racial discrimination. Under the existing law, even Indian members of the Indian Civil Service were not authorised to try Europeans in their courts. The Europeans in India organised a vehement agitation against this Bill which was named after Ilbert, the Law Member. They declared that even the most highly educated among the Indians were (unfit to try a European. In the end, the Government of India bowed before the Europeans and amended the Bill to meet their criticism.

The Indians were horrified at the racial bitterness displayed by the British. They organised an allIndia campaign in favour of the Bill. Moreover, they learnt the lesson that, to get their demands accepted by the Government, they too must organise themselves on a national scale and agitate continuously and unitedly. It was left to A.U. Hume, a retired 1.C.S. official, to give a practical and definite shape to an organization of an all-India character. He took the initiative of bringing the various regional associations on a national platform. The initiative bore fruit when 72 delegates met at the Gokuldas Tejpat Sanskrit School at Bombay in December, 1885 with W.C. Bonnerjee at the first president. But there is a theory called Safety Value which says that due to the increasing popular discontent against the British rule, the British establishment led by the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin decided to have a kind of political association composed of educated Indians which might serve as a ‘safety valve’ to this unrest and strengthen the British empire. But this theory is not considered valid anymore as Congress did not begin as an organisation but as a movement with long term objectives.

Check out History of India notes in detail. 

Factors Responsible For The Formation Of INC

Though the regimes of Lord Lytton and Lord Ripon were the immediate factors responsible for the formation of the Indian National Congress, the factors building up to it lay in the various development between 1858 and 1885. These factors are as follows.

Impact of the failure of the revolt

The failure of the revolt demonstrated the fact that the traditional methods of armed struggle were inadequate. The failure of the revolt has also demonstrated the inadequacy of the feudal leadership and the need for a middle class leadership which would be more progressive in orientation and work towards change.

The Growth of National Consciousness

Due to work of quite a few political organizations there was a growth of national consciousness among the Indian people. “National Consciousness” implies that among the people, there was now a perception of identity about aspirations and also frustrations because of alien rule. It also implies the fact that the Indians are now aware that they share common culture and common political interests, common economic problems etc. This growth of national consciousness led to the emergence of a nationalistic vision and its translation into an objective reality could only be possible if there was a national level organisation.

Economic Exploitation

The writings of nationalists like G.V. Joshi, Dadabhai Naoroji, R.C. Dutt and M.G. Ranade on economic issues created an awareness in the minds of the people about the exploitative nature of the British rule and hence fostered nationalist consciousness,

Growth of Middle Class

Because of the Western education, a new middle class grew whose outlook was different from the old aristocratic class. They were exposed to the liberal British education which fostered in them, the ideals of liberty, equality and democracy. They came to realize that there was a fundamental contradiction of interests between their ideals and the British rule in India and hence they resisted the British rule and started the I.N.C.

Growth of a Mature Press

Because of the liberal attitude of the British towards the press, many middle intellectuals established both English and vernacular press. These newspapers critically analyzed Government policies and mobilized and trained public opinion. The struggle for the freedom of the press unified public opinion all over the country which culminated in the founding of National Congress. In fact 1/3 of the founders of the Congress were journalists.

Impact of Contemporary European Movements

The revolutions of 1848 in Europe and the Italian unification under Mazzini and Garibaldi greatly impressed the educated Indians and national leaders. They drew inspiration from these movements and frequently referred to these movements in their writings and speeches in the context of British rule in India and helped mobilze public opinion against British policies.

Renaissance

It laid the material basis for national consciousness. The renaissance was spearheaded by the educated middle class all over the country. They gave the message of social unity and a sense of identity which are necessary for a unified struggle. Thus with the foundation of the National Congress in 1885, the struggle for India’s freedom from foreign rule was launched in a small but organised manner. The national movement was to grow under the Congress which led the country to its independence. Hereafter, the National Congress met every year in December, in a different part of the country each time. The number of its delegates soon increased to thousands. Its delegates consisted mostly of lawyers, journalists, teachers and landlords. In 1890, Kadambini Ganguli, the first woman graduate of Calcutta University addressed the Congress session. This was symbolic of the fact that India’s struggle for freedom would raise the status of Indian women from their present degraded position.

The Partition Of Bengal – 1905 [Modern Indian History Notes For UPSC]

The conditions for the emergence of militant nationalism developed when in 1905, the partition of Bengal was announced, and the Indian national movement entered its second stage. On 20 July 1905, Lord Curzon issued an order dividing the province of Bengal into two parts: Eastern Bengal and Assam with a population of 31 million, and the rest of Bengal with a population of 54 million. It was said that the existing province of Bengal was too big to be efficiently administered by a single provincial government. However, Cúrzon’s plan had mainly other ends in view. He wanted to stem the rising tide of nationalism in Bengal.

The Congress and the nationalists of Bengal firmly opposed the partition. Within Bengal, different sections of the population- zamindars, merchants, lawyers, students, and even women-rose up in spontaneous opposition to the partition of their province.

The nationalists saw the act of partition more as a challenge to Indian nationalism than as an administrative measure. They saw it as a deliberate attempt to divide the Bengalis and to disrupt and weaken nationalism in Bengal. It would also be a big blow to the growth of the Bengali language and culture. Moreover, the official step had been taken in utter disregard of public opinion.

The Anti-Partition Movement or the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement

The Anti-Partition Movement was the work of the entire national leadership of Bengal and not of any one section of the movement. Its most prominent leaders at the initial state were Moderates like Surendranath Banerjee and Krishna Kumar Mitra; militant and revolutionary nationalists took over in the later stages.

The Anti-Partition Movement was initiated on 7th August 1905 by a massive demonstration against the partition, organised in the Town Hall in Calcutta. From this meeting, delegates dispersed to spread the movement to the rest of the province.

The partition took effect on 16 October 1905. The leaders of the protest movement declared it to be a day of national mourning throughout Bengal. There was a hartal in Calcutta. Raksha Bandhan was celebrated by tying rakhis on one another’s wrists symbolising the unbreakable unity of all Bengalis living in both halves. The streets of Calcutta were full of the cries of Bande Mataram which overnight became the national song of Bengal and soon became the theme song of the national movement.

The Partition Of Bengal : The Swadeshi and Boycott

The Bengal leaders felt that mere demonstrations, public meetings, and resolutions were not likely to have much effect on the rulers and more positive action only would reveal the intensity of opposition to the measure. The answer was Swadeshi and Boycott. Mass meetings were held all over Bengal where Swadeshi or use of Indian goods and boycott of British goods were proclaimed and pledged. In many places, public burnings of foreign cloth were organised and shops selling foreign cloth were picketed.

The Swadeshi movement gave a great deal of encouragement to Indian industries. Many textile mills, chemical factories, handloom weaving concerns, national banks etc. were opened. Acharya P.C. Ray organised his famous Bengal Chemical Swadeshi Stores. Even the great poet Rabindranath Tagore helped to open a Swadeshi store and opened a rural reconstruction institute at Serul.

The Swadeshi movement had several consequences in the realm of culture. There was a flowering of nationalist poetry, prose and journalism. The patriotic songs written at the time by poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Rajani Kant Sen, and Mukunda Das are sung in Bengal to this day. Nandlal Bose and Abanindranath Tagore revived the oriental style of painting. Another constructive activity undertaken was that of National Education. National educational institutions where literary and technical education was imparted, were opened by nationalists who regarded the existing system of education as denationalising and inadequate. On 15 August 1906, a National Council of Education was set up. A National College with Aurobindo Ghose as principal was started in Calcutta. Around the same time, Tagore set up the Shantiniketan.

A prominent part in the Swadeshi agitation was played by the students of Bengal. They practised and propagated swadeshi and took the lead in organising picketing of shops selling foreign cloth. Disciplinary action was taken against students who participated in the nationalist agitation. Many of them were fined, expelled from schools and colleges, arrested, and even beaten up by the police. The students, however, refused to be cowed down.

A remarkable aspect of the Swadeshi agitation was the active participation of women. The traditionally home-centred women of the urban middle class joined processions and picketing. This was their baptism into the arena of the nationalist movement.

Many prominent Muslims joined the Swadeshi movement including Abdul Rasul, the famous barrister, Liaquat Hussain, the popular agitator, and Guznavi, the businessman. Many other middle and upper-class Muslims, however, remained neutral, or, led by the Nawab of Dacca, even supported partition on the plea that East Bengal would have a Muslim majority. In this communal attitude, the Nawab of Dacca and others were encouraged by the officials.

Despite the popular character of the Anti-Partition Movement and of the desire of the Extremists to take the national movement to the masses, the movement did not really affect and involve the peasantry of Bengal. It was confined mainly to the towns and the upper and lower-middle classes of the province.

The cry of Swadeshi and Swaraj was soon taken up by other provinces of India. Movements of support for Bengal’s unity and boycott of foreign goods were organised in Bombay, Madras, and northern India. The leading role in spreading the Swadeshi movement to Maharashtra was played by Tilak while Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh took the message of Swadeshi to Punjab.

The leadership of the Anti-Partition Movement soon passed to the hands of Extremist leaders like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Aurobindo Ghose as the early movement of protest led by the Moderates failed to yield the desired results.

As the Extremists came to the fore they gave the call for passive resistance in addition to Swadeshi and Boycott. They asked the people to refuse to cooperate with the government and to boycott government service, courts and government schools and colleges. The Extremists used the Swadeshi and Anti-Partition Agitation to arouse the people politically and gave the slogan of independence from foreign rule. Thus, the question of the partition of Bengal was superseded by the question of India’s freedom, as the central question of Indian politics. The Extremists also gave the call for self-sacrifice without which no great aim could be achieved and the youth of India responded enthusiastically to the call.

But even the militant nationalists failed to give a positive direction to the people. They were not able to give effective leadership or create a sound organisation to guide their movement. They aroused the people but did not know how to direct the newly released energies of the people. Moreover, though they believed in participation, they also failed to reach the real masses of the country, the peasants. Their movement remained confined to the urban lower and middle classes.

Consequently, the government succeeded to a large extent in suppressing them. Their movement could not survive the arrest of their main leader, Tilak, the deporting of Lala Lajpat Rai and the retirement from active politics of Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose.

But the upsurge of nationalist sentiments could not die as the people had been aroused from their slumber and they had learned to take a bold and fearless attitude in politics. They now waited for a new movement to rise. The anti-partition agitation marked a great revolutionary leap forward for Indian nationalism. 

The Partition Of Bengal : Growth of Revolutionary Terrorism

Government repression and frustration caused by the failure of the political struggle ultimately resulted in the rise of revolutionary terrorism. The youth of Bengal were angered by official repression and were filled with a burning hatred for foreign rule. They found all avenues of peaceful protest blocked and out of desperation, they fell back on violence. They no longer believed that passive resistance could achieve nationalist aims. The British must, therefore, be physically expelled. But the young revolutionaries did not try to generate a mass revolution. Instead, they decided to copy the methods of the Irish terrorists and the Russian Nihilists, that is, to assassinate unpopular officials and bring the British administration to its knees.

A beginning had been made in this direction when in 1897 the Chapekar brothers assassinated the unpopular British Commissioner called Rand at Poona. In 1904, V.D. Savarkar had organised the Abhinava Bharat, a secret society of revolutionaries.

In Bengal too, secret societies like the Anusilan Samiti were formed at Dacca with various branches to give moral and physical training, to teach bomb-making and also to plan attacks on targeted officials. After 1905, several newspapers had begun to advocate revolutionary terrorism. Sandhya and Yugantar in Bengal and Kal in Maharashtra were the most prominent among them.

In April 1908, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at a carriage that they believed was occupied by Kingsford, the unpopular Judge at Muzaffarpur. Prafulla Chaki shot himself dead while Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged. In 1914, two famous revolutionaries, Rash Behari Bose and Sachin Sanyal boldly threw a bomb at the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge while he was riding on an elephant in a state procession at Delhi, injuring him.

The terrorists also established centres of activity abroad, In London, the lead was taken by Shyamji Krishnavarman who established the India House and was joined by V.D. Savarkar, and Lala Hardayal. Another young revolutionary, Madan Lal Dhingra shot dead an unpopular British official called Curzon Willie while in Europe, Madam Cama and Ajit Singh were the prominent leaders. Madam Cama, in fact, edited the newspaper Bande Mataram in Paris and unfurled the flag of free India at Stuttgart in Germany in 1907. Three young revolutionaries led by Mohd. Barkatullah tried to organise a revolt with the help of the ruler of Kabul.

Terrorism gradually petered out. It failed to achieve its objective of expelling the English. But the terrorists did make a valuable contribution to the growth of nationalism in India. Because of their heroism, the terrorists became immensely popular among their compatriots even though most of the politically conscious people did not agree with their political approach.

The Muslim League And The Growth Of Communalism

Modern political consciousness was late in developing among the Muslims. As nationalism spread among the Hindus and Parsis of the lower middle class, it failed to grow equally rapidly among the Muslims of the same class.

As we have seen earlier, Hindus and Muslims had fought shoulder to shoulder during the Revolt of 1857. After the suppression of the Revolt, the British had taken a particularly vindictive attitude towards the Muslims and viewed them with great suspicion. But this attitude changed in the 1870s. With the rise of the nationalist movement, the British statesmen grew apprehensive about the safety and stability of their Empire in India. To check the growth of a united national feeling in the country, they decided to follow more actively the policy of ‘Divide and Rule’, to divide the people even along religious lines. For this purpose, they decided to come out as ‘champions’ of the Muslims and to win over to their side Muslim zamindars, landlords, and the newly educated. They also fostered other divisions in Indian society on the lines of region, caste and language.

In the rise of the separatist tendency along communal lines, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan played an important role. Though a great educationist and social reformer, Syed Ahmad Khan became towards the end of his life, a conservative in politics. He laid the foundations of Muslim communalism when in the 1880s, he gave up his earlier secular views and declared that the political interests of Hindus and Muslims were different. He preached complete obedience to British rule and when the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, he decided to oppose it. He also began to preach that, since the Hindus formed the larger part of the Indian population, they would dominate the Muslims in case of the withdrawal of British rule. He urged the Muslims not to listen to Badruddin Tyabji’s appeal to them to join the Congress.

Though these views were unscientific and without any basis in reality as the Hindus and Muslims had similar economic and political interests, the communal and separatist trend of thinking grew among the Muslims due to certain factors.

This was to some extent due to the relative backwardness of the Muslims in education and trade and industry. Muslim upper classes consisted mostly of zamindars and aristocrats. Because the upper-class Muslims till around the 1870s were anti-British, conservative and hostile to modern education, the number of educated Muslims in the country remained very small. Consequently, modern western thought with its emphasis on science, democracy, and nationalism did not spread among Muslim intellectuals. Later, as a result of the efforts of Syed Ahmed Khan, Badruddin Tyabji and others, modern education spread among Muslims. But the proportion of the educated was far lower among Muslims than among Hindus and Parsis. Similarly, the Muslims had also taken little part in trade and industry. This enabled the reactionary big landlords to maintain their influence over the Muslim masses. As seen earlier, landlords and zamindars, whether Hindu or Muslim, supported British rule out of self-interest. But, among the Hindus, the modern intellectuals and the rising commercial and industrialist class had pushed out the landlords from leadership. Unfortunately, the opposite remained the case with the Muslims.

The educational backwardness of the Muslims had another harmful consequence. Since modern education was essential for entry into government service or the professions, the Muslims had also lagged behind the non-Muslims in this respect. When modern education did spread among the Muslims, the educated Muslim found few opportunities in business or the professions and inevitably looked for government employment which was also very few. In these circumstances, it was easy for the British officials to incite the educated Muslims against the educated Hindus. Syed Ahmed Khan and others raised the demand for special treatment for the Muslims in the matter of Government service. The British declared that if the educated Muslims remained loyal, they would be rewarded with government jobs and other special favours. Bombay was the only province where the Muslims had taken to commence an education quite early; and there the Congress included in its ranks such brilliant Muslims as Badruddin Tyabji, Rahimtoolah Sayani, A. Bhimji, and the young barrister, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

How Indian history was taught in schools and colleges in those days also contributed to the growth of communal feelings among the educated Hindus and Muslims. British historians and later, Indian historians described the medieval period of Indian history as the Muslim period and the ancient period as the Hindu period. These writers declared that all Muslims were rulers in medieval India and all non-Muslims were the ruled which was a great misinterpretation of the fact. This strengthened the fears of the minority and helped in the growth of communalism.

The founding fathers of the Congress realised that the welding of Indians into a single nation would be a gradual and hard task, requiring prolonged political education of the people. They, therefore, set out to convince the minorities that the nationalist movement would carefully protect their religious and social rights in the process of welding India into a nation. In his presidential address to the National Congress of 1886, Dadabhai had given the clear assurance that the Congress would take up only national questions and would not deal with religious and social matters. In 1889, Congress adopted the principle that it would not take up any proposal which was considered harmful to the Muslims by a majority of the Muslim delegates in the Congress. So many Muslims joined the Congress in its early years.

Unfortunately, while Extremism was a great step forward in every other respect, it was a step back in respect of the growth of national unity. The speeches and writings of some of the Extremists had a strong Hindu tinge. They emphasised ancient Indian culture but excluded medieval Indian culture. They identified Indian culture and the Indian nation with the Hindu religion and Hindus. For example, Tilak’s propagation of the Shivaji and Ganapati festivals, the terrorists’ oaths before goddess Kali, and the initiation of the anti-partition agitation with dips in the Ganga could hardly appeal to the Muslims. Since such actions were against the spirit of Islam, the Muslims could not be expected to be associated with these activities. Similarly, they found it hard to digest the exaltation of Shivaji or Rana Pratap not merely for their historical roles but also as ‘national leaders who fought against the ‘foreigners’. Bý defining Akbar and Aurangzeb as foreigners and Pratap and Shivaji as national heroes, both of which were false, the Extremists did a great disservice to Hindu-Muslim unity. In reality, the struggle between Pratap and Akbar or Shivaji and Aurangzeb was only a political struggle and not a religious war. Thus the Extremists gave a communal tinge to Indian history, though unintentionally. This was not only bad history; but also a blow to national unity

This does not mean that the Extremists were anti-Muslim or even wholly communal. Most of them, including Tilak, favoured Hindu-Muslim unity. To most of them, the motherland, or Bharatmata, was a modern notion, being in no way linked with religion. Most of them were more progressive in their political thinking. Even the revolutionary terrorists were more inspired by European revolutionary movements, rather than by Kali or Bhawani cults. But, the Hindu tinge in their political work and ideas remained. This proved to be particularly harmful as clever British officials took advantage of the Hindu colouring to poison the minds of the Muslims. The result was that a large number of educated Muslims either remained aloof from the rising nationalist movement or became hostile to it, thus falling easy prey to communalism. Even so, quite a large number of advanced Muslim intellectuals such as the barrister Abdul Rasul and Hasrat Mohani joined the Swadeshi movement and Muhammad Ali Jinnah became one of the leading younger leaders of the National Congress. The economic backwardness of the country also contributed to the rise of communalism. Due to the lack of modern industrial development, unemployment was an acute problem in India, especially for the educated. There was in consequence an intense competition for existing jobs. The farsighted Indians diagnosed the disease and worked for an economic and political system in which the country would develop economically which would then generate employment. However, much other thought of such short-sighted remedies as communal, provincial, or caste reservation in jobs. They aroused communal and later caste and provincial passions in an attempt to get a larger share of the existing, limited employment opportunities. To those looking desperately for employment, such a narrow appeal had an immediate attraction. In this situation, Hindu and Muslim community leaders and caste leaders, and were able to achieve some success, were helped generously by the British officials as a part of their ‘Divide and Rule policy.

Foundation of All-India Muslim League was Laid – [December 30, 1906]

The communal and loyalist tendencies among a section of the Muslims reached a climax in 1906 when the All India Muslim League was founded under the leadership of the Aga Khan, the Nawab of Dacca, and others. The Muslim League supported the partition of Bengal and demanded reservation for the Muslims in government services. With the help of Lord Minto, the Viceroy, it put forward and secured the acceptance of the demand for separate electorates. Thus, in the wake of Congress was taking up anti-imperialist economic and political issues, the Muslim League Caucho preached that the interests of the Muslims and the Hindus were different. The Muslim Leagues political activities were directed not against the British but the Hindus and the Congo. It thus played into the hands of the British who announced that they would protect the special interests of the Muslims. · The League soon became one of the main instruments with which the British hoped to fight the rising nationalist movement.

The British also encouraged the Muslim League to approach the Muslim masses and to assume their leadership. Though the nationalist movement was also dominated at this time by the educated town-dwellers, in its anti-imperialism, it was representing the interests of all Indians-rich or poor, Hindus or Muslims. On the other hand, the Muslim League and its upper-class leaders had little in common with the interests of the Muslim masses, who were exploited as much as the Hindu masses by foreign rulers.

This basic weakness of the League was soon recognised by the young, educated, patriotic Muslims who were more attracted by radical nationalist ideas. The militantly nationalist Ahrar movement was founded at this time under the leadership of Maulana Mohammed Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Hasan Imam, and others. These young men disliked the loyalist politics of the Aligarh school and the Muslim League. Moved by modern ideas of self-government, they advocated active participation in the nationalist movement.

Similar nationalist sentiments rose among a section of the traditional Muslim scholars led by the Deoband school. The most prominent of these scholars was Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was educated at the famous Al Azhar University at Cairo and who propagated his nationalist ideas in his newspaper Al Hilal which he brought out in 1912. Maulana Mohammed Ali, Azad and other young men preached a message of courage and fearlessness and said that there was no conflict between Islam and nationalism.

In 1911 war broke out between Turkey and Italy and during 1912 and 1913 Turkey had to fight the Balkan powers. The Turkish ruler claimed to be also the Caliph or religious head of all Muslims; moreover, nearly all the Muslim holy places were situated within the Turkish Empire. A wave of sympathy for Turkey swept India. A medical mission, headed by Dr M.A. Ansari, was sent to help Turkey. Since Britain’s policy during the Balkan War and after was not sympathetic to Turkey, the pro-Turkey or Khilafat sentiments tended to become anti-imperialist.

Unfortunately, with the exception of a few persons like Azad who were rationalists in their thinking, most of the militant Muslim young men also did not fully accept the modern secular approach to politics. The result was that the most important issue they took up was not political independence but protection of the holy places and of the Turkish Empire. Instead of understanding and opposing the imperialist policies, they fought imperialism on the ground that it threatened the Caliph and the holy places. Though this approach did not immediately clash with Indian nationalism as it did encourage the nationalist trend among urban Muslims, in the long run, it proved harmful, as it encouraged the habit of looking at political questions from a religious viewpoint.

Even though no organisation of Hindu communalists was formed in this period, Hindu communal ideas also arose. Many Hindu writers countered the ideas and programme of the Muslim League by talking of Hindu nationalism and they declared that Muslims were foreigners in India. They also carried on a regular agitation for the ‘Hindu’ share of seats in legislatures and in government jobs.

The Khilafat And Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-22)

A new stream came into the nationalist movement with the Khilafat movement. The ground for common political action by Hindus and Muslims had already been prepared by the Lucknow Pact. The nationalist agitation against the Rowlatt Act had touched all the Indian people alike and brought Hindus and Muslims together in political agitation. For example, as an example of Hindu Muslim unity in political action, Swami Shradhanand, an Arya Samaj leader, was asked by the Muslims to preach, from the pulpit of the Jama Masjid at Delhi while Dr Saifuddin Kitchlu, a Muslim, was given the keys of the Golden Temple, the Sikh shrine at Amritsar.

In this atmosphere, the nationalist trend among the Muslims took the form of the Khilafat agitation. The politically conscious Muslims were critical of the treatment meted out to the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire by Britain and its allies who had partitioned it and insulted the Turkish Sultan, who was regarded as the Caliph of the Muslims. This was in violation of the earlier pledge given by the British. A Khilafat Committee was soon formed under the leadership of the Ali brothers (Maulana Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali), Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Hasrat Mohani, and a countrywide agitation was organised.

The All-India Khilafat Conference held at Delhi in November 1919 decided to withdraw all cooperation from the Government if their demands were not met. The Muslim League, now under the leadership of nationalists, gave full support to the National Congress and its agitation on political issues. Mahatma Gandhi viewed the Khilafat agitation as a golden opportunity for cementing Hindu-Muslim unity and bringing the Muslim masses into the national movement. Early in 1920, he had declared that the Khilafat question preceded other questions and announced that he would lead a movement of non-cooperation if the terms of peace with Turkey did not satisfy the Indian Muslims. In fact, very soon Gandhi became one of the leaders of the Khilafat movement.

Meanwhile, the Government refused to annul the Rowlatt Act or make amends for the atrocities in Punjab. The Hunter Committee appointed to enquire into the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre absolved General Dyer of all charges. In June 1920, an all-party conference met at Allahabad and approved a programme of the boycott of schools, colleges, and law courts. The Khilafat Committee launched a non-cooperation movement on 31 August 1920. Gandhi was the first to join in and he returned the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal awarded to him earlier for services during the War.

The Congress met in a special session in September 1920 at Calcutta. The Congress supported Gandhi’s plan for non-cooperation with the Government till the Punjab and Khilafat wrongs were removed and Swaraj established. The people were asked to boycott government educational institutions, law courts, and legislatures and to practice hand-spinning and hand weaving for producing khadi, The decision to carry the agitation in a peaceful manner was endorsed at the annual session of the Congress held at Nagpur in December 1920. The Nagpur session also made changes in the constitution of Congress. Provincial Congress Committees were reorganised on the basis of linguistic areas. The Congress was now to be led by a Working Committee of 15 members which would enable the Congress to function as a continuous political organisation and would provide it with the machinery for implementing its resolutions. Congress membership was thrown open to men and women of the age of 21 or more on payment of only 4 annas as an annual fee, so as to enable the Congress to attract the lower classes and also to have a regular source of income. The Congress now acquired a mass character and assumed the leadership of the masses in their national struggle for freedom.

The years 1921 and 1922 were to witness an unprecedented movement of the Indian people. Thousands of students left government schools and colleges and joined national schools and colleges. It was at this time that the Jamia Millia Islamia, the Bihar Vidyapith, the Kashi Vidyapith and the Gujarat Vidyapith came into existence. Acharya Narendra Dev, Dr Zakir Hussain, and Lala Lajpat Rai were among the many distinguished teachers at these educational institutions. Hundreds of leading lawyers, including Chittaranjan Das, popularly known as Deshbandhu, Motilal Nehru, and Rajendra Prasad, gave up their legal practice. The Tilak Swarajya Fund was started to finance the non-cooperation movement and within six months over a crore of rupees were subscribed. Huge bonfires of foreign cloth were organised all over the land. Khadi soon became a symbol of freedom.

The Government again took recourse to repression. The Congress and Khilafat Volunteer Corps, whose duty was to unite Hindu and Muslim political workers at lower levels, were declared illegal. By the end of 1921, all important nationalist leaders, except Gandhi, were behind the bars. In November 1921, huge demonstrations greeted the Prince of Wales during his tour of India.

The movement spread deep among the masses. Thousands of peasants in U.P. and Bengal had responded to the call of non-cooperation. In Punjab the Sikhs were leading a movement, known as the Akali movement, to remove corrupt mahants from the Gurudwaras, their places of worship. . In Malabar, the Mappilas, or Muslim peasants, created a powerful anti-zamindar movement. On 1 February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi announced that he would start mass civil disobedience, including non-payment of taxes at Bardoli in Gujarat unless within seven days the political prisoners were released and the press freed from government control.

But this event had to be reserved for a later date. On 5 February, a Congress procession of 3,000 peasants at Chauri Chaura, a village in the Gorakhpur District of U.P., was fired upon by the police. The angry crowd attacked and burnt the police station causing the death of 22 policemen. Gandhiji took a very serious view of this incident. It convinced him that the nationalist workers had not yet learned to wage a non-violent struggle without which, he felt, civil disobedience could not be a success.

He, therefore, decided to suspend the movement. The Congress Working Committee met at Bardoli in Gujarat on 12 February and passed a resolution suspending the movement. It urged Congressmen to donate their time to the constructive programme – popularisation of the charkha, national schools and temperance.

The Bardoli resolution stunned the country and had a mixed reception among the nationalists. While some had implicit faith in Gandhiji, others resented this decision to retreat. But Gandhiji was not to be easily forgotten and no one opposed him in public. They accepted his decision without open opposition. The non-cooperation movement virtually came to an end in 1922.

Very soon, the Khilafat question also lost relevance. The people of Turkey rose under the leadership of Mustafa Kamal and, in November 1922, deprived the Sultan of his political power. Kamal Pasha took many measures to modernise Turkey and to make it a secular state. He abolished the Caliphate and separated the state from religion by eliminating Islam from the Constitution. All these steps broke the back of the Khilafat agitation.

But, though the non-cooperation movement had ended in failure, the national movement had been strengthened. Nationalist sentiments had now reached the remotest corners of the land. The educated Indians had learnt to rely on their own people. The Indian people had lost their sense of fear-the brute strength of British power in India no longer frightened them. They had gained tremendous self-confidence which no defeats and retreats could shake.

Disintegration and disorganisation set in -after the withdrawal of the movement. Enthusiasm evaporated and disillusionment and discouragement prevailed in the ranks of the Congress party. Moreover, a serious difference arose among the leaders.

A fresh lead was now given by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru who advocated a new political strategy under the changed conditions. They said that nationalists should end the boycott of the Legislative Councils, enter them, obstruct their working, expose their weaknesses, and thus use them to arouse public enthusiasm. Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Dr Ansari, Babu Rajendra Prasad, and others, were known as nochangers, as they opposed Council-entry. They warned that legislative politics would weaken nationalist fervour and create rivalries among the leaders.

In December 1922, Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress Khilafat Swaraj Party with Das as President and Motilal Nehru as one of the secretaries. The new party was to function as a group within the Congress. It accepted the Congress programme except in one respect – it would take part in Council elections

The Swarajists and the “no-changers” were thus engaged in fierce political controversy. Even Gandhiji, who had been released on 5th February 1924 on grounds of health, failed in his efforts to unite them. But on his advice, the two groups agreed to remain in the Congress thought they would work in their separate ways.

Even though the Swarajists had little time for preparations, they did very well in the election of .. November 1923. They won 42 seats out of the 101 elected seats in the Central Legislative Assembly. With the cooperation of other Indian groups, they repeatedly outvoted the Government in the Central Assembly and in several of the Provincial Councils. In March 1925, they succeeded in electing Vithalbhai Patel, a leading nationalist leader, as the President (Speaker) of the Central Legislative Assembly. But they really failed to obstruct the working of the Councils and walked out of the Central Assembly in March 1926. The coalition they built up with other parties collapsed due to differences in communal issues. Many Swaraj Party leaders also fell prey to power and privileges and at times, collaborated with the Government. Meanwhile, the nationalist movement and the Swarajists suffered a grievous blow in the death of C.R. Das in June 1925.

As the non-cooperation movement petered out and the people felt frustrated, communalism reared its ugly head. The communal elements took advantage of the situation to propagate their views and after 1923, the country was repeatedly plunged into communal riots. The Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha, which was founded in December 1917, once again became active. Even the Swarajist Party, whose main leaders, Motilal Nehru and Das, were staunch nationalists, was split by communalism. A group is known as Responsivists, including Madan Mohan Malavya, Lala Lajpat Rai, and N.C. Kelkar, offered cooperation to the Government so that the so-called Hindu interests might be safeguarded. Similar was the case with the Muslim communalists in the Councils.

The youth was completely disillusioned with the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation movement as well as the failure of the Swarajists to paralyse the Government. So they again took to revolutionary terrorism, this time with socialist influence. A meeting of revolutionaries took place at Kanpur in October 1924, led by the veteran revolutionary Sachin Sanval and founded the Hindustan Republican Association (H.R.A.) to organise a rebellion against the British.

The government struck immediately, arresting a large number of youth in the Kakori Conspiracy case and hanging four people including Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan.

The terrorists soon came under the influence of socialist ideas, and, in 1928, under the leadership of Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Bhagwati Charan Vohra and others reorganised the H.R.A. into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

The revolutionaries outlined their ideology in a booklet called “The Philosophy of the Bomb”, drafted by B.C.Vohra and Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh also wrote a pamphlet called “Why I am an Atheist”. A dramatic manifestation of revolutionary terrorist activity was the assassination of a British police officer called Saunders in 1929 by Bhagat Singh, Azad and Rajguru. Saunders had earlier ordered a lathi charge on an anti-Simon demonstration led by Lala Lajpat Rai. This had resulted in a fatal injury to the great Punjabi leader, known popularly as Sher-e-Punjab.

Similarly, Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt threw a harmless bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly in April 1929, in protest against the passage of the Public Safety Bill, which would have reduced civil liberties. They could have easily escaped after the act but deliberately chose to be arrested for they wanted to make use of the court as a forum for revolutionary propaganda. In Bengal too revolutionary. terrorist activities were revived. In April 1930, a raid was organised on the government armoury at Chittagong under the leadership of Surya Sen. The old terrorist societies were revived. A remarkable aspect of the terrorist movement in Bengal was the participation of young women. The Government struck hard at the revolutionary terrorists. Many of them were arrested and tried in a series of cases. Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and a few others were tried for the assassination of police officers. Their statements in the courts and their fearless and defiant attitude won the sympathy of the people. Particularly inspiring was the hunger strike was undertaken by a young revolutionary, Jatin Das, in protest against the horrible conditions in the prisons. He attained martyrdom after 63 days and became a hero among the people. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were executed on 23 March 1931, despite popular protest.

Chandrashekhar Azad was killed in an encounter with the police in a public park, later renamed Azad Park, at Allahabad in February 1931. Surya Sen was arrested in February 1933 and hanged soon after. Hundreds of other revolutionaries were arrested, deported to Andamans or sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.

Freedom Struggle Of India: Nationalist Politics, 1935-1939

The Government of India Act, 1935

While the Congress was in the thick of battle, the Third Round Table Conference met in London in November 1932, once again without the leaders of the Congress. It discussions eventually led to the passing of the Government of India Act of 1935.

The Act could not satisfy the nationalist aspiration for both political and economic power continued to be concentrated in the hands of the British Government. Foreign rule was to continue as before, only a few popularly elected ministers were to be added to the structure of British administration in India. Congress condemned the Act as “totally disappointing”.

Though bitterly opposed to the Act, Congress decided to contest the elections under the new Act of 1935, but with the declared aim of showing how unpopular the Act was. The elections conclusively demonstrated that a large majority of Indian people supported the Congress which swept the polls in most of the provinces. Congress ministries were formed in July 1937 in seven out of eleven provinces and later coalition governments with other parties were formed in two others.

The Congress Ministers

Though the Congress ministers could not obviously change the imperialist character of British administration in India, they did try to improve the condition of the people within the narrow limits of the powers given to them under the Act of 1935. The Congress ministers reduced their own salaries drastically and travelled second or third class on the railways. They set up new standards of honesty and public service. They paid greater attention to education and public health. They helped the peasant bypassing anti-usury and tenancy legislation, promoted civil liberties, released political prisoners, enhanced the freedom of the press, gave more powers to Trade Unions. But the largest gain was psychological as people felt as if they were breathing the air of victory and self-government.

National Movement During The Second World War

The Second World War broke out in September 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in pursuance of Hitler’s scheme for German expansion. Britain and France which had tried their best to placate Hitler were forced to go to Poland’s aid. The Government of India immediately joined the war without consulting Congress or the elected members of the Central Legislature.

The National Congress was in full sympathy with the victims of fascist aggression and was willing to help the forces of democracy in their struggle against Fascism. But, the Congress leaders said that is not possible for an enslaved nation to aid others in their fight for freedom. They, therefore, demanded that India must be declared free – or at least effective power put in Indian hands – before it could actively participate in the war. The British Government refused to accept this demand, and Congress ordered its ministries to resign. In October 1940, Gandhi gave the call for Individual Satyagraha by a few selected individuals. The satyagraha was kept limited so as not to embarrass Britain’s war effort by a mass upheaval in India.

Two major changes in world politics occurred during 1941. Having occupied Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France in the west as well as most of Eastern Europe, Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. On 7 December, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbour and joined the war on the side of Germany and Italy. It quickly overran the Philippines, Indo-china, Indonesia and Malaya. It occupied Rangoon in March 1942 and this brought the war to India’s doorstep.

The British Government now desperately wanted the active cooperation of Indians in the war effort. To secure this cooperation, it was sent to India in March 1942, a mission headed by Sir Stafford Cripps, who had earlier been a member of the Labour Party and a strong supporter of the Indian national movement. Even though Cripps declared that the aim of British policy in India was the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India”, detailed negotiations between him and the Congress leaders broke down. The British Government refused to accept the Congress demand for the immediate transfer of effective power to Indians and the Indian leaders were not satisfied by mere promises for the future. As Gandhiji said “Cripps’ proposals are like a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank.

The failure of the Cripps Mission embittered the people of India and they felt that the existing political situation in the country had become intolerable. The Congress now decided to take active steps to compel the British to accept the Indian demand for independence. The All India Congress Committee met at the Gowalia Tank in Bombay on 8th August 1942. It passed the famous ‘Quit India’ Resolution and proposed the starting of a non-violent mass struggle under Gandhi’s leadership to achieve this aim. But before Congress could start a movement, the Government struck hard. The very next day, Gandhi and other Congress leaders were arrested and the Congress, once again declared it illegal.

The news of these arrests left the country aghast, and a spontaneous movement of protest arose everywhere, giving expression to the pent up anger of the people. Left leaderless and without any organisation, the people reacted in any manner they could. All over the country, there were hartals and strikes and demonstrations were láthi-charged. and fired upon. Angered by repeated firings and repression, in many places people took to violent actions. They attacked the symbols of British authority – the police stations, post offices, railway stations, etc. They cut telegraph and telephone wires, railway lines and burnt government buildings. In many places, the rebels seized temporary control over many towns and villages. British authority disappeared in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, and Maharashtra. In some areas, the revolutionaries set up ‘parallel governments’. In general, the students, and the peasants provided the backbone of the ‘revolt’, while the upper classes and the bureaucracy remained largely loyal to the Government.

The Government went all out to crush the 1942 movement. Its repression knew no bounds. The press was completely muzzled. Demonstrating crowds were machine-gunned and even bombed from the air. The secret police reigned supreme and the military took over many towns and cities. Over 10,000 people died in police and military firings. Rebellious villages had to pay punitive fines and the villagers had to undergo mass floggings. India had not witnessed such intense repression since the Revolt of 1857.

In the end, the Government succeeded in crushing the movement. After the suppression of the Revolt of 1942, there was hardly any political activity inside the country till the war ended in 1945 as the main nationalist leaders were behind bars. In 1943, Bengal was plunged into the worst famine in recent history. Within a few months over three million people died of starvation. There was deep anger among the people as the Government diverted food for the war effort which accentuated the famine.

The national movement, however, found a new expression outside the country’s frontiers. Subhas Chandra Bose had escaped from India in March 1941 to go to the Soviet Union for help. But when the Soviet Union joined the allies in June 1941, he went to Germany. In February 1943, he left for Japan to organise an armed struggle against British rule with Japanese help. In Singapore, he formed the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army or I.N.A, for short) to conduct a military campaign for the liberation of India. He was assisted by Rash Behari Bose, a veteran revolutionary. Before the arrival of Subhash Bose, steps towards the organisation of the I.N.A. had been taken by General Mohan Singh (at that time a Captain in the British Indian army). The I.N.A. was joined in large numbers by the Indian residents in Southeast Asia and by Indian soldiers and officers captured by the Japanese forces. Subhash Bose, who was now called Netaji by the soldiers of the I.N.A., gave his followers the battle cry of ‘Jai Hind’. The I.N.A. joined the Japanese army in its march on India from Burma. Inspired by the aim of freeing their homeland, the soldiers and officers of the I.N.A. hoped to enter India as its liberators with Subhash Bose at the head of the Provisional Government of Free India which was formed in October 1943. With the collapse of Japan in the War during 1944-45, the I.N.A. too met defeat, and Subhash Bose was killed in an air crash on his way to Tokyo. Even though his strategy of winning freedom in cooperation with the Fascist powers was criticised at that time by most Indian nationalists, by organising the I.N.A he set an inspiring example of patriotism before the Indian people. He was hailed as Netaji by the entire country.

Check out History of India notes in detail. 

Freedom Struggle Of India: Parallel Developments In Freedom Struggle

The early attempts to organize labour were made by Sasipada Banerjee who set up a Working Man’s Club in 1870 and brought a monthly journal called Bharat Sharmjibi (Indian Labor) and N.M. Lokhandi started the Bombay Mill and Mill Hands Association along with an Anglo Marathi Weekly called Deenbandhu.

The early nationalists did not pay much attention to the working class as they did not want to create any divisions within the ranks of the people when the movement was in its infancy. But the early nationalists indirectly supported them by attacking the British industrial policies in the Councils and in the press.

But the first landmark in the working-class movement was the Swadeshi movement where labour was properly organized and fund collection, legal aid and strikes became very common. Strikes were organized mostly in industries with foreign capital. It was for the first time that the worker was involved with the wider political issues of the day as the strikes were organized throughout the country by nationalist leaders.

But with the onset of the Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Non-Cooperation Movement, the All India Trade Union Congress (A.I.T.U.C.) was formed in 1920 with Lala Lajpat Rai as its first President and Diwan Chamanlal as secretary, thereby integrating worker’s issues with the freedom struggle. The workers now began to work towards Swaraj which also meant Swaraj for the working class. Their seriousness was shown as many important leaders like Sardar Patel, C.R. Das and Nehru presided over A.I.T.U.C. sessions.

The Working Class And Trade Union Movement During The Freedom Struggle

The Membership of Trade unions expanded but a new dimension was added with the rise of left-wing organizations. Left-Wing leaders like S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, P.C. Joshi etc. organized the Workers and Peasants Parties which joined the Congress and activated their labour movement. In 1926, the British passed The Trade Unions Act thus giving legal recognition to Trade Unions.

The Membership of Trade unions expanded but a new dimension was added with the rise of left-wing organizations. Left-Wing leaders like S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, P.C. Joshi etc., organized the Workers and Peasants Parties which joined the Congress and activated their labour movement. In 1926, the British passed The Trade Unions Act thus giving legal recognition to Trade Unions.

But increasing Government repression and distancing of communists from the Indian National Congress dealt a blow to the worker’s movement. But, the Communists rejoined the AITUC in 1935 and Trade Unionism gathered a lot of momentum. It was further strengthened with the formation of popular Governments in 1937 where a lot of labour legislation was passed.

The trade union movement grew by leaps and bounds after the Quit India Movement and as freedom grew nearer, the number of strikes increased along with increased hopes for freedom.

Freedom Struggle Of India: Peasant Movements During Freedom Struggle

The Kisan Sabha Movement: The Talukdars of Avadh in the U.P. were very oppressive charging high rates of revenue, collected illegal levies, nazrana etc., which made the life of the peasants miserable. The price rise during and after the First World War added to the misery of the peasants. The Home Rule Movement in U.P. created political awareness and peasants organized themselves by forming Kisan Sabhas. The U.P. Kisan Sabha was established by Gouri Shankar Misra, Indra Narain Dwivedi and M.M. Malavya in 1918. A large number of its members enrolled themselves as members of Congress. But it was Baba Ramachandra who activated the movement by involving G.S. Misra and Jawaharlal Nehru actively in the movement.

The start of the Non-Cooperation Movement created a split and the non-cooperators led by Misra and Nehru formed the Avadh Kisan Sabha in October. 1920 and inspired the Kisans not to pay illegal levies and use the weapon of social Boycott while the cooperators adopted the methods of Constitutional agitation.

The movement spread to Raebareily, Faizabad and Sultanpur districts where violence erupted taking the form of looting granaries and bazaars led by local leaders. This led to severe Government repression by January 1921 but the peasants were also pacified by the Avadh Rent Amendment Act, passed in the council which gave little relief to the peasants.

Freedom Struggle Of India: Eka Movement

This was also a result of the charged political atmosphere during the NonCooperation Movement and Congress and Khilafat leaders inspired the peasants, resulting in the birth of the Ekta or Eka movement. The centres of this movement were in the northern districts of Hardoi, Baharaich and Sitapur. The grievances were the usual ones of higher revenue and oppression by revenue collectors. There was also a religious angle to the movement as the vow was taken after a dip in the Ganges not to pay excess rent and not to perform illegal labour. The movement developed under the leadership of Madari Pasi and other lower caste leaders. But the Eka movement did not believe in non-violence and its resort to violence was easily suppressed by the British.

Freedom Struggle Of India: Mappila Rebellion

It was a rebellion in Malabar by the dominant Muslim peasantry because of the oppression by the Hindu Jenmies – the landlords in form of ejections, high rents, illegal levies etc. The Malabar District Congress Committee met at Manjeri in April 1920 and supported the tenants’ cause. Prominent Congress and Khilafat leaders like Gandhi, Moulana Azad and Mohd. Ali visited the area and addressed meetings which gave a boost to the movement and integrated the movement with Non-Cooperation Movement. But the arrest of all top leaders in February 1921 like U. Gopalan, Yakub. Hasan, Moideen Koya etc., resulted in the leadership passing off into local hands. The Mappilas now began to exhibit signs of turbulence due to Government repression and a raid on a mosque along with an unprovoked police firing gave the movement a violent turn. In the initial states, only Jenmies and symbols of Government authority like Government offices. railway and police stations were attacked, and poor Hindus were rarely touched as their leader Kunhammed Haji was secular. But as the Government repression increased, the Hindus were forced to cooperate with the British and this strengthened the anti-Hindú sentiment among the conservative and ignorant Mappilas. The movement now assumed a communal colour with forced conversions and murder of Hindus in a sense of desperation. The communalization of the movement made Congress withdraw its support of the movement. The revolt was brutally crushed by the British through military operations taking a huge physical toll. The revolt also drained the Mappilas of the will to fight and they never rose to fight the British again in the future despite the growth of a powerful peasant movement under the left influence in the 1930s. 

After the decline of the peasant movement in the 1920s, it rose again in the 1930s under the influence of socialism. After the withdrawal of the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1934, the peasants showed greater attempts to organize themselves as the movement had created a whole new generation of young militant cadres. The rise of the Communist Party of India (C.P.I) and the Congress Socialist Party (C.S.P) also gave a boost to the movement. Besides, the discontent all over India among the peasants due to the impact of the economic depression necessitated the need for the peasants to organize themselves on a national scale.

The establishment of the All India Kisan Sabha in Lucknow in 1936 with Swami Shahajanand as President and N.G. Ranga as Secretary marked the culmination of efforts to organize the peasants on a national scale. It brought out a bulletin called Kisan Manifesto, edited by Indulal Yagnik which greatly influenced the agrarian program adopted by the 1936 Faizpur Session and the manifesto of the Congress for the 1937 elections. The Kisan movement got a great boost with the coming of popular ministries as increased civil liberties permitted them to strengthen their organization. There were increasing efforts made to mobilize peasants by C.S.P. and C.P.I. activists by holding rallies and educating the peasants through lectures and cultural shows.

The movement was strong in provinces where the left organization was very strong, especially in Kerala, Andhra and Punjab. The Kisan movement accepted and based itself on the ideology of nationalism and its cadres and leaders carried the message of national freedom along with the organization of peasantry.

Check out History of India notes in detail. 

Growth Of Communism

Inspired by the Russian Revolution, the ideology spread to various countries and India was deeply influenced by it. The Communist Party of India (C.P.I.) was first formed by Indian exiles abroad led by M.N. Roy, an associate of Lenin, at Tashkent in October 1920. Independent of this development, various left-wing groups in India converged at Kanpur in December 1925 to form the C.P.I. with S.V. Ghate as General Secretary.

The C.P.I. called upon its members to enrol themselves as the members of the Congress to transform it into a more radical mass-based organization. The C.P.I. first organized Workers and Peasants’ Parties (WPPs) within the Congress and worked through them in provinces like Bengal, Punjab, Madras and Bombay with the leaders being people like S.A. Dange, Muzzaffar Ahmed, Qazi Nazrul Islam etc. These parties grew rapidly and left-wing Congressmen like Nehru and Bose welcomed them, which led to the growth of the Left Wing within the Congress. The communists, by 1929, were able to establish their hold on the working class.

In 1929, the communist influence in the national movement was virtually wiped out due to two developments. Firstly, there was severe repression by the Government which arrested all major communist leaders like. S.A. Dange, Muzzaffar Ahmed etc., tried them and sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment through a series of Bolshevik conspiracy cases.

Secondly, the Sixth Congress of the Communist International asked the communists to break with the Congress as it was a party of the bourgeois and declared it as a supporter of imperialism. It also dissolved the WPPs and the C.P.I. was to be an independent party. This isolated them from the national movement especially when it was on the verge of taking off and the Government took this opportunity in 1934 to declare C.P.I. illegal. But the movement was saved from disaster as many C.P.I. cadres joined the Congress and participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement and many revolutionary terrorists joined the C.P.I. in 1934.

The C.P.I. got a facelift when it was reorganized under the leadership of P.C. Joshi in 1935 and the Seventh Communist International, faced with the threat of fascism, altered its position and advocated the formation of a united front with the socialists and other anti-fascists. The Indian communists returned to the mainstream national movement led by Congress and accepted it as the leader of the anti-imperialist struggle. The C.P.I. now asked its cadres to again enrol themselves as members of the Congress but at the same time, the party remained committed to the objective of bringing the national movement under the domination of the working class. They worked hard within the Congress, occupied official positions at all levels and during the period, built up powerful peasant movements in Kerala, Andhra, Bengal and Punjab, besides dominating the Trade Union movement. After independence, many of the communists contested elections and served as an effective opposition besides making the functioning of parliamentary democracy more effective in India.

Impact of the left-wing on Congress

It transformed Congress into a mass-based organization with a sound social base. The Congress and the national movement got radicalised. The Congress acquired a sharp socio-economic content and it accepted the primacy of issues affecting the workers and the peasants. The workers and peasants were weaned away from revolutionary terrorism and they became part of mainstream nationalist politics due to the strong left-wing in the Congress.

Congress and World Affairs

A major development of the period 1935-1939 was the increasing interest the Congress took in world affairs. The Congress had from its inception in 1885 opposed the use of the Indian army and of India’s resources to serve British interests in Africa and Asia. It had gradually developed a foreign policy based on opposition to the spread of imperialism. In February 1927, Jawaharlal Nehru on behalf of the National Congress attended the Congress Against Imperialism and Colonial Exploitation at Brussels organised by political exiles and revolutionaries from the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Nehru was elected to the Executive Council of the League Against Imperialism that was born at the Brussels Congress and also headed the Foreign Affairs Wing within the Congress and made Congressmen aware of all international developments and their consequences. In 1927, the Madras session of the National Congress warned the Government that the people of India would not support Britain in any imperial war outside India.

In the 1930s the Congress took a firm stand against imperialism in any part of the work and supported national movements in Asia and Africa. It condemned Fascism which was rising at the time in Italy, Germany, and Japan and the imperialism which developed as a consequence of it. It also extended full support to Ethiopia, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and China in their fight against aggression by the fascist powers. In 1937, when Japan launched an attack on China, the National Congress passed a resolution calling upon the Indian people to boycott Japanese goods as a mark of their sympathy with the people of China. And in 1938, it sent a medical mission, headed by Dr M. Atal and the famous Dr Kotnis to work with the Chinese armed forces.

States Peoples’ Struggle

A major development during this period was the spread of the national movement to the princely states. Appalling economic, political, and social conditions prevailed in most of them. Peasants were oppressed, land revenue and taxation were excessive, education was retarded, health and other social services were extremely backward and freedom of the press and other civil rights hardly existed. The bulk of the state revenues were spent on the luxuries of the princes, though there were some exceptions.

Moreover, the British authorities used the princes to prevent the growth of national unity and to counter the rising national movement. The princes, in turn, depended on the British to protect them from popular revolts and adopted a hostile attitude to the national movement. In 1921, the Chamber of Princes was created to enable the princes to meet and discuss under British guidance, matters of common interest. In the Government of India Act, 1935, the proposed federal structure. was so planned as to check the forces of nationalism. It was provided that the princes would get 2/5th of the seats in the Upper House and 1/3rd of the seats in the Lower House. Even the Cripps’ proposals contained the clause that representatives of the princely states in the proposed Constituent Assembly would be nominated and not elected so that they could protect British interests.

People of many of the princely states now began to organise movements for democratic rights and popular governments. The All India States’ Peoples’ Conference had already been founded in December 1927 to coordinate political activities in the different states. Popular struggles were waged in many of the states, particularly in Rajkot, Kashmir, Hyderabad, and Travancore. The princes met these struggles with violent repression. Some of them also took recourse to communalism. The Nizam of Hyderabad declared that the popular agitation was anti-Muslim, the Maharaja of Kashmir branded it as anti-Hindu; while the Maharaja of Travancore claimed that Christians were behind it.

The Congress supported the states’ people’s struggle and urged the princes to introduce representative government and to grant basic civil rights. In 1938, when Congress defined its goal of independence as including the independence of the princely states. Next year, at the Tripuri session, it decided to take a more active part in the states’ people’s movements. The freedom struggles in both British Indian and princely states were integrated when Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the All India States’ Peoples’ Conference in 1939. The Quit India Movement’s scope was extended to princely states as well. The States’ peoples’ movement awakened national consciousness among the people of the states and helped Sardar Vallabhai Patel in the integration of princely states with India.

Growth of Communalism

Another important development was the growth of communalism. The elections for the legislative assemblies, organised on the basis of the restricted franchise and separate electorates, in 1937 produced separatist sentiments. The Muslim League did not capture many of the seats reserved for the Muslims in the elections. The Muslims League, led by Jinnah, now turned their bitter opposition to the Congress. It began to spread the cry that Islam was in danger of being engulfed by Hinduism. It propagated the unscientific and unhistorical theory that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations that had antagonistic interests. In 1940, the Muslim League passed a resolution demanding the creation of a separate state to be called Pakistan after independence.

The Muslim League propaganda was gained by the existence of such communal bodies among the Hindus as the Hindu Mahasabha. The Hindu communalists echoed the Muslim communalists by declaring that the Hindus were a distinct nation and that India was the land of the Hindus. They wanted the Muslims either to adopt the Hindu religion and culture or leave India. They actively opposed the policy of giving adequate safeguards to the minorities.

Interestingly enough, the Hindu and Muslim communal groups did not hesitate to join hands against the Congress. Another characteristic the various communal groups shared was their tendency to adopt pro-government political attitudes. It is to be noted that none of the community groups and parties, which talked of Hindu and Muslim nationalism, took an active part in the struggle against foreign rule. They saw the people belonging to other religions and the nationalist leaders as the real enemies.