Indian National Congress
The founder leaders of Indian National Congress were Dadabhai Naoroji,
Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji, W. C. Banerjee, Romesh Chandra
Dutt, S. Subramania Iyer Mainly.They came from Bombay and Calcutta.
Naoroji was a businessman and publicist settled in London, he guided the
younger nationalists. A. O. Hume, a retired British official, worked
significantly in reuniting Indians together.
The early moderate Congress raised a number of economic issues :
(a) It declared that British rule had led to poverty and famines, increase
in the land revenue had impoverished peasants and zamindars, and
export of grains to Europe had created food shortage.
(b) The Congress demanded reduction of revenue, cut in military
expenditure, and more funds for irrigation.
The factors that led to the rise of national consciousness among
the people of India were :
(i) Awareness among the people that the Britishers were exercising
control over them, leading to the formation of political associations. The
important political association formed during 1870-1880 were the Poona
Sarvajanik Sabha, the Indian Association, the Madras Mahajan Sabha, the
Bombay Presidency Association and the Indian National Congress.
(ii) The dissatisfaction with British rule intensified in the 1870s and 1880s.
They posted various laws which agitated the people of India.
(iii) The Arms Act passed in 1878, disallowed the Indians from possessing
arms.
(iv) In the same year, the Vernacular Press Act was also enacted in an
effort to check those who were critical of the government. The Act allowed
the government to confiscate the assets of newspapers which published
anything that was found ‘objectionable’.
(v) In 1883, there was an attempt by the government to introduce the
Ilbert Bill. The bill provided for the trial of British or European persons by
Indians, and sought equality between British and Indian judges in the
country. But when white opposition forced the government to withdraw
the bill, Indians were enraged. of the British The in event India
highlighted the racial attitudes in India.
Partition of Bengal
Results of partition of Bengal :
(a) All sections of the Congress – the Moderates and the Radicals, as they
were called, opposed it.
(b) Large public meetings and demonstrations were organised and novel
methods of mass protest were developed.
(c) The struggle that unfolded came to be known as the Swadeshi
movement, strongest in Bengal but with echoes elsewhere too, in deltaic
Andhra for instance, it was known as the Vandemataram Movement.
Quit India Movement
Mahatma Gandhi was a mass leader. Gandhiji, aged 46, arrived in India in
1915 from South Africa. Having led Indians in that country in non-violent
marches against racist restrictions, he was already a respected leader,
known internationally.
His South Africa campaigns had brought him in contact with various types
of Indians:Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians, Gujaratis, Tamil and
North-Indians and upper-class merchants, lawyers and workers.
Mahatma Gandhi spent his first year in India travelling throughout the
country, understanding umall the people, their needs and the overall
situation.
Mahatma Gandhi decided to initiate a new phase of movements against
the British in the middle of the Second World War.
(a) He told them that the British must quit India immediately. He urged
the people “do or die in your effort to fight against the British-but you
must fight non-violently”.
(b) Gandhi and other leaders were jailed at once when the movement
spread.
(c) It specially attracted peasants and the youth who gave up their
studies to join it.
(d) Communications and symbols of state authority were attacked on, all
over the country
(e) In many areas, people set up their own governments.
Swadeshi Movement
The word ‘Swadeshi’ comes from two words-‘swa’ and ‘desh’ which means
one’s own country. The Swadeshi Movement sought to oppose British rule
and encourage the ideas of self-help, Swadeshi enterprise, national
education, and use of Indian languages. To fight for swaraj, the radicals
advocated mass mobilization and boycott of British institutions and goods.
Muslim League
A groups of Muslim landlords and Nawabs formed the All India Muslim
league at Dacca in 1906. The league supported the partition of Bengal. It
desired separate electorates for Muslims. This demand was conceded by
the government in 1906.
The goals of Muslim League were :
(a) The Muslim League supported the partition of Bengal.
(b) It demanded separate electorates for Muslim, conceded by the
government in 1909.
(c) It wanted special favours for its own religious group/minority people.
Demands of Muslim League
The Muslim league had moved a resolution demanding “Independent
states” for Muslims in the north-western and eastern areas of the country.
(a) The resolution did not mention partition or creation of Pakistan.
(b) From the late 1930, the league began viewing the Muslims as a
separate `nation’ from the Hindus.
(c) The development of this nation may have been influenced by the
history of tension between some Hindu and Muslim groups in the 1920s
and 1930s.
(d) More importantly, the provincial elections of 1937 seemed to have
convinced the league that Muslims were a minority and they would always
have to play second fiddle in any democratic structure. It feared that
Muslims may even go unrepresented.
(e) The Congress’s rejection of the league’s desire to form a joint
congress – league government in the United Provinces in 1937, also
annoyed the league.
Rowlatt Act
The Rowlatt Act was introduced by the British in 1919.According to this
act, any Indian could be arrested without trial in the court of law.The act
curbed fundamental rights such as the freedom of expression and
strengthened police powers. Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah and
others felt that the government had no right to restrict people’s basic
freedoms. They criticized the Act as devilish and tyrannical.
Moderates
The leaders and workers of the Congress were known as ‘Moderates’.
Moderates practised the “Politics of progress”. They would raise various
political, administrative and economic issues, place their demands before
the government, and expected the government to take action
accordingly. Struggle against British Rule : They wanted to develop public
awareness about the unjust nature of British rule. They published
newspapers, wrote articles, and showed how the British rule was leading
to the economic ruin of the country. They criticised British rule in their
speeches and sent representatives to different parts of the country to
mobilise public opinion. They felt that the Britishers had respect for the
ideals of freedom and justice, and so would accept the just demands of
Indians.
The effects of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre :
(i) On learning about the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore expressed the
pain and anger of the country by renouncing his knighthood.
(ii) The Congress campaigned against Jallianwala Bagh massacre by
initiating Non-cooperation Movement.
The aims of NCM and Khilafat movements were :
(a) They demanded for Swaraj.
(b) They wanted to reduce the ‘wrongs’ committed against Punjab and
Turkey.
Non-Cooperation Movement
Mahatma Gandhi was against violent movements. He abruptly called off
the Non-Cooperation Movement when in February 1922, a crowd of
peasants set fire to a police station in Chauri Chaura. The Non-
Cooperation Movement gained momentum through 1921-22. Thousands
of students left government controlled schools and colleges. Many lawyers
gave up their practices. British titles were surrendered, people lit public
bonfires of foreign cloth. Large part of the country was on the edge of
revolt.
Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai was a nationalist from Punjab, he was one of the leading
members of the Radical group which was critical of the politics of
petitions. He was also an active member of the Arya Samaj.
Jinnah’s role in the Muslim League
Mohammed Ali Jinnah was an ambassador of Hindu Muslim unity until
1920. He played an important role in the making of the Lucknow pact. He
reorganised the Muslim League after 1934 and became the major
spokesperson for the illicit demand of a separate country-Pakistan.
The British expand its army during the War period :
People in for an villages were pressurized to supply soldiers for an alien
cause.
(i) A large number of soldiers were sent overseas.
(ii) Many returned after the ways with an understanding of the ways in
which imperialist powers were exploiting the people in Asia and Africa,
and with a desire to oppose colonial rule in India.
