Elaborate Notes
Constructive Work of Extremists
The ‘Constructive Programme’ was a core component of the Extremist strategy, aimed at fostering Atma Shakti or self-reliance among the Indian populace. It was conceived as a parallel stream of nation-building, running alongside direct political agitation. This apolitical activity focused on mobilising the community and equipping them with skills to enhance their confidence and reduce dependence on the colonial state.
- Promotion of Swadeshi and Atmanirbharta: This went beyond the mere boycott of foreign goods. It was an economic programme to build an indigenous industrial base. Visionaries like Prafulla Chandra Ray had already established the Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Works in 1892, which became a flagship Swadeshi enterprise. The movement saw the establishment of numerous Swadeshi textile mills, soap factories, banks (e.g., Punjab National Bank, Bank of India), and insurance companies. This was a practical application of the economic critique of colonialism earlier articulated by scholars like Dadabhai Naoroji in his work “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India” (1901).
- Swadeshi/National Education: Reacting to Lord Curzon’s Indian Universities Act (1904), which sought to tighten government control over education, nationalists established parallel educational institutions. The National Council of Education was set up in Bengal in 1906 to organise a system of education on national lines and under national control. The Bengal National College was founded with Aurobindo Ghosh as its first principal. The goal was to create an education system that was scientific and technical while being rooted in Indian culture and values, thereby producing patriotic citizens rather than colonial clerks.
- Cultural Nationalism: The Extremists skillfully employed cultural and religious symbols to foster a sense of national unity and pride. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in the 1890s, had already popularised the Ganapati and Shivaji festivals in Maharashtra to mobilise the masses. During the Swadeshi movement, this method was widely adopted. Folk traditions like Jatras (folk theatre) were used to disseminate nationalist ideas to the rural masses. The cry of ‘Vande Mataram’, from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anandmath (1882), became the rallying cry of the movement, symbolising the deification of the motherland.
- Community Mobilisation and Social Reform: Volunteer organisations, or samitis, were crucial instruments for mass mobilisation. The Swadesh Bandhab Samiti, founded by Ashwini Kumar Dutt in Barisal, was a remarkable example. It had 159 branches that penetrated deep into the countryside, carrying out social work, settling disputes in its arbitration courts, and preaching the Swadeshi message even among the Muslim peasantry. The programme also included social reform elements like anti-liquor campaigns, anti-untouchability work, and promoting women’s participation in the national struggle.
The Swadeshi Movement (1905-1911)
The Swadeshi Movement was the first popular, mass-based movement in the Indian National Movement, with the explicit goal of attaining Swaraj (self-rule).
- Reasons for the Movement:
- Curzonian Administration (1899-1905): The reactionary policies of Viceroy Lord Curzon acted as a major catalyst.
- Calcutta Municipal Amendment Act, 1899: This Act reduced the number of elected Indian members in the Calcutta Corporation, giving British members an official majority. It was seen as an attack on the nascent institutions of local self-government and an affront to the educated Bengali elite, as analysed by historian Sumit Sarkar in “The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal, 1903-1908” (1973).
- Indian Universities Act, 1904: Curzon believed that universities had become “factories of sedition.” This act increased government control over university senates, nominated fellows, and imposed stricter conditions for affiliation of colleges, thereby stifling academic autonomy.
- Indian Official Secrets Amendment Act, 1904: This act widened the scope of the term ‘sedition’ to include any disclosure of information that could be prejudicial to the interests of the state, thereby severely curtailing the freedom of the nationalist press.
- The Partition of Bengal (1905): This was the immediate trigger. The decision was formally announced in July 1905 and came into effect on October 16, 1905.
- British Justification: The official reason given was administrative efficiency. The province of Bengal, with a population of 78 million, was admittedly unwieldy. The government argued that the partition would lead to better administration in the neglected eastern regions and promote the development of Assam by linking it with the port of Chittagong.
- Indian Stand and the Real Motive: Indian nationalists universally condemned the partition as a blatant application of the ‘Divide and Rule’ policy.
- Linguistic Division vs. Religious Division: Nationalists like Surendranath Banerjea pointed out that if administrative convenience were the real motive, the division should have been on linguistic lines, separating the Hindi-speaking regions of Bihar and the Odia-speaking regions of Orissa from Bengal proper. Instead, the division was done on religious lines.
- Weakening the Nerve Centre of Nationalism: Bengal was the hub of Indian nationalism. The partition was designed to fracture this hub. The new province of East Bengal and Assam had a Muslim majority, while in the new Bengal province, Bengalis themselves were reduced to a linguistic minority, being outnumbered by Hindi and Odia speakers.
- Communal Divide: As historian Bipan Chandra argues in “India’s Struggle for Independence,” the partition was a deliberate attempt to create a wedge between Hindus and Muslims. Curzon openly wooed the Muslim elite, promising them a new province where they would enjoy a dominant position, a move that culminated in the formation of the Muslim League in 1906 under the patronage of Nawab Salimullah of Dacca.
- Curzonian Administration (1899-1905): The reactionary policies of Viceroy Lord Curzon acted as a major catalyst.
Events and Methods of the Movement
- The Moderate Phase (1903-1905): The plan for partition became known in 1903 with the publication of the Risley Papers (notes by Home Secretary H.H. Risley). The initial response, led by Moderates like Surendranath Banerjea, Prithwishchandra Ray, and Krishna Kumar Mitra, was to use constitutional methods of protest. They launched extensive press campaigns through newspapers like ‘The Bengalee’ and ‘Sanjibani’, submitted petitions, and held public meetings. This phase, however, failed to dissuade the government.
- The Extremist Phase (1905-1908): With the failure of Moderate methods, the movement passed into the hands of the Extremists.
- On August 7, 1905, a massive meeting at the Calcutta Town Hall formally adopted the Boycott Resolution, marking the beginning of the movement.
- The day of partition, October 16, 1905, was observed as a day of national mourning. People fasted, walked barefoot to the Ganga for a holy dip, and tied rakhis on each other’s wrists as a symbol of unity, a gesture popularised by Rabindranath Tagore.
- The Barisal Conference of April 1906 became a turning point. The brutal police crackdown on the peaceful procession of delegates, including S.N. Banerjea, radicalised the movement and exposed the futility of peaceful petitions.
- The Extremists, led by Aurobindo Ghosh, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, now gave the call for Passive Resistance. This was a more radical programme than constructive Swadeshi, advocating for a complete boycott of British administration, including government services, courts, and schools, which was a precursor to Gandhian Non-Cooperation.
- At the Calcutta session of the INC in 1906, under the presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji, the Extremists succeeded in passing four key resolutions on Swaraj, Boycott, Swadeshi, and National Education. This was the first time Swaraj was officially adopted as the goal of the Congress.
The Surat Split (1907) and Rise of Revolutionaries
- The Surat Split: Deep ideological differences between the Moderates and Extremists, coupled with the British policy of ‘rallying the moderates’ through promises of reforms (the future Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909), led to a split in the Congress.
- Causes: The Moderates were wary of the Extremists’ radical methods and wanted to confine the movement to Bengal, while the Extremists wanted to take it to the rest of the country. The conflict came to a head at the Surat session in 1907 over the issues of the election of the president (Extremists wanted Lala Lajpat Rai, Moderates proposed Rashbehari Ghose) and the reaffirmation of the four Calcutta resolutions.
- Event: The session descended into chaos, leading to the expulsion of the Extremists. The Congress, now firmly under Moderate control (dubbed the ‘Mehta Congress’ after Pherozeshah Mehta), reiterated its loyalty to the Raj in its 1908 session.
- The Rise of Revolutionary Activities (1908 onwards): With the Extremist leaders either imprisoned (Tilak) or in self-exile (Aurobindo), and the mass movement losing steam, the political vacuum was filled by young revolutionaries who had lost faith in both moderate and extremist methods.
- Ideology and Methods: Influenced by Russian Nihilists and Irish nationalists, they believed in ‘individual heroic action’—assassinating unpopular British officials to strike terror into the hearts of the rulers and inspire the masses. This was seen as a short-term strategy, with the long-term goal being to incite a popular armed revolt.
- Key Incidents:
- Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case (1908): Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose threw a bomb at a carriage they believed was carrying the unpopular magistrate, Kingsford. It mistakenly killed two Englishwomen. Prafulla Chaki shot himself, and Khudiram Bose was hanged. The subsequent police investigation led to the arrest of several revolutionaries, including Aurobindo Ghosh, in the Alipore Conspiracy Case.
- Tilak’s Sedition Trial (1908): Tilak was arrested and charged with sedition for his articles in his newspaper ‘Kesari’, where he defended the revolutionaries’ motives while condemning their methods. He was defended by Mohammed Ali Jinnah but was sentenced to six years of imprisonment in Mandalay, Burma.
- Delhi Conspiracy Case (1912): A bomb was thrown at the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, during his official entry into the new capital, Delhi. The attack was masterminded by Rashbehari Bose and Sachin Sanyal. Hardinge was injured but survived.
Impact of the Swadeshi Movement
The movement was ultimately repressed by 1908 and the partition was annulled in 1911, not primarily due to the movement, but for administrative and political convenience. However, its impact was profound.
- Political Transformation: It marked a decisive shift in the Indian National Movement from elite-driven petitioning to mass-based politics. Methods like boycott and passive resistance became standard tools for future struggles.
- Economic Impact: It provided a significant stimulus to indigenous industries and fostered the idea of economic self-reliance, which became a cornerstone of the nationalist and later, Gandhian, ideology.
- Cultural Renaissance: The period witnessed a flowering of nationalist literature, art, and science. The songs of Rabindranath Tagore (his ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ became the national anthem of Bangladesh) and Subramania Bharati, and the paintings of Abanindranath Tagore, which revived Indian art forms, are testaments to this cultural awakening.
- Social Base: The movement expanded the social base of nationalism, bringing students, women, and a section of the urban working class into active politics for the first time on a large scale.
- Negative Fallout: Its heavy reliance on Hindu religious symbolism alienated a large section of the Muslim community. This, combined with the British policy of divide and rule, led to the formation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, formalising communal politics in India. The annulment of the partition in 1911 was accompanied by the shifting of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, a move designed to reduce the political stature of Bengal in national politics.
Prelims Pointers
- Swadeshi Movement Timeline: 1905-1911.
- Viceroy during Partition of Bengal: Lord Curzon.
- Viceroy during Annulment of Partition: Lord Hardinge.
- Date Partition of Bengal came into effect: October 16, 1905.
- Official reason for Partition: Administrative convenience.
- Nationalist interpretation of Partition: Divide and Rule policy.
- Risley Papers (1903): Official documents that first revealed the government’s plan for partition.
- Sanjibani: Newspaper edited by Krishna Kumar Mitra, which first gave the call for the boycott of British goods.
- Four Calcutta Resolutions (INC Session, 1906): Swaraj, Boycott, Swadeshi, National Education.
- President of INC Calcutta Session, 1906: Dadabhai Naoroji.
- President of INC Surat Session, 1907: Rashbehari Ghose.
- Swadesh Bandhab Samiti: Founded by Ashwini Kumar Dutt in Barisal.
- Bengal National College: First Principal was Aurobindo Ghosh.
- National Council of Education: Established in 1906.
- Anushilan Samiti: A prominent revolutionary secret society in Bengal.
- Yugantar: A revolutionary weekly newspaper started by Barindra Kumar Ghosh and others.
- Muzaffarpur Conspiracy (1908): Attempt on the life of Magistrate Kingsford by Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose.
- Alipore Conspiracy Case (1908): Case against Aurobindo Ghosh and other revolutionaries following the Muzaffarpur bombing. Aurobindo was defended by Chittaranjan Das (C.R. Das).
- Tilak’s newspapers: ‘Kesari’ (Marathi) and ‘Mahratta’ (English).
- Delhi Conspiracy Case (1912): Bomb attack on Viceroy Lord Hardinge. Masterminded by Rash Behari Bose.
- Annulment of Partition of Bengal: 1911, at the Delhi Durbar.
- Shifting of Capital: From Calcutta to Delhi, announced in 1911.