INDIAN NATIONAL MOVT./ INC AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS

INDIAN NATIONAL MOVT./ INC AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS

- October 10, 2018

The Zamindari Association
The Zamindari Association, which was later renamed Landholders’ Society, was established in 1838 by Dwarkanath Tagore
“the first organisation of Bengal with distinct political object.”
The society virtually became defunct after the death of Dwarkanath Tagore.
British India Society
The British India Society was set up in 1839 in England primarily as a result of the efforts of William Adam, who had come to India and befriended Ram Mohan Roy. On his return to England he took up India’s cause. They organised meetings and enlightened people about conditions in India. In 1841, it started publishing a newspaper named British Indian Advocate, edited by Professor William Adam.
In 1842, Dwarkanath Tagore went to England, It was the second visit abroad by educated Indians and the first since that of Ram Mohan Roy
British Indian Association was established in 1851.
Its establishment meant Indians had come together and could no longer be ignored.
It developed enormous hopes amongst the Indians about their future.
Indian Association,
Indian Association, nationalist political group in India that favoured local self-government and served as a preparatory agent for the more truly national Indian National Congress.
The association was founded in Bengal in 1876 by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose; it soon displaced the Indian League, which had been founded the year before, and rivaled the long-standing British Indian Association, which it regarded as a reactionary body of landlords and industrialists.
The association was supported mainly by younger Bengali intelligentsia.
It spread beyond Bengal to other parts of India but remained Bengali in character.
The association found an issue in opposing the lowering of the age limit for civil service examinations (1877),
in 1878 it objected to the Vernacular Press Act, which stifled the Indian press.
It advocated local self-government and tenant rights,
the Bengal Tenancy Act was finally passed in 1885,
it demanded representative government.
After the Indian National Congress was founded in 1885, the association gradually lost ground.
The first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.
The Indian National Congress conducted its first session in Bombay from 28–31 December 1885 at the initiative of retired Civil Service officer Allan Octavian Hume.
Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 a notice convening the first meeting of the Indian National Union to be held in Poona the following December was issued.
Due to a cholera outbreak there, it was moved to Bombay.
Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin.
The concept of Safety Valve Theory says that the British had seen the political situation in the country leading to another rebellion on the lines of the political situation in the country leading to another rebellion on the lines of the Mutiny of 1857; and they wished to avoid such a situation.
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of Congress; the first session was attended by 72 delegates Representing each province of India.
Notable representatives included Scottish ICS officer William Wedderburn, Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta of the Bombay Presidency Association, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, social reformer and newspaper editor Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Justice K. T. Telang, N. G. Chandavarkar, Dinshaw Wacha, Behramji Malabari, journalist and activist Gooty Kesava Pillai, and P. Rangaiah Naidu of the Madras Mahajana Sabha.
Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister Indian National Association, was elected president of the party in 1886 and was the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons (1892–1895).
Congress also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Jinnah was a member of the moderate group in the Congress, favouring Hindu–Muslim unity in achieving self-government.
These Moderates used the methods of petition, prayers, pamphlets, persuation, appeal, leaflets meetings, memorandum, delegations, deliberations, cooperation and reconciliation to present their demands.
The Moderates Phase (1885-1905) : The methods of the Indian National Congress was constitutional in this phase and worked within the framework of the law.
Moderates aimed at administrative and constitutional reforms.
Moderate leaders had faith in the British sense of justice and fair play.
Moderates Believed political connections with Britain to be in India’s social, political and cultural interests.
demanded more Indians in the administration and not to end the British rule since they sensed its impossible at that time.
Most of the moderate leaders were inspired by the ideas of western philosophers like Mill, Burke, Spencer, and Bentham.
Moderates imbibed western ideas of liberalism, democracy, equity, and freedom.
The educated Indians who built the idea of nationalism and criticized economic policy and exposed colonial exploitation of the British.
Most of the moderate leaders held high ranks under the British government.
Most of the moderate leaders were loyal to British
Moderates received their support from the intelligentsia and urban middle class. Moderates had a narrow social base.
notable goal is the expansion of the legislative council by the Indian Council Act of 1892.
Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjee during the partition of Bengal in 1905, and the resultant Swadeshi movement.
The partition of Bengal led to the rise of extremism in INC.
The Extremist Phase (1905-1919) :
There were some members who were dissatisfied with the scheme of peaceful affairs under the Moderate leaders. Fiery and spirited leaders like Lala Lajpath Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak Aurobindo Ghose and Bipin Chandra Pal parted company with them.
divided into two groups(in the year 1907) mainly by extremists and moderates at the Surat Session of the Congress.
The period 1885-1905 was known as the period of the moderates as moderates dominated the INC.
The split between these two sections became outward at the end of Banaras Session of congress (1905).
Lokmanya Tilak and his followers held a separate conference and declared the formation of the Extremist Party.
However they decided to work as a part of the Indian National Congress. Difference between moderates and extremists further widened in Calcutta Session of congress (1906) and there were attempts between them to elect one of them as the president of congress.
The moderates opposed the resolutions on Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott of foreign goods and National Education and requested to withdraw from the policy laid down in the Calcutta session.
But the extremists were not ready to do so.
In 1907 the INC meeting was to be held in Pune and the extremists wanted Lala Lajpat Rai or Bal Gangadhar Tilak as president.
But moderates wanted the Rash Behari Ghosh to be president(not Aurobindo Ghosh who was revolutionary and later tuned to spiritualism and created Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
Gopal Krishna Gokhale changed the meeting place from Pune to Surat fearing that if Pune was to be held as meeting place then Bal Gangadhar Tilak would become President.
Surat was in Bombay Presidency/Province, where Bal Gangadhar Tilak was from.
Surat was the home province of Bal Gangadhar Tilak so he could not preside over the meeting.
Hence it was decided that Ghosh would be president.
Extremists protested in the INC meeting as Bal Gangadhar Tilak was not given permission even to speak by Madanmohan Malviya(Moderate).
extremists then reacted by throwing eggs, footwear etc and wanted the meeting to be cancelled.
Moderates then held a secret meeting and decided to abdicate extremists.
Result was the Congress remained under the control of the Moderates.
Swaraj or self government was made the call of the National Congress in this phase.
Extremists believed in militant methods including swadeshi and boycott.
According to Tilak, freedom to be fought for.
Extremists believed in atma shakti or self-reliance as a weapon against domination.
Extremist drew their supporters included peoples from all sections including the lower middle class, workers, and farmers. Extremists thus had a wider social base.
Extremist rejected British rule and held it responsible for the backwardness and poverty of the Indian people.
Extremists drew their inspiration from India’s past.
Extremists revived the Ganapati and Sivaji festivals to arouse the masses.
Extremists wanted to inculcate pride in India’s glorious culture to generate the spirit of nationalism.
Extremists invoked goddesses Kali or Durga for strength to fight for the motherland.
These religeous activities alienated Muslims from the national movement who were already aggreived of the meagre represetation of the Indian National Congress.
The very next year Muslim League was formed(1906) in dhaka.
Tilak said, “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it”.
Extremist denounced British rule and defied it. Many of them(Extremists) Were arrested because of anti-British activities.
The British Government immediately launched a massive attack on the extremists and Extremist newspaper were suppressed.
Lokmanya Tilak, their main leader, was sent to Mandalay jail for six years.
Partition of Bengal
The decision to effect the Partition of Bengal was taken by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon.
The partition took place on 16 October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas.
The Hindus of West Bengal who dominated Bengal's business and rural life complained that the division would make them a minority in a province that would incorporate the province of Bihar and Orissa.
"Divide and rule" policy of British
In order to appease Bengali sentiment, Bengal was reunited by Lord Hardinge in 1911 , in response to the Swadeshi movement's riots in protest against the policy
The provincial state of Bengal had an area of 5,00,000 km2 and a population of nearly 80 million.
It included the Hindi-speaking regions of Bihar, the Odia-speaking regions of Odisha as well as the Assamese-speaking region of Assam, making it a huge administrative entity.
the capital, Calcutta, was also the capital of the entire British India.
With the growing efforts of the Indian freedom fighters to secure the independence of India, Lord Curzon decided to address both these problems by partitioning Bengal into two entities,
This he hoped would reduce the administrative pressures.
Due to political protests, the two parts of Bengal were reunited on 12 December 1911.
A new partition which divided the province on linguistic, rather than religious grounds followed, with the Hindi, Oriya and Assamese areas separated to form separate administrative units: Bihar and Orissa Province was created to the west, and Assam Provinceto the east.
The administrative capital of British India was moved from Calcutta to New Delhi as well.
In 1909, separate elections were established for Muslims and Hindus.
Before this, many members of both communities had advocated national solidarity of all Bengalis.
With separate electorates, distinctive political communities developed, with their own political agendas.
Muslims, too, dominated the Legislature, due to their overall numerical strength of roughly twenty two to twenty eight million.
In 1947, Bengal was partitioned for the second time, solely on religious grounds, as part of the Partition of India following the formation of the nations India and Pakistan.
In 1947, East Bengal became East Pakistan, and in 1971 became the independent state of Bangladesh.
The Home Rule Movement (1916)
The release of Tilak after 6 years of jail is Mandalay (Burma) moderated the launching of Home Rule Movement by Tilak and Mrs. Annie Besnat, both of whom decided to work in close co-operation to launch the movement to attain concessions, disillusionment with Morley Minto Reforms and Wartime miseries.
Russian Revolution: It was one of the most significant events of the 20th century main causes were: discontent towards the autocritic rule of Nicholas II, the new Czar; special privileges enjoyed by the upper class; and miserable conditions of the labourers and the factory workers. The Bolsheviks,led by Lenin, seized power in Petrograd(now Leningard) on November 7,1917. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) came into being.
Rowlatt Act (March 1919) : As per this act, any person could be arrested No appeal or petition could be filed against such arrests. This Act was called the Black Act and it was widely opposed.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (13 april ,1919) : On the Baisakhi day (harvest festival), a public meeting was organised at the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) to support the Rowlatt Satyagraha. General dyer marched in and without any warning opened fire on the crowd. According to official report 379 people were killed and 1137 wounded in the incident.
The Gandhian Phase (1919-1947)
This phase was dominated by the objective of Purna Swaraj or Complete independence. The dynamic leadership of Gandhiji with a unique method of non violence was finally able to shrink the British Empire.
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement was launched in defense of the Turkish Khalifa and save his Empire from dismemberment by Britain and other European powers. The chief cause of the Khilafat movement was the defeat of Turkey in the First World War.
The harsh terms of the Treaty of Sevres(1920) was felt by the Muslim as a great insult to them. The Muslims in India were upset over the British attitude against Turkey and launched the Khilafat Movement.
Ali brothers, Muhammed Ali, Shaukat Ali, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Dr. M. Ansari, among others, started the movement. October 17,1919 was known as Khilafat Day when the Hindu united with Muslims in fasting and observed a hartal on that day.
The Khilafat Movement merged with the Non-cooperation Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920.
Non-cooperation Movement :
The Indian National Congress under the leadership of Gandhi, launched his first innovative protest, the Non-cooperation Movement on 1 August, 1920. It involved surrender of all titles, honorary offices and nominated posts in local bodies.
British courts, offices and all kinds of government-run educational institutions were boycotted.
Chauri-Chaura Incident : During the Non-cooperation Movement, being provoked by some policemen, a section of the crowd attacked them. The police opened fire. In retaliation, the entire procession killed 22 policemen and set the police station on fire. stunned Gandhi decided to withdraw the movement.
The Swaraj Party (Jan, 1923)
The suspension of the Non-cooperation Movement led to a split within Congress in the Gaya session of the Congress in December 1922. On 1 January 1923 leaders like Motilal Nehru and formed a separate group within the Congress known As the Swaraj Party to contest the council elections and wrecked the government from within
Simon Commission (Nov, 1927): to report on the working of the Indian constitution established by the Government of India Act of 1919. Simon Commission visited India in 1928.
All its seven members were Englishmen. As there was no Indian member in it therefore the Commission faced a lot of criticism. Lala Lajpat Rai was seriously injured in the police lathi charge in a large anti-Simon Commission demonstration on 30 October 1928 and he passed away after one month.
Civil Disobedience Movement
Civil Disobedience Movement was launched in 1930 under Gandhi’s leadership with the violation of the Salt Law after the Dandi Salt March.
The Dandi march (Salt Satyagraha) started from Sabarmati Ashram and ended at Dandi (a place in Gujarat). This was followed by a lot of agitation all over the country. This enraged the British government which resulted in imprisonment of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.
On March 1930, Gandhi signed the Gandhi-Irwin Pact with the viceroy Lord Irwin to call off the movement. finally came to an end on 7th April 1934.
Poona Pact(1932) : Poona pact was an agreement upon a joint electorate between the untouchables and the Hindus which The Poona pact took place at Yerawada jail in Pune on 24th September,1932.
The Individual satyagraha (August 1940) : Mahatma Gandhi launched in Individual Satyagraha.It was limited, symbolic and Non-violent in nature.
Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the first Satyagrahi and he was sentenced to three months imprisonment. Jawaharlal Nehru was the second Satyagrahi and imprisoned for imprisoned for four months.
The Individual Satyagraha continued for nearly 15 months.
Cripps Mission(1942)
The British Government in its continued effort to secure Indian cooperations sent Sir Stafford Cripps to India on 23 March 1942. This is known as Cripps Mission. The major political parties of the country rejected the Cripps proposals. Gandhi called Cripp’s proposals as a “Post-dated Cheque”.
Quit India Movement
The quit India Movement ,also called the August Movement, launched on 8th august, 1942. It was a result of Gandhi’s protest against the return of Sir Stafford Cripps. He wanted to negotiate with the British government for the independence of India through this movement.
He gave slogan - Do or Die.
On 9th August leaders of the congress like Abul Kalam Azad, vallabhai Patel, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were arrested. The movement can be divided into four phases-
In the first phase of the Quit India Movement, there were processions, strike and demonstrations
The second phase of the movement saw raids on the govern-ment buildings and municipal houses. Along with this, post offices, railway stations and police stations were set on fire.
The third phase of Quit India Movement began in September 1942. Mobs bombed police in places like Bombay, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya pradesh.
S C Bose ( 1897 – 1945)
was an Indian nationalist whose defiant patriotism made him a hero in India. The honorific Netaji first applied in early 1942 to Bose in Germany by the Indian soldiers in Berlin, was later used throughout India.
Bose had been a leader of the younger, radical, wing of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s, rising to become Congress President in 1938 and 1939. However, he was ousted from Congress leadership positions in 1939 following differences with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress high command.
He was subsequently placed under house arrest by the British before escaping from India in 1940.
Bose arrived in Germany in 1941
In 1941, with German funds, a Free India Centre was set up in Berlin, and soon a Free India Radio, on which Bose broadcast nightly. A 3,000-strong Free India Legion, comprising Indians captured was also formed to aid in a possible future German land invasion of India.
By 1942, in light of Japanese victories in southeast Asia and changing German priorities, a German invasion of India became untenable, and Bose became keen to move to southeast Asia.
Adolf Hitler, during his only meeting with Bose in late May 1942, suggested the same, and offered to arrange for a submarine. During this time Bose also became a father; his wife, Emilie Schenkl, whom he had met in 1934, gave birth to a baby girl 1942.
Identifying strongly with the Axis powers, and no longer apologetically, Bose boarded a German submarine in February 1943. In Madagascar, he was transferred to a Japanese submarine from which he disembarked in Japanese-held Sumatra in May 1943.
With Japanese support, Bose revamped the Indian National Army (INA), then composed of Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who had been captured in the Battle of Singapore. To these, after Bose's arrival, were added enlisting Indian civilians in Malaya and Singapore.
Before long the Provisional Government of Free India, presided by Bose, was formed in the Japanese-occupied Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bose had great drive and charisma—creating popular Indian slogans, such as "Jai Hind,"—and the INA under Bose was a model of diversity by region, ethnicity, religion, and even gender.
by early 1945 the British Indian Army first halted and then devastatingly reversed the Japanese attack on India. Almost half the Japanese forces and fully half the participating INA contingent were killed.
The INA was driven down the Malay Peninsula, and surrendered with the recapture of Singapore. Bose had earlier chosen not to surrender with his forces or with the Japanese, but rather to escape to Manchuria with a view to seeking a future in the Soviet Union which he believed to be turning anti-British.
He died from third degree burns received when his plane crashed in Taiwan. Some Indians, however, did not believe that the crash had occurred, with many among them, especially in Bengal, believing that Bose would return to gain India's independence.
The Indian National Congress, the main instrument of Indian nationalism, praised Bose's patriotism but distanced itself from his tactics and ideology, especially his collaboration with fascism. The British Raj, though never seriously threatened by the INA, charged 300 INA officers with treason in the INA trials, 1946 but eventually backtracked in the face both of popular sentiment and of its own end
Royal Indian Navy (RIN) Mutiny 1946
On February 18, 1946, a section of non-commissioned officers and sailors known as Ratings, serving in the Royal Indian Navy, started the last secular strike to protest against the hardships regarding pay, food and racial discrimination.
In the same night, a Naval Central Strike committee was created by the Ratings presided by Signalman M.S Khan and Vice president was Telegraphist Madan Singh. The populace of India was already fascinated by the heroic tales of the Indian National Army.
So, the strikes and hartals spread from Bombay to Calcutta, Madras and even Karachi. The foolish British commander made some derogatory remarks on the nationality of these personnel and the result was that they took possession of some ships, mounted guns over there and started firing.
The mutineers hoisted three flags tied together on the ships which they had captured -One of Congress, One of Muslim League, and the third Red Flag of the Communist Party of India. The mutiny was ended by intervention of Sardar Patel, who after a meeting with M. S. Khan made a statement of ending the strike.
The similar statement was made by Jinnah in Calcutta. The mutineers surrendered but despite the assurances of Congress and Muslim League, many mutineers were arrested, subjected to court martial and dismissed from the services.
The violence broke out in Mumbai and over 200 people lost lives in this disturbance. The mutiny made an impression on the British, that it would be better to leave the country.
The Cabinet Mission(1946)
Three members of the British Cabinet-Pathick Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander- were sent to India 15 March,1946,under a historic announcement in which the right to self-determination and the framing of a Constitution for India were conceded. This is known as the Cabinet Mission.
MOUNT BATTEN PLAN (3RD JUNE PLAN)
The plan declared that power would be handed over by 15 August 1947
on the basis of Dominion Status to India and Pakistan.
Boundary Commission was to be headed by Radcliffe.
Independence for Bengal and accession of Hyderabad to Pakistan ruled out.
Mountbatten Plan was to divided India but retain maximum unity.

Comments