While social reform was linked with religious reform in some cases during the 19th century, in later years it was increasingly secular in approach. Moreover, many people who weie orthodox in their religious approach partic.i.p.ated in it.
Similarly, in the beginning social reform had largely been the effort of newly educated Indians belonging to higher castes to adjust their social behaviour to the requirements of modern western culture and values. But gradually it penetrated down to the lower strata of society and began to revolutionise and reconstruct the social sphere. In time the ideas and ideals of the reformers won almost universal acceptance and are today enshrined in the Indian Const.i.tution.
The social reform movements tried in the main to achieve two objectives: (a) emanc.i.p.ation of women and extension of equal rights to them; and (b) removal of caste rigidities and in particular the abolition of untou- chability.
Emanc.i.p.ation of Women For countless centuries women in India had been subordinated to men and socially oppressed. The various religions practised in India as well as the personal laws based on them consigned women to a status inferior to that of men. The condition of upper cla.s.s women was in this respect worse than that of peasant women. Since the latter worked actively in the fields alongside men, they enjoyed relatively greater freedom of move* ment an3 in some respects a better status in the family than the upper cla.s.s women. For example, they seldom observed purdah and many of them had the right to remarry. The traditional view often praised the role of women as wives and mothers but as individuals they were a.s.signed a very lowly social position. They were supposed to have no personality of their own apart from their ties to their husbands. They could not find any other expression to their inborn talents or desires except as housewives. In fact, they were seen as just adjuncts to men. For example, a woman could only marry once among Hindus, a man was permitted to have more than one wife. Among Muslims too this custom of polygamy prevailed. In large parts of the country women had to live behind the purdah. The custom of early marriage prevailed, and even children or eight or nine were married. The widows could not remarry and had to lead an ascetic and restricted life. In many parts of the country, the horrifying custom of sati or self-immblation of widows prevailed. Hindu women had no right to inherit property, nor did they enjoy the right to terminate an undesirable marriage. Muslim women could inherit property but only half as such as a man could; and in the matter of divorce even theoretically there was no equality between husband and wife. In fact, Muslim women dreaded divorce. The social position of Hindu and Muslim women as well as their values were similar. Moreover, in both cases they were economically and socially totally dependent on men. Lastly, the benefit of education was denied to most of them. In addition, women were taught to accept their subjection and even to welcome it as a badge of honour. It is true that occasionally women of the character and personality of Razia Sultana, Chand Bibi, or Ahilyabai Holkar arose in India. But they were exceptions to the general pattern, and do not in any way change the picture.
Moved by the humanitarian and egalitarian impulses of the 19th century, the social reformers started a powerful movement to improve the position of women. While some reformers appealed to doctrines of individualism and equality, others declared that true Hinduism or Islam or Zoroastrianism did not sanction the Inferior status of women and that true religion a.s.signed them a high social position.
Numerous individuals, reform societies, and religious organisations worked hard to spread education among women, to encourage widow remarriage, to improve the living conditions of widows, to prevent marriage of young children, to bring women out of the purdah, enforce monogamy, and to enable middle cla.s.s women to take up professions Or public employment After the 1880.s, when Dufferin hospitals, named after Lady Dufferin, the wife of the Viceroy, were started, efforts were made to make modern medicine and child delivery techniques available to Indian women.
The movement for the liberation of women received a great stimulus from the rise of the militant national movement in the 20th century. Women played an active and important role in the struggle for freedom. They partic.i.p.ated in large numbers in the agitation against the part.i.tion of Bengal and in the Home Rule movement. After 1918 they marched in political processions, picketed shops selling foreign cloth and liquor, spun and propagated khadi, went to jail in the non-cooperation movements, faced lathis, tear gas, and bulletsduringpublicdemonstrations,partic.i.p.ated actively in the revolutionary terrorist movement, and voted in elections to legislatures and even stood as candidates. Safojim Naidu, the famous poetess, became the President of the National Congress. Several women became ministers or parliamentary secretaries in the popular ministries of 1937. Hundreds of them became members of munic.i.p.alities and other organs of local government. When the trade union and kisan movements arose in the 1920.s, women were often found in their forefront. More than any other factor, partic.i.p.ation in the national movement contributed to the awakening of Indian women and their emanc.i.p.ation. For how could those who had braved British jails and bullets be declared inferior 1 And how could they any longer be confined to the home and be satisfied with the life of a doll or a slave girl.? They were bound to a.s.sert their rights as human beings.
Another important development was the birth of a women"s movement in the country. Up to the 1920.s enlightened men had woiked for the uplift of women. Now self-conscious and self-confident women undertook the task. They started many organisations and inst.i.tutions for the purpose, the most outstanding of which was the All India Women.s Conference founded in 1927.
Women"s struggle for equality took a big step forward with the coming of independence. Articles 14 and 15 of the Indian Const.i.tution (1950) guaranteed the complete equality of men and women. The Hindu Succession Act of 1955 made the daughter an equal co-heir with the son. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 permuted dissolution of mamage on specific grounds. Monogamy has also been made mandatory on men as well as women But the evil custom of dowry still continues even though the demanding of dowry has been banned. The Const.i.tution gives women equal right to work and to get employment in State agencies. The Directive Principles of the Const.i.tution lay down the principle of equal pay for equal work for both men and women. Of course many visible and invisible obstacles still remain in putting the principle of the equality of s.e.xes into practice. A proper social climate has still to be creatcd. But the social reform movement, the freedom struggle, women"s own movement, and the Const.i.tution of free India have made a big contribution in this direction.
Straggle Against Caste The caste system was another major target of attack for the social reform movement. The Hindus were at this time divided into numerous castes (jolis). The caste into which a man was bom determined large areas of his life. It determined whom he would marry and with whom he would dine. It largely determined his profession as also his social loyalties. Moreover, the castes were carefully graded into a hierarchy of status. At the bottom of the ladder came the untouchables or scheduled castes as they came to be called later, who formed about 20 per cent of the Hindu population. The untouchables suffered from numerous and severe disabilities and restrictions, which of course varied from place to place. Their touch was considered impure and was a source of polution. In some parts of the country, particularly in the South, their very shadow was to be avoided, so that they had to move away if a brahmin was seen or heard coming. An untouchable.s dress, food, place of residence all were carefully regulated. He could not draw water from wells and tanks used by the higher castes; he could do so only from wells and tanks specially reserved for untouchables. Where no such well or tank existed, he had to drink dirty water from ponds and irrigation ca.n.a.ls. He could not enter the Hindu temples or study the shastras. Often his children could not attend a school in which children of caste Hindus studied. Public services such as the police and the army were closed to him. The untouchables were forced to take up menial and other such jobs which were considered "unclean., for example, scavenging, shoe-making, removing dead bodies, skinning dead animate, tanning hides and skins. Usually denied ownership of land, many of them worked even as tenants-at-wiU and field labourers.
The caste system was an evil in another respect. Not only was it humiliating and inhuman and based on the anti-democratic principle of inequality by birth, it was a cause of social disintegration. It splintered people into numerous groups. In modern times it became a major obstacle in the growth of a united national feeling and the spread of democracy. It may also be noted that caste consciousness particularly with regard to marriage prevailed also among Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs, who practised untouchability though in a less virulent form.
British rule released many forces which gradually undermined the caste system. The introduction of modem industries and railways and buses and growing urbanisation made it difficult to prevent ma.s.s contact among persons of different cashes, especially in the cities. Modem commerce and industry opened new fields of economic activity to all.
For example, a brahmin or upper caste merchant could hardly mil opportunity of trading in skins or shoes nor would he agree to himself the opportunity of becoming a doctor or a soldier. Free s: land upset the caste balance in many villages. The close conn< between="" caste="" and="" vocation="" could="" hardly="" continue="" in="" a="" modem="" indi="" society="" in="" which="" the="" profit="" motive="" was="" increasingly="" becoming="" dom="" in="" administration,="" the="" british="" introduced="" equality="" before="" law,="" took="" the="" judicial="" functions="" of="" caste="" panchayats,="" and="" gradually="" opened="" the="" of="" administrative="" services="" to="" all="" castes.="" moreover,="" the="" new="" educa="" system="" was="" wholly="" secular="" and="" therefore="" basically="" opposed="" to="" caste="" di="" tions="" and="" caste="">
As modern democratic and rationalist ideas spread among Ini they began to raise their voice against the caste system. The Br Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mi the Theosophists, the Social Conference, and nearly all the great refo of the 19th century, attacked it. Even though many of them deft the system of four varnas, they were critical of the caste (jati) s> In particular they condemned the inhuman practice of untouchal They also realised that national unity and national progress in pol social, and economic fields could not be achieved so long as millions deprived of their rigt.i.t to live with dignity and honour.
The growth of the national movement played a significant role in w ning the caste system. The national movement was opposed to all inst.i.tutions which tended to divide Indian people. Common part tion in public demonstrations, giant public meetings, and satya struggles weakened caste consciousness. In any case those who lighting for freedom from foreign rule in the name of liberty and eq could hardly support the caste system which was totally oppos< these="" principles.="" thus,="" from="" the="" beginning,="" the="" indian="" national="" coi="" and="" in="" fact="" the="" entire="" national="" movement="" opposed="" caste="" privilege!="" fought="" for="" equal="" civic="" rights="" and="" equal="" freedom="" for="" the="" developme="" the="" individual="" without="" distinctions="" of="" caste,="" s.e.x="" or="">
All his life Gandhiji kept the abolition of untouchability in the front of his public activities. In 1932, he founded the All India H. Sangh for the purpose.
Since the middle of the 19th century, numerous individuals, organisations worked to spread education among the untouct (or depressed cla.s.ses and scheduled castes as they came to be < lafer)v="" to="" open="" the="" doors="" of="" schools="" and="" temples="" to="" them,="" to="" enable="" to="" use="" public="" wells="" and="" tanks,="" and="" to="" remove="" other="" social="" disab="" and="" distinctions="" from="" which="" they="">
As education and awakening spread, the lower castes themselves 1 to stir. They became conscious of their basic human rights and 1 to rise in defence of these rights. They gradually built up a powerful movement against the traditional oppression by the higher castes. Dr, B. R. Ambedkar, who belonged to one of the scheduled castes, devoted his entire life to fighting against caste tyranny. He organised the AH India Depressed Cla.s.ses Federation for the purpose. Several other scheduled caste leaders founded the All India Depressed Cla.s.ses a.s.socia-tion. In South India, the non-brahmins organised during the I920.s the Self-Respect Movement to fight the disabilities which brahmins had imposed upon them. Numerous satyagraha movements were organised all over India by the depressed castes against the ban on their entry into temples and other such restrictions.
The struggle against untouchability could not, however, be fully successful under alien rule. The foreign government was afraid of arousing the hostility of the orthodox sections of society. Only the government of a free India could undertake a radical reform of society. Moreover, the problem of social uplift was closely related to the problem of political and economic uplift. For example, economic progress was essential for raising the social status of the depressed castes; 90 also was spread of education and political rights. This was fully recognised by Indian leaders. Dr. Ambedkar, for example, said: n.o.body can remove your grievance as well as you can and you cannot remove these unless you get political power into your bands... We must have a government in which men in power will not be afraid to amend the social and economic ccde of life which the dictates of justice and expediency to urgently call for. This role the British Government will never be able to play. It is only a government wbich is of tbe people, for the people and by the people, in other words, it ia only the Swaraj Government that will make it possible.
The Const.i.tution of 1950 has provided the legal framework for the final abolition of untouchability. It has declared that " *untouchability. is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The endors.e.m.e.nt of any disability arising out ofuntouchability. shall be an offence puai- shable in accordance with law". The Const.i.tution further forbids any restrictions on the use of wells, tanks, and bathing ghats, or on the access to shops, restaurants, hotels and cinemas. Furthermores one of the Directive principles it has laid down for the guidance of future governments says; "The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the inst.i.tutions of the national life." Struggle against the evils of the caste system, however, still remains an urgent task before the Indian people, especially in the rural areas.
EXERCISES.
1. Examine the rationalist and humanistic content of the religious reform movements of the 19th century. Evaluate their role in the making of modern India.
2. What were some of the disabilities from which wonjen suffered in traditional Indian society? Discuss the steps taken by the modern reform movements for their emanc.i.p.ation.
3. Why did the modern social reforms find it necessary to attack the caste system? How did changes in economy, society, and politics and reform movements undermine it?
4. Wnte short notes on:
(a) Brahmo Samaj, (b) Religious Reform in Maharashtra, (c) Ramalcrishna, (d) Swami Vivekananda, (e) Swami Dayanand and Arya Samaj, (f) Sayyid Ahmad Khan, (g) the Akali Movement.
Nationalist Movement 1905-1918 GROWTH OF MILITANT NATIONALISM.
G.
RADUALLY, over the years, the trend of militant nationalism (also known as Extremism) had been growing in the country. It found expression in the movement against the part.i.tion of Bengal in 1905.
The Indian national movement even in its early days had increasingly made laTge number of people constious.of the eviis of foreign domination and of the need for fostering patriotism. It had imparted the necessary political training to the educated Indians. It had, in fact, changed the temper of the people and created a new life in the country.
At the same time, the failure of the British Government to accept any of the important demands of the nationalists produced disillusionment among the politically conscious people with the principles and methods of the dominant moderate leadership. There was a strong demand for more vigorous political action and methods than those of meetings, pet.i.tions, memorials, and speeches in the legislative councils.
Recognition of the True Nature of British Role The politics of the moderate nationalists were founded on the belief that British rule could be reformed from within. But the spread of knowledge regarding political and economic questions gradually undermined this belief. The political agitation of the Moderates was itself responsible for this to a large extent. The nationalist writers and agitators blamed British rule for the poverty of the people. Politically conscious Indians were convinced that the purpose of British rule was to exploit India economically, that is, to enrich England at the cost of India. They realised that India could make little progress in the economic field unless liritish imperialism was replaced by a government controlled and run by the Indian people. In particular, the nationalists came to see that Indian industries could not flourish except under an Indian government which could protect and promote them. The evil economic consequences of foreign rule were symbolised in the eyes of the people by the disastrous famines which ravaged India from 1896 to 1900 and took a toll of over 90 lakhs of lives.
The political events of the years 1892 to 1905 also disappointed the nationalists and made them think of more radical politics. The Indian Councils Act of 1892, discussed in Chapter XII, was a complete disappointment. On the other hand, even the existing political rights of the people were attacked. In 1898, a law was pa.s.sed making it an offence to excite "feelings of disaffection" towards the foreign government. In 1899, the number of Indian members in the Calcutta Corpoiation was reduced. In 1904, the Indian Official Secrets Act was pa.s.sed restricting the freedom of the press. The Natu brothers were deported in 1897 without being tried; even the charges against them were not made public. In the same year, Lokamanya Tilak and other newspaper editors were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for arousing the people against the foreign government. Thus, the people found that, instead of giving them wider political rights, the rulers were taking away even their few existing rights. The anti-Congress att.i.tude of Lord Curzon convinced more and more people that it was useless to expect any political and economic advance as long as Britain ruled India. Even the moderate leader Gokhale complained that "the bureaucracy was growing frankly selfish and openly hostile to national aspirations."
Even socially and culturally, the British rule was no longer progressive. Primary and technical education was not making any progress. At the same time, the officials were becoming suspicious of higher education and were even trying to discourage its spread in the country. The Indian Universities Act of 1904 was seen by the nationalists ss an attempt to bring Indian universities under tighter official control and to check the growth of higher education.
Thus an increasing number of Indiaus were getting convinced that self- government was essential for the sake of the economic, political, and cultural progress of the country and that political enslavement meant stunting the growth of the Indian people.
Growth of Self-rcspect and Self-confidence By the end of the 19th century, the Indian nationalists had grown ia self-respect and self-confidence. They had acquired faith in their capacity to govern themselves and in the future development of their country. Leaders like Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal preached the message of self-respect and asked the nationalists to rely on the character and capacities of the Indian people. They taught the people that the remedy to their sad condition lay in their own hands and that they should therefore become fearless and strong. Swami Vivekananda, though not a political leader, again and again drove home this message. He declared: If there is a sin in the world it is weakness; avoid al) weakness, weakness is sin, weakness is death.. .And here Is the test of truth-anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject as poison, there U no life loit.it cqnnot be true.
He also urged the people to give up living on the glories of the past and manfully build the future. "When, O Lord," he wrote, "shall our land be free from this eternal dwelling upon the past ?"
The belief in self-effort also created an urge for extending the national movement. No longer should the nationalist cause rely on a few upper- cla.s.s educated Indians. Instead, political consciousness of the ma.s.ses was to be aroused. Thus, for example, Swami Vivekananda wrote: "The only hope of India is from the ma.s.ses. The upper cla.s.ses are physically and morally dead." There w?s the realisation that only the ma.s.ses could make the immense sacrifices needed to win freedom. Moreover, the nationalist leaders felt that political activity should be carried on continuously and not merely on the few days on which the National Congress or the provincial conferences met.
Growth of Education and Unemployment By the close of the 19th century, the number of educated Indians had increased perceptively. Large numbers of them worked in the administration on extremely low salaries, while many others increasingly faced unemployment. Their economic plight made them look critically at the nature of British rule. Many of them were attracted by radical nationalist politics.
Even more important was the ideological aspect of the spread of education. The larger the number of educated Indians, the larger was the area of influence of western ideas of democracy, nationalism, and radicalism. The educated Indians became the best propagators and followers of militant nationalism both because they were low-paid .or unemployed and because they were educated in modern thought and politics and European and world history.
International Influences Several events abroad during this period tended to encourage the growth of militant nationalism in India. The rise of modem j.a.pan after 1868 showed that a backward Asian country could develop iUelf without Western conti ol. In a matter of a few decades, the j.a.panese leaders made their country a first rate industrial and military power, introduced universal primary education, and evolved an efficient, modem administration. The defeat of the Italian army by the Ethopians in 1896 and of Russia by j.a.pan in 1905 exploded the myth of European superiority. Everywhere in Asia people heard with enthusiasm the news of the victory of a small Asian country over the biggest military power of Europe. For example, the following comment appeared in the Marathi weekly, the Kesari, edited by Tilak, in the issue dated 6 December 1904: It was up to this time supposed that the Asiatics lacked the sentiment of nationality and were, therefore, unable to hold their own before the European nations in. spite of their individual courage and heroism. It was further believed that the continents of Asia, Africa, and America were created by Providence (o be dominated by European nations.. The Russo-j.a.panese War has given a rude shock to these beliefs, and thoSe who hold them are now beginning to sec that.. there is nothing inherently improbable in the Asiatics forming themselves into independent nations and taking ranlc with their European rivals.
Another newspaper, the Karachi Chronicle of 18 June 1905, expressed the popular feeling as follows: What one Asiatic has done others can do... .If j.a.pan can drub Russia, India can drub England with equal ease... .Let us drive the British into (he sea and take our place side by side with j.a.pan among the great powers of the world.
Revolutionary movements in Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Turkey, and China and the Boer War in South Africa convinced the Indians that a united people willing to make sacrifices could challenge even Ihe most powerful of despotic governments. What was needed more than anything else was a spirit of patriotism and self-sacrifice.
Existence of a Militant Nationalist School of Thought From almost the beginning of the national movement a school of militant nationalism had existed in the country. This school was represented by leaders Jike Rajnarain Bose and Ashwini k.u.mar Dutt in Bengal and Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar in Maharashtra. The most outstanding representative of this school was Bal Gangadhar Tilak later popularly known as Lokamanya Tilak. He was bom in 1856. From the day of his graduation from the Bombay University, he devoted his entire life to the service of his country. He helped to found during the 1880.s the New English School, which later became the Fergusson College, and the newspapers the Mahratta (in English) and the Kesari (in Marathi). From 1889, he edited the Kesari and preached nationalism in its columns and taught people to become courageous, selfreliant, and selfless fighters in the cause of India.s independence. In 1893, he started using the traditional religious Ganpati festival to propagate nationalist ideas through songs and speeches, and in 1895 he started the Shivaji festival to stimulate nationalism among young Maharashtrians by holding up the example of Shivaji for emulation. During 1896-1897 he initiated a no-tax Campaign in Maharashtra. He asked the famine-stricken peasants of Maharashtra to withhold payment of land revenue if their crops had failed. He set a real example of boldness and sacrifice when the authorities arrested him in 1897 on the charge of spreading hatred and disaffection against the government. He refused to apologise to the government and was sentenced to 18 months. rigorous imprisonment. Thus he became a living symbol of the new national spirit of self-sacrifice, At the dawn of the 20th century the school of militant nationalists found a favourable political climate and its adherents came forward to lead the second stage of the national movement. The most outstanding leaders of militant nationalism, apart from Lokamanya Tilak, were Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghose, and LalaLajpat Rai. The distinctive political aspects of the programme of the militant nationalists were as follows: They believed that Indians themselves must work out their own salvation and make the effort to rise from their degraded position. They declared that great sacrifices and sufferings were needed for this task. Their speeches, writings, and political work were full of boldness and self-confidence and they considered no personal sacrifice too great for the good of their country.
They denied that India could progress under the "benevolent guidance" and control of the English. Tlicy deeply hated foreign rule, and they declared in a clearcut manner that Jfa"ara/ or independence was the goal of the national movement.
They had deep faith in the strength of the ma.s.ses and they planned to achieve Swaraj through ma.s.s action. They therefore pressed for political work among the ma.s.ses and for direct political action by the ma.s.ses.
A Trained Leadership By 1905 India possessed a large number of leaders who had acquired during the previous period valuable experience in guiding political agitations and loading political struggles. Without a trained band of political workers it would have been difficult to lake the national movement to a higher political stage.
THE PARt.i.tION OF BENGAL.
Thus the conditions for the emergence of militant nationalism had developed when in 1905 the part.i.tion 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 a.s.sam with a population of 31 millions, and the rest of Bengal with a population of 54 millions, of whom 18 millions were Bengalis and 36 millions Biharies and DELEGATES TO THE SESSION OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS HELD AT AMRITSAR IN DECEMBER 1919. Seated on chair, right lo left ale: Medan Mohan Malaviya, Annie Besant, Swami Shradhanand, Motilal Nehru, Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Lala Lajpat Rai is standing behind Swami Shradhanand. Sitting on the ground left to right, are: Jawaharlal Nehru, S. Satyamuili (Courtesy: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)
Onyas, It was said that the existing province of Bengal was too big to be efficiently administered by a single provincial government. However, the officials who worked out the plan had also other ends in view. They hoped to stem the rising tide of nationalism in Bengal. Risley, Home Secretary to the Goverment of India, wrote in an official note on 6 December 1904: Bengal united is a power Bengal divided will pull several different ways. That is what the Congress leaders feel: their apprehensions are perfectly correct and they form one of the great merits of the scheme.. .in this scheme as in the matter of the amalgamation of Berar to the Central Provinces one of our main.objects is to split up and thereby to weaken a solid body of opponents to our rule.
Curzon himself wrote in a similar vein in February 1905: Calcutta is the centre from which the Congress party is manipulated throughout the whole of Bengal and indeed the whole of India . .Any measure in consequence that would divide the Bengali-speaking population; that would permit independent centres of activity and influence to grow up; that would dethrone Calcutta from its place as the centre of successful intrigue... is intensely and hotly resented by them.
The Indian National Congress and the nationalists of Bengal firmly opposed th part.i.tion. Within Bengal, different sections of the population-zamindars, merchants, lawyers, students, the city poor, and even women-rose up in spontaneous opposition to the part.i.tion of their province.
The nationalists saw the act of part.i.tion as a challenge to Indian nationalism and not merely an administrative measure. They saw that it was a deliberate attempt to divide the Bengalis and to disrupt and weaken nationalism in Bengal. 1 It would also be a big blow to the growth of Bengali language and culture. They pointed out that administrative efficiency could have been better secured by separating the Hindi-speaking Bihar and the Oryia speaking Orissa from the Bengali speaking part of the province. Moreover, the official step had been taken in utter disregard of public opinion. Thus the vehemence of Bengal.s protest against the part.i.tion is explained by the fact that it was a blow to the sentiments of a very sensitive and courageous people.
The Anti-Part.i.tion Movement or the Swadeshi and Boycott Movement The Anti-Part.i.tion 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 ihitial stage were moderate leaders like Surendranath Banerjea and Krishna k.u.mar Mitra; militant and revolutionary nationalists took over in the later stages. In fact, both the moderate and militant nationalists cooperated with one another during the course of the movement.
The Anti-Part.i.tion Movement was initiated on 7- August 1905. On that day a ma.s.sive demonstration against the part.i.tion, was organised in the Town Hall in Calcutta. From this meeting delegates dispersed to spread the movement to the rest of the province.
The part.i.tion took effect on 16 October 1905. The leaders of the protest movement declared it to be a day of national mourning throughout Bengal. It was observed as a day of fasting. There was a hartal in Calcutta. People walked barefooted and bathed in the Ganga in the early morning hours. Rabindranath Tagore composed a national sang for the occasion, which was sung by huge crowds parading the streets. The streets of Calcutta were full of the cries of Bande Matctram which overnight became the national song of Bengal and which was soon to become the theme song of the national movement. The ceremony of Raksha Bandhan was utilised in a new way. On that day people of Bengal tied the rakki on one another.s wrists as a symbol of the unbreakable unity of the Bengalis and of the two halves of Bengal.
In the afternoon, there was a great demonstration when the veteran leader Anandamohan Bose laid the foundation of a Federation Hall to mark the indestructible unity of Bengal. He addressed a crowd of over 50,000 and the meeting pa.s.sed a resolution pledging to do their utmost to maintain the unity of Bengal.
The Swadeshi and Boycott Th& Bengal leaders felt that mere demonstrations, public meetings, and resolutions were not likely to have much effect on the rulers. More positive action that would reveal the intensity of popular feelings and exhibit them at their best was needed. The answer was Swadeshi and Boycott, Ma.s.s meetings were held all over Bengal where Swadeshi or use of Indian goods and boycott of British goods were proclaimed and pledged. la many places public burnings of foreign cloth were organised and shops selling foreign cloth were picketed. The Swadeshi movement was an immense success, According to Surendranath Banerjea: Swadeshisra during the days of its potency coloured the entire texture of our social and domestic life. Marriage presents that included foreign goods, the like of which could be manufactured at home, were returned. Priests would often decline to officiate at ceremonies where foreign articles were offered as oblations to the G.o.ds. Guests would refuse to partic.i.p.ate in festivities where foreign salt or foreign sugar was used.
The Swadeslii movement gave a great deal of encouragement to Indian industries. Many textile mills, soap and match factories, handloom weaving concerns, national banks, and insurance companies were opened. Acharya P.C. Ray organised his famous Bengal Chemical Swadeshi Stores. Even the great poet Rabindranath Tagore helped to open 4 Swadeshi store.
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. Another constructive activity undertaken at the time was that of National Education. National educational inst.i.tutions where literary, technical, or physical education was imparted were opened by nationalists who regarded the existing system of education as denationalising and, in any case, inadequate.
On 15 August 1906, a National Council of Education was set up. A National College with Aurobindo Ghose as princ.i.p.al was started in Calcutta.
The Bole of Students, Women, Muslims, and the Ma.s.ses 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. They were perhaps the main creators of the swadeshi spirit in Bengal. The government made every "attempt to suppress the students. Orders were issued to penalise those schools and colleges whose students took an active part " in the Swadeshi agitation: their gran ts-in-aid and other privileges were to be withdrawn ; they were to be disaffiliated, their students were not to be permitted to compete for scholarships and were to be barred from all service under the government. Disciplinary action was taken against students found guilty of partic.i.p.ating in the nationalist agitation. Many of them were fined, expelled from schools and colleges, arrested, and sometimes beaten by the police with lathis. The students, however, refused to be cowed down.
A remarkable aspect of the Swadeshi agitation was the active partic.i.p.ation of women in the movement. The traditionally home-centred women of the urban middle cla.s.ses joined processions and picketing. From then on they were to take an active part in the nationalist movement.
Many prominent Muslims joined the Swadeshi movement including Abdul Rasul, the famous barrister, Liaquat Husain, the popular agitator, and Guznavi, the businessman. Many other middle and upper cla.s.s Muslims, however, remained neutral, or, led by the Nawab of Dacca, (who was given a loan of Rs. 14 lakhs by the Government, of India) even supported part.i.tion on the plea that East Bengal would have a Muslim majority. In this communal att.i.tude, the Nawab of Dacca and others were encouraged by the officials. In a speech at Dacca, Lord Curzon declared that one of the reasons for the part.i.tion was "to invest the Mohammedans in Eastern Bengal with a unity which they have not enjoyed since the days of the old Mussalman Viceroys and Kings."
In spite of the popular character of the Anti-Part.i.tion Movement and of the desire of the militant nationalists to take the national movement to the ma.s.ses, the movement did not really affect and involve the peasantry of Bengal. It was confined on the whole to the towns and to the upper and lower middle cla.s.ses of the province.
All-India Aspect of the Movement 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 the rest of the country was played by Tilak. Tilak quickly saw that with the inauguration of this movement in Bengal a new chapter in the history of Indian nationalism had opened. Here was a challenge and an opportunity to lead a popular struggle against the British Raj"afid (0 unite the entire country in one bond of common sympathy.
Growth of Militancy The leadership of the Anti-Part.i.tion Movement soon pa.s.sed to militant nationalists like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Aurobindo Ghose, This was due to many factors.
Firstly, the early movement of protest led by the Moderates failed to yield results. Even the Liberal Secretary of State, John Morley, from whom much was expected by the moderate nationalists, declared the Part.i.tion to be a settled fact which would not be changed. Secondly, the Government of the two Bengals, particularly of East Bengal, made active efforts to divide Hindus and Muslims. Seeds of Hindu-Muslim disunity in Bengal politics were perhaps sown at this time. This- embittered the nationalists. But, most of all, it was the repressive policy of the government which led people to militant and revolutionary politics. The government of East Bengal, in particular, tried to crush the nationalist movement. Official attempts at preventing student partic.i.p.ation in the Swadeshi agitation have already been discussed above. The shouting of Bcnde )Matarsm in public streets in East Bengal was- banned. Public meetings were restricted and sometimes forbidden. Laws controlling the press were enacted. Swadeshi workers were prosecuted and imprisoned for long periods. Many students were awarded even corporal punishment. From 1906 to 1909, more than 550 political cases came up before Bengal courts. Prosecutions against, a large number of nationalist newspapers were launched and freedom of the press was completely suppressed. Military police was stationed in many towns where it clashed with the people. One of the most notorious examples of repression was the police a.s.sault on the peaceful delegates of tlie Bengal Provincial Conference at Barisal in April 1906. Many of the young volunteers were severely beaten up and tjie Conference itself was forcibly dispersed. In December 1908, nine-Bengal leaders, including the venerable Krishna k.u.mar Mitra and Ashwini k.u.mar Dutt, were deported. Earlier, in 1907, Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh had been deported following riots in the ca.n.a.l colonies of the Punjab, In 1908, the great Tilak was again arrested and given the savage sentence of 6 years. imprisonment. Chidambaram Pillai in Madras and Harisarvottam Rao and others in Andhra were put behind the bars.
As the militant nationalists (came to the fore they gave the call for pa.s.sive resistance in addition to Swadeshi and Boycott. They asked the people to infuse to cooperate with the government and, to boycott government service, the courts, and government schools and colleges. As Aurobindo Ghose put it, their programme was "to make the administration under present conditions impossible by an organised refusal to do anything which shall help either the British commerce in the exploitation of the country or British officialdom in the administration of it-unless and until the conditions are changed in the manner and to the extent demanded by the people." The militant nationalists used the Swadeshi and Anti-Part.i.tion Agitation to arouse the people politically and gave the slogan of independence from foreign rule. Aurobidno Ghose openly declared: "Political Freedom is the lifebreath of a nation.*" Thus, the queston of the part.i.tion of Bengal became a secondary one and the question of India.s freedom became the central question of Indian politics. The militant nationalists also gave the call for self- sacrifice without which no great aim could be achieved. The youth of India responded enthusiastically to the call. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was studying in England at the time, described the reaction of young India in the following words in his Autobiography: From 1907 onwards for several years India was seething with untest and trouble. For the first time since the Revolt of 1857 India was showing fight and not submitting tamely to foreign rule. News of Tilak"s activities and his conviction, of Aurobindo Ghose and the way the ma.s.ses of Bengal were taking the swadeshi and boycott pledge stirred all of us Indians in England. Almost without an exception we were Tilakites or Extremists, as the new party was called in India.
It should be remembered, however, that the militant nationalists also failed in giving a positive lead to the people. They were not able to give effective leadership or to create a sound organisation to guide their movement. They aroused the people but did not know how to harness or utilise the newly released energies of the people. Moreover, though they were radical in their nationalist beliefs, they remained const.i.tutionalists in practice. They also failed to" reach the real ma.s.ses of the country, the peasants. Their movement remained confined to the urban lower and middle cla.s.ses. Even among them they could not organise an effective party. Consequently, the government succeeded to a large extent in suppressing them. Their movement could not survive the arrest of their main leader, Tilak, and the retirement from active politics of Bipia Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghose.
But the upsurge of nationalist sentiments could not die. People had been aroused from their slumber of centuries; they had learned to take a bold and fearless att.i.tude in politics. They now waited for a new movement to arise. Moreover, they were able to learn valuable lessons from their experience. Gandhiji wrote later that "After the Part.i.tion, people saw that pet.i.tions must be backed up by force, and that they must be capable of suffering." The anti-part.i.tion agitation in fact marked a great revolutionary leap forward for Indian nationalism.
Growth of Revolutionary Terrorism Government repression and frustration caused by the failure of the political struggle ultimately resulted in revolutionary terrorism. The youth of Bengal were angered by official arrogance and repression and were filled with burning hatred for foreign rule. They foupd all avenues of peaceful protest and political action blocked and out of desperation they fell back upon the cult of the bomb. They no longer believed that pa.s.sive resistance could achieve nationalist aims. The British must, therefore, be physically expelled. As the Yugantar wrote on 22 April 1906 after the Barisal Conference; "The remedy lies with the people themselves. The 30 crores of people inhabiting India must raise their 60 crores of hands to stop this curse of oppression. Force must be stopped by force," But the revolutionary youngmen did not try to generate a ma.s.s revolution. Instead, they decided to copy the methods of the Irish terrorists and the Russian Nihilists, that is, to a.s.sa.s.sinate unpopular officials. A beginning had been made in this direction when in 1897 the Chapekar brothers a.s.sa.s.sinated two unpopular British officials at Poona. In 1904, V.D. Savarkar had organised the Abhinava Bharat, a secret society of revolutionaries. After 1905, several newspapers had begun to advocate revolutionary terrorism, The Sandhya and the Yugan- tar in Bengal and the Kal in. Maharashtra were the most prominent among them.
In December I90?san attempt was made on the life of the Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal, and in April 1908 Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at a carriage which they believed was occupied by Kingsford, the unpopular Judge at Muzzaffarpur. Prafulla Chaki shot himself dead while Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged. The era of revolutionary terrorism had begun. Many secret societies of terrorist youth came into existence. The most famous of these was the a.n.u.shilan Samiti whose Dacca section alone had 500 branches. Soon terrorist societies became active in the rest of the country also. They became so bold as to throw a bomb at the Viceroy, Lord Hardinge, while he was riding on an elephant in a state procession at Delhi. The Viceroy was wounded.
The terrorists also established centres of activity abroad. In London the lead was taken by Shyamji Krishftavarma, V.D, Savarkar, and Har Dayal, while in Europe Madam Cama and Ajit Singh were the prominent leaders.
Terrorism too gradually petered out. In fact terrorism as a political weapon was bound to fail. It could hardly have achieved its declared objective of expelling the English. But tl;e terrorists did make a valuable contribution to the growth of nationalism in India. As a historian has put it, ""they gave us back the pride of our manhood." 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.
" i ?r !
THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, 190J-1914.
The agitation against the part.i.tion of Bengal made a deep impact on the Indian National Congress. All sections of the National Congress united in opposing the part.i.tion. At its session of 1905, Gokbale, the President of the Congress, roundly condemned the Part.i.tion as well as the reactionary regime of Curzon. The National Congress also supported the Swadeshi and Boycott movement of Bengal.
There was much public debate and disagreement between the moderate and the militant nationalists. While the latter wanted to extend the ma.s.s movement in Bengal as well as in the rest of the country, the Moderates wanted to confine the movement to Bengal and even there to limit it to Swadeshi and Boycott, There was a tussle between the two groups for the presidentship of the National Congress for that year. In the end, Dadabhai Naoroji, respected by all nationalists as a great patriot, was chosen as a compromise. Dadabhai electrified the nationalist ranks by openly declaring in his presidential address that the goal of the Indian national movement was self-government. or Swaraj, like that of the 1 United Kingdom or the colonies.
But the differences dividing the two wings of the nationalist movement could not be kept in check for long. Many of the moderate nationalists did not keep pace with events. They were not able to see that their outlook1 and methods, which had served a real purpose in the past, were no longer adequate. They had failed to advance to the new stage of the national movement. The militant nationalists, on the other hand, were not willing to be held back. The split between the two came at the Surat session of the National Congress in December 1907; The moderate leaders having captured the machinery of the Congress excluded the militant elements from it>.
But, in the long run, the split did not prove useful to either party. The moderate leaders lost touch with the younger generation of nationalists. The British Government played the game of Divide and Rule" and tried to win over moderate nationalist opinion so that the militant nationalists could be isolated and suppressed. To placate the moderate nationalists it announced const.i.tutional concessions through the Indian Councils Act of 1909 which are known as1 the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909. In 1911, tile Government also announced the cancellation of the part.i.tion of Bebgal. Western and eastern Bengals were to be reunited while a new province consisting of Bihar and Orissa was to be created. At the same time the Beat of the Central Government was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, The MorIey-Mint6 Reforms Increased the number of elected members in the Imperial Legislative Council and the provincial councils. But most .of the elected members were elected indirectly, by the provincial councils in the case of the Imperial Council and by munic.i.p.al committees and district boards in the case of provincial councils. Some of the elected seats wtffe reserved for landlords and British capitalists in India. For instance, of the 68 members of the Imperial Legislative Council, 36 were officials and 5 were nominated non-officials. Of the 27 elected members, 6 were to represent the big landlords and 2 the British capitalists. Moreover the reformed councils still enjoyed no real power, being merely advisory bodies. The reforms in no way changed the undemocratic and foreign character of British rule or the fact of foreign economic exploitation of the country. They were, in fact, not designed to demo-cratise Indian administration. Morley openly declared at the time: "If it could be said that this chapter of reforms led directly or necessarily to the establishment of a parliamentary system in India, I for one would have nothing at all to do with it." His successor as Secretary of State, Lord Crewe, further clarified the position in 1912: "There is a certain section in India which looks forward to a measure of self-government approaching that which has been granted in the dominions. I see no future for India on those lines." The real purpose of the Reforms of 1909 was to confuse the moderate nationalists, to divide the nationalist Tanks, and to check the growth of unity among Indians.
The Reforms also introduced the system of separate electorates under which all Muslims were grouped in separate const.i.tuencies from which Muslims alone could be elected. This was done in the name of protecting the Muslim minority. But in reality this was a part of the policy of dividing Hindus and Muslims and thus maintaining British supremacy in India. The system of separate electorates was based on the notion that the political and economic interests of Hindus and Muslims were separate. This notion was unscientific because religions cannot be the basis of political and economic interests or of political groupings. What is even more important, this system proved extremely harmful in practice. It checked the progress of India.s unification which had been a continuous historical process. It became a potent factor in the growth of coiumu- nalism-both Muslim and Hindu-in the country. Instead of removing the educational and economic backwardness of the middle cla.s.s Muslims and thus integrating them into the mainstream of Indian nationalism, the system of separate electorates tended to perpetuate their isolation from the developing nationalist movement. It encouraged separatist tendencies. It prevented people from concentrating on economic and political problems which were common to all Indians, Hindus or Muslims.
The moderate nationalists did not fully support the Morley-Minto Reforms. They soon realised that the Reforms had not really granted ipuch. But they decided to cooperate with the Government in working the reforms. This cooperation with the Government and their opposition to the programme of the militant nationalists proved very costly to them. They gradually lost the respect and support of the public and were reduced to a small political group. The vast majority of the politically conscious Indians continued to support, (hough pa.s.sively, Lokamanya Tilak and the militant nationalists.
THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND THE GROWTH OF COMMUNALISM.
Modern political conscionsness was late in developing among the Muslims. As nationalism spread among the Hindus and Pa.r.s.ees of the lower middle cla.s.s, it failed to grow equally rapidly among the Muslims of the same cla.s.s.
As we have seen earlier, Hindus and Muslims had fought shoulder to shoulder during the Revolt of 1857i In fact, after the suppression of the Revolt, the British officials had taken a particularly vindictive att.i.tude towards the Muslims, hanging 27,000 Muslims in Delhi alone. From now on the Muslims were in. general looked upon with suspicion. But this att.i.tude changed in the 1870.s. 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 united national feeling in the country, they decided to follow more actively the policy of "Divide and Riile. and to divide the people along religious lines, in other wordB to encourage communal and separatist tendencies in Indian politics. 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. They promoted provincialism by talking of Bengali domination. They tried to utilise the caste structure to turn the non- brahmins against brahmins and the lower castes against the higher castes. 7n U.P, and Bihar, where Hindus and Muslims had always lived in peace, they actively encouraged the movement to replace Urdu as a court language by Hindi. In other words, they tried to use even the legitamate demands of different sections of Indian society t& create divisions among the Indian people.
In the rise of the separatist tendency along communal lines Sayyid Ahmad Khan played an important role. Though a great educationist and social reformer, Sayyid Ahmad Khan bccame towards the end of his life a conservative in politics. He laid the foundations of Muslim communalism when in the 1660.s he gave up his earlier views and declared that the political interests of Hindus and Muslims were not the same but different and even divergent. He also preached complete obedience to British rule. When the Indian National Congress was founded in 1&8S, he decided to oppose it and tried to organise along with Raja Shiva Prasad of Varanasi a movement of loyalty to British rule. 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 weakening or Willi- drawal of British, rule. He urged the Muslims not to listen to Badruddin Tyabji.s appeal to them to join the National Congress.
These views were of course unscientific and without any basis in reality. Even though Hindus and Muslims followed different religions, their economic and political interests were the same. Even socially and culturally the Hindu and Muslim ma.s.ses -as well as cla.s.ses had developed common ways of life. A Bengali Muslim and a Bengali Hindu had much more in common than a Bengali Muslim and a Punjabi Muslim had. Moreover Hindus and Muslims were being equally and jointly oppressed and exploited by British imperialism. Even Sayyid Ahmad Khan had said in 1884: Do you not Inhabit the same land? Are you not burned and buried on the tame toil? Do you not tread the same ground and live upon the same soil? Remember that the words Hindu and Mohammedan are only meant for religious distinction -otherwise all persons, whether Hindu or Mohammedan, even the Christians who reside in this country, are all in this particular respect belonging to one and the same nation. Then all these different sects can be described as one nation, they must each and all unite for the good of the country which is common to aU.
The question then arises: how could the communal and separatist trend of thinking grow among the Muslims?
This was to some extent due to the relative backwardness of the Muslims in education and trade and industry. Muslim upper cla.s.ses consisted mostly of zamindars and aristocrats. Because the upper cla.s.s Muslims during the first 70 years of the 19th century were very 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, who remained traditional and backward. Later, as a result of the efforts of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Nawab Abdul Latif, Badruddin Tyabji and others, modern education spread among Muslims. But the proportion of the educated was far lower among Muslims than among Hindus, Par sees, or Christians. Similarly, the Muslims had also taken little part in the growth or trade and industry. The small number of educated persons and men of trade and industry among the Muslims enabled the reactionary big landlords to maintain their influence over the Muslim ma.s.ses. As we have seen earlier, landlords and zamindars, whether Hindu or Muslim, supported British" rule out of self-interest. But, among the Hindus, the modem intellectuals and the rising commercial and industrialist cla.s.s 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 wri^t for", ten try into government service or the professions, the Muslims had also lagged behind the non-Muslims in this respect. Moreover, the Government had consciously discriminated against the Muslims after 1858, holding them largely responsible for the Revolt of 1857, When modern education did spread among the Muslims the educated Muslim found few opportunities in business or the professions. He inevitably looked for government employment. And, in. any case, India being a backward colony, there were very few opportunities of employment for its people. In these circ.u.mstances, it was easy for the British officials and the loyalist Muslim leaders to incite the educated Muslims against the educated Hindus. Sayyid Ahmad Khan and others raised the demand for special treatment for the Muslims in the matter of government service. They declared that if the educated Muslims remained loyal to the British, the latter would reward them with government jobs and other special favours. Some loyalist Hindus and Pa.r.s.ees too tried to argue in this manner, but they remained a small minority, The result was that while in the country as a whole, independent and nationalist lawyers, journalists, students, merchants and industrialists were becoming political leaders, among the Muslims loyalist landlords and retired government servants still influenced political Qpinion. Bombay was the only province where the Muslims had taken to commerce and education quite early; and there the Nationalist Congress included in its ranks such brilliant Muslims as Badruddin Tyabji, R.M. Sayani, A. Bhimji, and the young barrister Muhammad Ali Jinnah. We can sum up this aspect of the problem with a quotation from Jawaharlal Nehru.s The Discovery of India: There has been a difference of a generation or more in 1he development of the Hindu and Muslim middle cla.s.ses, and that difference continues to show itself in many directions, political, economic, and other. It is this lag which produces a psychology of fear among tbe Muslims.