D a V Academic Review a Refereed Research Journal Issue 4, Vol. 1 ISSN 2455-3999 December 2018 [email protected]
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D A V Academic Review A Refereed Research Journal Issue 4, Vol. 1 ISSN 2455-3999 December 2018 [email protected] Hindu Communitarian Politics in United Province: A Role ofMadan Mohan Malviya Dr. Vijay Singh Assistant Professor Arya (P.G.) College Panipat Abstract Madan MohanMalaviya was the famous religious leader of Allahabad whom was associated with the Cow protection movement, SanatanDharamSabhas, Bharat Mahamandal, MaghMela, NagriParcharniSabha, Shuddhi and Sanghatan Movements etc.Along with these associations, he was important Congress leader from United Provinces (U.P).Malaviya became famous during the time of MaghMela festivals and Nagrimovement.Madan Mohan Malaviya was one of the prominent figures during the freedom movement.Malaviya was famous intellectual of United Province yet his opinion was conservative one.He was deeply influenced by SanatanDharm and Philosophy of Vedas. Especially, Nagri movement established Malaviya on highest position of politics in U.P. After the Nagri movement, languages described with particular religion, for example Hindi with Hindus and Urdu with Muslims. Nagri movement was the turning point of Hindu-Muslim tension and Malaviya was the prominent figure of this movement. Malaviya remained a part of Congress from it’s beginning. But he did not support many time Congress movement due to his conservative and pro-governance attitude. Key Words:Hindu MahaSabha, Hindi, Nagri, Muslim League, Muslim, Nationalism, Communitarian, Communalism, Congress, Sanghatan. It is well known that in north-India, apart from the nascent growth of nationalism, there was an attempt among different segments of the middle classes belonging to the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs to define their respective sectarian identities on the basis of religion. The relationship between communitarian assertion during the colonial period and the nationalist struggle was actually defined by the specific historical context.1 In some recent writings it has been argued that the national movement spearheaded under the leadership of the Congress was becoming weak in India in this phase because its provincial leadership became more interested in issues which concerned the interests of their sectarian communities than the issues of larger national concerns. 2Religious nationalism has become familiar feature of modern Indian politics. It has established itself as a central idiom in the high politics of state power during the final two decades of the twentieth century. Religious nationalism has become involved among the two prominent religions Hindu as well as Islam. It remained reflecting political culture of Indian politics. It shows its true color when nationalism reached on its height. With the growing of nationalism, some prominent figure of Indian nationalism had become also icons of religious nationalism. They were deeply involved in nationalist activity as well as socio-culture movements of their respective society and regions. These leaders influenced larger section of society, even some times, particular region too.These religious bent of mind leaders could be seen easily both in Hindu and Islam religion. For example, MohamadIqbal, SafuddinKithluu, LajpatRai, Madam MohamMalaviya were prominent among such religious bent of mind 53 D A V Academic Review A Refereed Research Journal Issue 4, Vol. 1 ISSN 2455-3999 December 2018 [email protected] leaders. Due to such type of political ideology, some historians call them communitarian leaders.3This observation is based on the assumption that communitarian consciousness is invariably and in all cases incompatible with nationalist perspective which grows out of consistent and systematic anti-colonial struggle. Paper assesses Malaviya political activities in different Hindu Sanghatans and its impact on provincial U.P. politics as well as on national movement. Paper also examines how Malaviya communitarian and sectarian interests weaken the Congress movement in United Province during the first two decades of twentieth century. It also studies that Malaviya’s functioning on communal issuesinfluencednational politics on the communal issues.Present paper deals with the communitarian Hindu leader, Madan Mohan Malaviya and his active political activities in United Provinces. Malaviya was well-known leader of U.P Congress but he was closely associated with social and cultural organizations. In reality, social and cultural organizations were platform of Malaviya’s politics in U.P. Madan Mohan Malaviya was one of the prominent figures during the time of freedom movement. Malaviya was born on December 25th of 1861.4Malaviya belonged to elite class Brhamin family of Allahabad, like the two high standingTandon and Nehru families of the Allahabad. He had ample opportunity to establish himself from his childhood.5 He had lot of experienced of stage and theater during his college time. He also had aperture to association with some distinguish personalities which help him in professional and public life later on. He had got degree of law and established himself a famous lawyer.6He did job of editor of several newspapers like Leader, Abhyudaya, Aajetc and also founded Banaras Hindu University at Allahabad. 7Although Malaviya was famous intellectual of province yet his opinion was conservative one.8 He was deeply influenced by SanatanDharm and Philosophy of Vedas.9Malaviya was the famous religious leader of Allahabad whom was associated with the Cow protection movement, SanatanDharamSabhas, Bharat Mahamandal, MaghMela, NagriParcharniSabha, Shuddi and Sanghatan Movements etc.10 Apart from these associations, Malaviya was important Congress leader of United Provinces (U.P).11Malaviya became famous during the time of MaghMela festivals and Nagri movement in the United Provinces. Especially, Nagri movement established Malaviya on highest stature of politics in U.P. due to this movement, Devnagri (Hindi) got equal status with Persian script as a court language in 1901. After the Nagri movement, languages related with particular religion, for example Hindi with Hindus and Urdu with Muslims.Nagri movement was the turning point of Hindu-Muslim tension and Malaviya was the prominent figure of this movement.Malaviya remained a part of Congress from it’s beginning. But he did not support many time Congress movement due to his conservative and pro-governance attitude.12 It is indeed true that Mahatma Gandhi was the first national leader who consciously attempted to achieve an effective linkage between communitarian loyalties in the political field with commitment to the larger collectivity of the nation that had gradually emerged in the course of common confrontation of all sectarian communities with in the colonial regime.13The main thrust of the Congress at the time was to build an anti-imperialist consciousness as a broader objective. For this, Congresswantedenlist support from all sections belonging to different communities. That iswhy from its very inception the Congress maintained a broad secular character and carried all sections in the fold of National Movement. The Congress, however, always took care to project itself as a secular organization, and the Muslims in 54 D A V Academic Review A Refereed Research Journal Issue 4, Vol. 1 ISSN 2455-3999 December 2018 [email protected] particular, were assured that by joining it their interests would always be protected. But communitarian leaders like Malaviya was not much convince with Gandhian philosophy when he disagreed with non- Cooperation and Khilafat movements on certain issues.14 Especially, Malaviya was not in favourto boycott educational of institutions and legislative councils.15Because,Malaviya wanted government Aid for the Banaras Hindu University. Therefore, he did not support non-Cooperation movement of Gandhi. It was example of Malayia’s sectarian and personal interest of factional politics. Although, it is true that religious rifts were not much vigorous during the period, yet, some Hindu revival and cultural organizations were formed in the province. Sectarian political activities of Hindu organizations ascertained hatred socio-political order in U.P, particularly, in Allahabad. Malaviya was deeply concerned with these institutions. The main aim of thisnew type of socio-political order was to conserve or promote Hindu interests in the local and the rest of provincial areas of politics. In this move, a number of religious fairs were the organized near Allahabad, among them MaghMela16 was significant and famous. In the early phase, it wascommon to participate in religious festivals. But in 1870s and 1880s, after the foundation of Prayag Hindu Samaj, it became more communalized.17 The prominent Hindu leaders like Bhattacharya brothers and Malaviya etc. were prominent members of this Samaj.18Its first meeting was held in the compound of Kashi Prasad where Malaviya spoke about the upliftment of the Hindus and encouraged them to develop their self dependence and present a strong face to their ‘enemies’ (Muslims). 19 Similarly, Prayag Hindu Samaj, Madhya or Mut Hindu Samaj20 of Allahabad established in 1894 and Bharat DharmMahamandal, were other strong SanatanDharm organizations to protect ‘Hindu1 interests’. Bharat DharmMahamandal had a weak tie up with the local DharmSabhas until the end of 1890s. The main aim of these organizations was to propagate Sanskrit and Hindi literature to bring awareness among the Hindus. In addition to this, they established Dharmashalas and Sanskrit colleges.21These religious centers were working