KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
MODERN INDIA | MODULE 3 INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT (1885-1905)
History of Indian National Congress can be divided into:
1. Moderate Phase (1885-1905) 2. Extremist Phase (1905-1919) 3. Gandhian Era (1919-1947)
MODERATE PHASE
The first generation of congress leadership was called moderates and the first twenty years after the formation of congress is called the phase of moderates. The leading figures during this phase were A.O. Hume, W.C. Banerjee, Surendra Nath Banerjee, Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Badruddin Tyabji, Justice Ranade, G.Subramanya Iyer etc. Initially Congress was dominated by the educated middle class leadership. They were inspired by the British democratic liberal tradition. Most of them were from three British Presidencies: Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. They did not demand independence or even self government. They demanded only limited democratic rights for the educated members of Indian society They had firm faith in the providential nature of British rule in India Their complaint was not against the British rule, but the un-British attitude of British rulers in India. Thus they considered the atrocities and exploitation of British as aberration rather than the inherent nature of the British rule. They wanted to reform colonial Bureaucracy by Indianising the civil services and provide greater participation of Indians in legislative processes. The moderates never resorted to violence. They believed in the efficacy of peaceful and constitutional agitation. It was well explained by Gokhale in his journal Sudharak as 3P method: Petition, Prayer and Protest.
DEMANDS OF MODERATES
Administrative Demands
Enlarge Indian participation in legislatures through an expansion of the central and provincial legislatures. Abolish the India Council of Secretary of State for India which prevented the secretary of state from initiating liberal policies in India. Administrative reform by appointing more Indians in higher posts in civil services
1
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
Simultaneous civil service exam in both London and India and raise the age limit for appearing for the exams Include two Indians in Viceroy‟s executive Council and one such member in each of the executive councils of Bombay and Madras. Establish new legislative councils for North-Western Province and Punjab Budget should be referred to legislature and subjected to right to discuss and vote on it. Provide right to appeal to the standing committee of the House of Commons against the Government of India.
Economic Demands
End the drain of wealth from India to England Extent state assistance and protection for Indian agriculture and industries End free trade policy that destructed Indian industries Reduce Land revenue Reduce salt tax End the exploitation of workers in plantation industries Extent the system of permanent settlement in other parts
Military Demands
Reduce Military expenditure. Share the military expenditure evenly among British and India governments. Indians should be taken into army as volunteers Appoint more Indians in higher ranks
Other Civil and Political Demands
Repeal discriminatory laws against Indians Repeal Arms Act (1878) Extension of trial by jury system Ensure freedom of press
RESPONSE OF COLONIAL RULERS
In the beginning, the Britishers had a favourable attitude towards the Congress. But, by 1887, this attitude began to change. On 30 November 1888, at St Andrew's Day dinner in Calcutta, a few weeks before leaving India, Lord Dufferin described congress as an organisation representing only a 'Microscopic minority' of India. Income tax abolished in 1870s was reimposed in 1886. The salt tax was raised from Rs. 2 to Rs. 2.5. The only achievement of the Congress was the enactment of the Indian Councils Act, 1892 that enlarged the legislature by adding a few nonofficial members.
Page | 2
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
INDIAN COUNCILS ACT, 1892
Indian National Congress from its inception continuously demanded the reforms of the legislative council and adoption of the principle of election in place of nomination. Indian Councils Act 1892 was introduced in British Parliament by Lord Cross. The Indian Councils act 1892 increased the number of the additional members in Central Legislative Council to between 10 and 16 The Council now had 6 officials, 5 nominated non-officials, 4 nominated by the provincial legislative councils of Bengal Presidency, Bombay Presidency, Madras Presidency and North-Western Provinces and 1 nominated by the chamber of commerce in Calcutta. The Indian Councils Act 1892 gave the members right to ask questions on Budget or matters of public Interest after giving six days‟ notice. But no right to ask supplementary questions. A system of indirect elections was introduced to elect the members of the Provincial legislative councils. The universities, district board, municipalities, zamindars and chambers of commerce were empowered to recommend members to provincial councils. The legislative councils were empowered to make new laws and repeal old laws with the permission of the Governor-General. This act can be said to be a first step towards the beginning of the representative government in India. But only very few of the constitutional demands of moderates were fulfilled by this act.
ACHIEVEMENT OF MODERATES
Even though the Congress failed to achieve its goal, it succeeded in creating national awakening and instilling in the minds of the Indian people a sense of belonging to one Nation. They provided a forum for the Indians to discuss major national issues. They popularized the ideas of democracy, civil liberties and representative institutions. By criticizing the government policies, they gave the people valuable political training. Though, they were not ready to take aggressive steps which would bring them in direct conflict with the Government.
ECONOMIC NATIONALISM
The most significant contribution of moderates was they offered an economic criticism of British rule. The ideas and theories they put forward are collectively referred to as economic nationalism. Moderates such as Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G.Ranade, G.Subrahmania Iyer and R.C Dutt produced well-documented studies to conclusively prove that British rule was primarily responsible for the total ruination of Indian industries and agriculture. Page | 3
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
They opposed the British free trade policy that resulted in the decline of Industrial growth of India. They accused that this policy turned India into a supplier of agricultural raw materials and foodstuffs and a consumer of manufactured goods. India was thus reduced to the status of a dependent agrarian economy and a field of British capital investments. Dadabhai Naoroji declared that the British rule was “an everlasting and every day increasing foreign invasion”.
Economic Drain Theory
The drain theory was the key theme of the economic nationalism. Dadabhai Naoroji put forward this theory in 1867. The drain theory argues that the wealth of India was being drained out to England in the form of home charges, military charges and guaranteed interest payment on railway investment.
Home charge, which formed an important part of drain of wealth, consisted of:
1) Funds used to pay salaries and pensions of British personnel engaged in India 2) Expenditure incurred in England by the Secretary of State and his India Office 3) Funds used for waging wars outside India by the British 4) Interest on Public debt rose abroad 5) Dividend to the share-holders of the East India Company 6) Stores purchased by Secretary of State and the Government of India for Military, Civil and Marine Departments in Britain.
In Naoroji‟s calculation this drain of wealth from India to Britain amounted to about £ 12 million per year, while William Digby calculated it to be £ 30 million. This amounted to at least half of the total revenue income of British Indian Government. This drain impoverished Indian and obstructed the capital formation in India. Naoroji calculated the Per Capita Income of Indians as Rs. 20, while Digby‟s calculation was Rs. 18 for 1899. British never accepted this calculation. Lord Ripon‟s finance secretary calculated PCI as Rs. 27, while Lord Curzon calculated it to be Rs. 30 in 1901.
To quote Dadabhai Naoroji “materially British rule caused only impoverishment; it was like „the knife of sugar‟. That is to say there is no oppression; it is all too smooth and sweet, but it is the knife notwithstanding.” He also said that “British rule is a bleeding drain from India.”
Naoroji included this theory of drain of wealth in his paper Poverty in India (1876). He later expanded his arguments and presented in 1901 as his book Poverty and Un- British Rule in India. He showed how India‟s wealth was going away to England in the form of salaries, savings, pensions, payments to British troops in India and profits of the British companies.
Page | 4
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
R.C. Dutt made the theme of drain of wealth the subject of his famous book Economic History of India published in 1901-03 in two volumes. Justice M G Ranade through many essays such as „Indian Political Economy‟ documented the impact of British rule in Indian economy.
LIMITATIONS OF MODERATE POLITICS
The moderate politics remained limited in nature, in terms of goals, programmes, achievements and participation. The early moderate politicians were mainly Hindus, barring the notable exception of Bombay politician, Badruddin Tyabji. Between 1892 and 1909, nearly 90% of the delegates who attended the Congress sessions are Hindus and only 6.5% were Muslims and among the Hindus again, nearly 48% were Brahmans and the rest were upper-caste Hindus. In 1888 Session Congress passed a rule that no resolution would be accepted if an overwhelming majority of Hindus or Muslim delegates objected to it. But these gestures did not remove the apprehension of Muslims. The basic weakness of the early national movement lay in its narrow social base. It did not penetrate down to the masses. They demanded extension of the Permanent Settlement only in the interest of the zamindars. It was because a large portion of the congress leaders were from landlord families and landowners were the major source of finance during the initial years of congress. They were opposed to factory reforms like factory reforms like the Mining Bill which proposed to improve the living condition of women and children.
MODERATE LEADERS
W.C. BANERJEE (1844-1906)
Womesh Chandra Banerjee was the first president of Indian National Congress. He again became the President of INC in 1892 Allahabad session. He was the first Indian to contest the election for the British House of Commons (from the constituency of Barrow-in-Furness as a Liberal party candidate) although he lost the election.
GOPALAKRISHNA GOKHALE (1866-1915)
Gopalakrishna Gokhale is known as Maratha Socrates. He was the political Guru of Mahtma Gandhi, Muhammadali Jinnah and Sarojini Naidu. M.G.Ranade was the political Guru of Gopalakrishna Gokhale. Sudharak, Nation, Hithavada and Jnanaprakash are the newspapers/journals published by Gokhale. He attended Congress for the first time in 1889 Bombay session. Page | 5
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
In 1899, Gokhale was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council. He later served to Imperial Legislative Council after its expansion in 1909. He became the President of INC in 1905 Benares session. He founded Servants of India Society (Bharath Seva Sangh) at Pune on June 12, 1905. Gokhale wrote that “The Servants of India Society will train men prepared to devote their lives to the cause of country in a religious spirit, and will seek to promote, by all constitutional means, the national interests of the Indian people.” Gokhale met Gandhi in 1896. He was a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. Gandhi called him, „Mahtma‟. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi‟s invitation. He rejected the title of Knighthood and refused to accept a position in the Council of the Secretary of State for India He criticised the then viceroy Lord Curzon and compared him to Aurangzeb and the Tsar of Russia. Gokhale died on 19 February 1915 at the age of 49. At his funeral, B.G. Tilak, one of his political opponent, praised him as : „diamond of India, jewel of Maharashtra, and prince of workers‟ The extremists described him as „faint-hearted moderate‟ The British described him as a „seditionist in disguise‟ Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) is at Pune. It was decided to set up Gokhale Museum inside the campus of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah described himself as „Muslim Gokhale‟ Mankada Krishna Varma Raja is known as 'Malabar Gokhale‟
DADABHAI NAOROJI (1825-1917)
Dadabhai Naoroji was a Parsi intellectual, educator, economist, businessman, and an early Indian political and social leader. He is also known as Grand Old man of India, Father of Indian Economics and Politics, Indian Gladstone and India‟s unofficial ambassador in England. Gandhiji in his book Hind Swaraj described Naoroji as the „Author of nationalism‟ and „Father of nation‟. In 1855, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the Elphinstone College in Bombay, becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position. He later became the Professor of Gujarati at University College, London (1856-65). In 1855, he relocated to Britain to set up a mercantile firm. The company he founded in partnership with Muncherji Hormmusji and Kharshedji Rustamji Cama was the first Indian firm to operate in Britain. In 1859, he opened his own mercantile firm in London named Dadabhai Naoroji & Co. In 1865, he founded London Indian Society with W.C Bannerji as a forum to air political grievance. In 1866, it was superseded by East India Association Page | 6
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
EAST INDIA ASSOCIATION (1866)
The East India Association was founded by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1866, in collaboration with Indians and retired British officials in London. It was a platform for discussing matters and ideas about India, and to provide representation for Indians to the Government. Naoroji delivered the first lecture to the Association on 2 May 1867. The Association's first President was Lord Lyveden. In 1868, the East India Association had nearly 600 members. This had increased to 1,000 in 1878. Female members were admitted from 1912. This Association soon won the support of eminent Englishmen and was able to exercise considerable influence in the public sphere.
In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Mumbai (1885–88). Dadabhai Naoroji became Indian representative in the socialist Second International and pleaded the cause of India's freedom, at their 1904 congress (6th congress) in Amsterdam. He was an active member of the Bombay Association (1852), the first association in the western India to consider political issues. He was a member of parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. He contested from Central Finsbury constituency as a Liberal Party candidate. He lost his seat in the General Election of 1895. In 1906, Naoroji stood as a candidate at Lambeth North but was again unsuccessful. Dadabhai read the paper „England‟s Duties to India‟ before a predominantly British audience at East India Association on May 2, 1867. It was in that paper he accused of Britain draining wealth from India. In the paper titled „Poverty of India‟, read before the Bombay Branch of East Indian Association of 1876, he elaborated this theory of drain of wealth. In 1876, Dadabhai Naoroji was the first person to prepare estimates of national income and per capita income for the year 1867-68. Dadabhai Naoroji estimated national income at Rs 340 crore and per capita income of Rs 20. In 1901, he published his magnum opus ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ Naoroji‟s work on the drain theory was the main reason behind the creation of the Royal commission on Indian Expenditure in 1896 in which he was also a member. He founded the London Zoroastrian Association in 1861. He started Gyan Prasarak Mandali (Society for Promotion of Knowledge) for the promotion of adult education. Dadabhai Naoroji along with J.B. Wacha, S.S. Bangali and Naoroji Furdonji founded a Parsi religious reform organisation called Rahanumai Mazdayasanan Sabha (Religious Reform Association) in 1851. In the same year, Naoroji founded Rast Goftar (Truth Teller), a Gujarati fortnightly with a Persian name as a weekly organ of this organization.
Page | 7
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
He founded the newspaper Voice of India, which later merged with Indian Spectator. He expounded the need for purity in thought, speech and action in his book „The Duties of the Zoroastrians‟. He served as the President of INC thrice: 1886 (Calcutta), 1893 (Lahore), and 1906 (Calcutta). He suggested the name Congress for this organization, which he borrowed from North American history. He was the second President and first Parsi President of INC. He was the also the oldest President of Congress. In 1906 Calcutta Session, he demanded Swaraj or self government for India for the first time. Dadabhai Naoroji passed away in Bombay on June 30, 1917 The Dadabhai Naoroji Awards are bestowed by the British government for services to UK-India relations. It was first given in 2014.
“Let us always remember that we are all children of our mother country. Indeed, I have never worked in any other spirit than that I am an Indian, and owe duty to my country and all my countrymen. Whether I am a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a Parsi, a Christian, or any other creed, I am above all an Indian. Our country is India; our nationality is Indian." - (Dadabhai Naoroji, From the Presidential Address – 1893 Lahore Session)
PHEROZESHAH MEHTA (1845-1915)
Sir Pherozeshah Mehta was a Parsi Indian political leader, activist, and a leading lawyer of Mumbai. He is known as the Lion of Bombay. He became the Municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipality in 1873 and its President four times. He was also known the Father of Bombay Municipality. Pherozeshah Mehta was nominated to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1887 and in 1893 a member of the Imperial Legislative Council. He became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890 Calcutta Session. He was knighted by the British Government in India for his service to the law. In 1910, he started an English-language weekly newspaper Bombay Chronicle He was the first Chairman of Central Bank of India, founded in 1911. Central Bank of India is also known as the first truly swadeshi bank. He played an instrumental role in ousting the extremists from Congress in 1907 Surat Session. He led the moderate faction during that time.
Bombay Triumvirate or the Three Stars of Bombay‟s public life included Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta and K.T. Telang. All these three veterans had started the Bombay Presidency Association in 1885. Pherozeshah Mehta was the first President of Bombay Presidency Association.
Page | 8
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
SURENDRANATH BANERJEE (1848-1925)
Surendranath Banerjee was a political leader and journalist. He is known as Grand Old Man of Bengal, Rashtraguru, The Uncrowned King of Bengal, Indian Burke and Father of Indian Nationalism. He cleared the Indian Civil Service examinations in 1869, but was barred owing to a dispute over his exact age. Later he got back his job and was posted as assistant magistrate in Sylhet. However, Banerjee was dismissed soon from his job owing to racial discrimination. Banerjee was the first Indian to be dismissed from ICS. In 1879, he founded the newspaper, The Bengalee. He was the first Indian to go to jail in performance of his duty as a Journalist . Banerjee and Anandamohan Bose founded the Indian Association in 1876 to agitate for political reforms. He convened the Indian National Conference under the aegis of Indian Association in 1883 and again in 1885. The dates of Second Indian National Conference clashed with the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Bombay (Mumbai). The two events were planned without any coordination between the organizers. This prevented Banerjee from attending the Bombay Congress.
INDIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The first National Conference organized by Indian Association in Calcutta was held between December 28 and 30, 1883. It was presided over by Ramtanu Lahiri, a veteran of Bengal Renaissance. The issues discussed were Representative Councils, general and technical education, separation of judicial from executive functions in the administration of criminal justice and greater employment of Indians in public service. The Second National Conference of the Indian Association was held during December 25-27, 1885 in Calcutta. Indian National Conference merged with the Indian National Congress in l886.
Banerjee also twice presided over Congress - Pune (1895) and Ahmadabad (1902). He was part of the nine member Congress delegation to England in 1890. He was the first Indian to exploit the growing railway network in India for political purpose. He made political tours in trains and mobilized public opinion. He firmly opposed the Partition of Bengal. He was an important figure in the Swadeshi movement – advocating goods manufactured in India against foreign products. He was a champion of local self government and founder of Ripon College (now Surendranath College). „A Nation in Making‟ was the autobiography of Surendranath Banerjee, published in 1925. Banerjee welcomed the provisions of the Montagu-Chelmsford report of 1918 while Congress opposed it. Page | 9
KAS - MODERN INDIA TALENT ACADEMY
He left Congress in 1918 and formed another Political Party named All India Conference of Moderate Party. Surendranath Banerjee was the first President of the Party. In 1919, it was renamed as Indian National Liberal Federation. He became a member of Imperial Legislative Assembly in 1921 and accepted office as minister of local self-government in Bengal. Banerjee was a critic of the proposed method of civil disobedience advocated by Mahatma Gandhi
ROMESH CHANDRA DUTT (1848-1909)
R.C.Dutt is known as the father of economic nationalism in India He passed the Indian Civil Service exam in 1871. In 1883 he was the first Indian to be appointed as a district magistrate When the premier literary association of Bengal, Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, was set up in 1894, Dutt was elected its first President. In 1899 Dutt was invited to preside over the fifteenth session of the Indian National Congress held at Lucknow. He published his famous book ‘Economic History of India’ in two volumes in 1901-03. His other books include „England and India'(1897), „Famines in India'(1900), „Three Years In Europe'(1872) etc. He also wrote two social novels „Samaj'(1885) and „Sangsar'(1893). He also translated „Ramayana‟ and „Mahabharata‟ into English.
P. ANANDACHARLU (1843-1908)
P. Anandacharlu was one of the 72 delegates (also called the 'brave-72') who attended the first session of the INC. He was the President of the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress held in 1891. Anandacharlu was the first President of INC from South India. From 1903 to 1905, he was a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He regularly contributed articles to leading journals like the Native Public Opinion and The Madrasi. He started his political life in 1884 after being elected council member of the Madras Corporation from Triplicane. In 1884, Madras Mahajana Sabha was established with Sri Rangaiah Naidu as the president and Sri Anandacharlu as the secretary. Anandacharlu was elected member of the Imperial Legislative Council in 1895. During the British rule, the India Council was the main target of his attack at successive Congress sessions. He described it as "the oligarchy of fossilised Indian administrators who were superannuated for service in India."
Page | 10