Chapter-Iii Spread of Swadeshi Movement in Tilak
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CHAPTER-III SPREAD OF SWADESHI MOVEMENT IN TILAK ERA Eventhough an intellectual background was prepared in Maharashtea for the Swadeshi movement much earlier, a strong and wide spread Swadeshi movement emerged here only in the Tilak era. Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) was a fearless patriot and one of the greatest nationalist leaders that India produced during the period of her freedom struggle, valentine Chirol described him as "the father of Indian unrest." Since 1895, Tilak dominated the public life and politics in Maharashtra. Although there were occasional ups and downs in the influence of his leadership in Maharashtra politics, he continued to dominate it till his death in 192o. Therefore, the period between 1895 and 192o is described as the Tilak era in the history of freedom movement in Maharashtra.- There was rapid growth of extremism within Indian National Congress since 1893, due to various causes. Lokmanya Tilak, Bipinchandra, Pal Lai a Lajpatrai organised a separate group of extremists within the Congress. The creed of the extreme nationalists consisted of the four principles - Swaraj, Swadeshi, Boycott of foreign goods and National Education. Till 1905, the extremists emerged as a powerful /JL pressure group in the congress and it did considerably influence the congress policies. The extremists got an opportunity to 67 exert their influence upon the congress organisation due to the widespread discontent and strong nation-wide agitation caused by the partition of Bengal. An ardent imperialist Viceroy Lord Curzon effected, dn 16th October, 1905, the partition of Bengal in order to issue a blow to the rapidly growing nationalist spirit in Bengal in particular and India in general. The extremists sharply reacted to this decision and launched a powerful agitation to oppose the partition. This agitation soon spread over almost all parts of India. This agitation was based upon the extremist principles of Swadeshi and boycott of foreign goods. On this background the congress session of 1906 was held at Calcutta. Hbn'ble Dadabhai Navrojl, the grand old man of India, presided over it. In this session the Congress passed resolutions on Swadeshi, Boycott of foreign goods. National education and Swaraj. These resolutions served as a stimulus to the Swadeshi movement. Thus the partition of Bengal was followed by powerful Swadeshi movement which soon spread over almost all parts of India. Maharashtra was no exception to the above discussed developments. Lokmanya Tilak made a spectacular contribution to Swadeshi movement in Maharashtra. He was the moving spirit behind Swadeshi movement here. His concepts^precepts and practices of Swadeshi were prophetic. Tilak's 'Kesari* became the Bible of Swadeshi movement. Lokmanya Tilak through his writings and speeches, preached the economics and politics of am. HALASAHEB KHAHDEKAR LIBRA*! SaiVAJi UNi/EliSUY. KOLHA^ua. 68 Swadeshi, boycott, national education and urged his countrymen to practise it. He used such media as education, festivals, speeches, writings on farmer's miseries in Maharashtra to propagate Swadesh and boycott. He continued to preach these principles till the end of his life and thereby awakened the masses for the acceptance of Swadeshi and boycott. TLlak's preachings had a strong mass appeal. Spirit of Swadeshi appeared in a number of forms and shapes in Maharashtra in the Tilak era. In the present chapter an attempt has been made to review the spread of Swadeshi movement to different parts of present Maharashtra and also to study the different manifestations of the spirit of Swadeshi in Maharashtra. However, as Tilak was the directing brain of all the Swadeshi activities in Maharashtra, his views on the economic conditions and various aspects of Swadeshi will occupy an important place in this chapter. Therefore, discussion related to t his views will precede the review of various stages and aspects of 'Swadeshi' movement in Maharashtra. TILAK*S CONDEMNATION OF BRITISH RULE s It arose out of the exploitation of India's trade, industries, raw-material carried out by the British for their benefit and their negligence of Indian agriculture, industrial prosperity and education etc. He wrote in Kesari, that the 69 Company Government and the British Crown Government exploited Ct- India's trade and industry. By the end of 18th century number A of regulations were implemented to ruin the Indian trade. 62.2% tariffs were imposed on goods going out of the country. As a result of it India's trade and indigenous artisans were ruined. The British wanted the Indian people to purchase imported goods largely. He wrote that by 1830, foreign goods worth nearly 6,11,13584 pounds i.e. of the value of Rs. 92 crores came to India. The finished goods could not go outside the country. In 1880, the import of cotton cloth and yarn was of Rs. 19.50 crores. It rose to Rs. 30 crores, sugar imports rose from rupees one crore to rupees three crores, oil from Rs. six lakhs to Rs. twentyfour lakhs. China glass, iron goods, watches, silk were imported. India was exporting raw cotton, oil seeds, wheat, hides and skins.1 DECAY OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES : While commenting on the decay of Indian industries and impoverishment of the Indian artisans Tilak wrote, "In 1769 order was sent to encourage production of raw material and discourage manufacture of finished products. Weavers were compelled to work in company* s factories. Contracts were made to supply products to the company as ordered by them. The 70 weavers wfere not allowed to work anywhere else or sell their goods outside till they fulfilled the contract of the Company. Thus the weavers were harassed in a number of ways, skilled artisans of India were exploited and were impoverished. The 2 art and craft diead. He further pointed out that Indians could not export goods to Europe due to heavy octrois levied on such articles as artistic cane work, calicos, cotton cloth, woollen shawls, mats, raw silk, silk cloth, sugar, liquor, half-cotton cloth etc. Inter-State and Intra-regional trade also was prohibited by the British Government,by levying 5% to 15% Octroi. Thus trade, commerce, navigation in India were ruined by the British who used scientific and technical knowledge vis-a-vis labour intensive techniques used by 3 Indians. POVERTY OF FARMERS AND WEAVERS s In a number of articles written in 'Kesari* Tilak explained how government was responsible for poverty of the farmers. He described the miserable condition of the famine stricken poor farmers and their exploitation by the money lenders. He held the British Government responsible for this situation. Tilak was of the opinion that attenpts should be made to take away surplus population from agriculture and absorb it in subsidiary industries. The causes responsible for famine, according to Tilak, are not only drought conditions. 71 or rain shortages. If population has got adequate purchasing power, then food-grains can be purchased from other parts of the country with the help of railways or other transportation facilities. So it is essential to start new industries for 4 the benefit of famine-stricken population. He suggested some measures to help the farmers, such as supply of bullocks, plough animals, food grains, miscellaneous expenses on mowing, irrigation, sinking and repairing of wells, repayment of loans taken from money-lenders, marketing of goods, supply of manures, seeds, equipments, clothing etc. 5 GROWING DEPENDENCE ON AGRICULTURE * Tilak repeatedly pointed out in his editorials in Kesari that Government should pay more attention to industrial development in India on the lines of Japan. Japanese Government 6 recovered her industries from decadence. in India, the industries were declining and a larger number of population came to depend on agriculture, in 1890, dependence on agriculture was 70% but later it rose to 85%. Europeans cultivated plantations in India and earned profits, British Government neglected irrigation facilities *nd canals, agriculture and industries in this country. 72 VIEWS ON EDUCATION t After he became the editor of ’Kesari' he laid emphasis on Education more He tried to convince his country men that whatever education was imparted by the British to the Indians was capable of merely turning them into clerks and second grade officers. The main intention of Hlak's writings in Kesari was to point out that education imparted by the British was making the.Indians aimless, without any ideology before them. The nation was becoming worthless. Tilak thus tried to mobilise public opinion against British methods of education and at the same time he expressed his views on 7 national education. in this regard he wrote, "The main defect in the prevailing educational system was that it did not give professional training. The real education should enable the artisan in the trade# to become competent to do his job in hand. When a carpenter is to be trained# he should be made proficient in his carpentry. This will not be achieved by making him fit for a clerk's job."8 Tilak# while explaining the objectives of industrial schools imparting national education for achieving industrial development said, "We have not known in these hundred jears, how to make a match-stick. This does not require much knowledge. In Solapur, stricks are made out of grass, if we develop this 73 industry, we will not be required to import sticks from outside as there is no shortage of grass in our country. Sugar industry is one such example. We can grow sugarcane which is qualita tively similar to sugarcane grown in Mauritius. The sugar technologists have come to the conclusion that sucrose content in the sugarcane grown in the vicinity of Poona is equivalent to that found in sugarcane from Mauritius, we are paying Rs. 6 crores for import of sugar, why should it be that way ? Don't we have sugarcane ? or Don't we have machinery.