Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Modern History Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Delhi Darbar(1911) ● Set up to welcome King George V. ● Decisions taken during this were: ● Annulment of Partition of Bengal but Separation of Bihar & Orissa from Bengal ● Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912 Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Previous Year Question 2014.The partition of Bengal made by Lord Curzon in 1905 lasted until (a) The World War I when Indian troops were needed by the British and the partition war ended (b) King George V abrogated Curzon’s Act at the Royal Durbar in Delhi,1911 (c) Gandhiji launched a Civil Disobedience movement (d) The Partition of India, in 1947 when East Bengal became East Pakistan Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) The Ghadr ● The Ghadr Party was a revolutionary group organized around a weekly newspaper. ● The Ghadr had its headquarters at San Francisco. ● These revolutionaries included mainly ex-soldiers & peasants who had migrated from the Punjab in search of better employment opportunities. ● They were based in the US & Canadian cities along the western (Pacific) coast. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) The Ghadr (Cont...) ● Pre-Ghadr revolutionary activity had been carried on by Ramdas Puri, G.D. Kumar, Taraknath Das, Sohan Singh Bhakna & Lala Hardayal who reached there in 1911. ● To carry out revolutionary activities, the earlier activists had set up a 'Swadesh Sevak Home' at Vancouver & 'United India House' in Seattle. ● Tarak Nath Das, an Indian student, & one of the 1st leaders of Indian community in North America to start a paper (called Free Hindustan) realized that while the British government was keen on Indians going to Fiji to work as laborers for British planters, it did not want them to go to North America where they might be infected by ideas of liberty. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Previous Year Question 2005. Where were the Ghadr revolutionaries , who became active during the outbreak of the World War I based? (a) Central America (b) North America (c) West America (d) South America Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Cont… ● Finally in 1913, the Ghadr was established. ● Ghadr programme was to organize assassinations of officials, publish revolutionary & anti-imperialist literature, work among Indian troops stationed abroad, procure arms & bring about a simultaneous revolt in all British colonies. ● The moving spirits behind the Ghadr Party were Lala Hardayal, Ramchandra, Bhagwan Singh, Kartar Singh Saraba, Bhai Parmanand. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Cont… ● The ghadrites intended to bring about a revolt in India. ● Their plans were encouraged by 3 events in 1914: ● arrest & escape of Hardayal , ● the Komagata Maru incident , ● the outbreak of the 1st World War. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Arrest & escape of Hardayal ● Dayal was arrested on 25 March 1914 on the stated ground of his anarchist activities though everybody suspected that the British Government had much to do with it. ● Released on bail, he used the opportunity to slip out of the country. ● With that, his active association with the Ghadar Movement came to an abrupt end. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Komagata Maru incident ● Created an explosive situation in the Punjab. ● Komagata Maru was the name of a ship which was carrying 376 passengers, mainly Sikh & Punjabi Muslim would-be immigrants, from Hongkong to Vancouver. ● They were turned back by Canadian authorities after 2 months of privation & uncertainty. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Komagata Maru incident (Cont...) ● Generally believed that the Canadians were influenced by the British Government. ● The ship finally anchored at Calcutta in September 1914. ● The inmates refused to board the Punjab-bound train. ● In the ensuing with the police at Budge Budge near Calcutta, 22 persons died. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Ghadrites Activity During 1st WW ● Inflamed by this & with the outbreak of the War, the Ghadr leaders decided to launch a violent attack on British rule in India. ● They urged fighters to go to India. ● Kartar Singh Sarabha & Raghubar Dayal Gupta left for India. ● Rashbehari Bose & Sachin Sanyal were asked to lead the movement. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Ghadrites Activity During 1st WW (Cont...) ● Punjab political dacoities of January-February 1915: In at least 3 out of the 5 main cases, the raiders targeted the moneylenders & the debt records before decamping with the cash. ● Ghadrites fixed February 21 ,1915 as the date for an armed revolt in Ferozepur, Lahore & Rawalpindi garrisons, the plan was foiled at the last moment due to treachery. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Government Repression ● The authorities took immediate action, aided by the Defence of India Rules, 1915. ● The British met the wartime threat by a formidable battery of repressive measures — the most intensive since 1857 — & above all by the Defence of India Act passed, in March 1915 primarily to smash the Ghadr movement. ● Rebellion regiments were disbanded, leaders arrested ,deported & hanged. ● There were large scale detentions without trial, special courts giving extremely severe sentences, numerous court - martials of army men. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Government Repression (Cont...) ● Rash Behari Bose fled to Japan from where he & Abani Mukherji made many efforts to send arms while Sachin Sanyal was transported for life. ● Apart from the Bengal revolutionaries & the Punjab Ghadrites, radical pan- Islamists — Ali brothers, Maulana Azad, Hasrat Mohani — were interned for years. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Evaluation of Ghadr ● The achievement of the Ghadr movement lay in the realm of ideology. ● It preached militant nationalism with a completely secular approach. ● Nor did the Ghadarites betray any narrow regional loyalties. ● Tilak, Aurobindo Ghose, Khudi Ram Bose, Kanhia Lal Dutt, Savarkar were all the heroes of the Ghadars. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Evaluation of Ghadr (Cont...) ● Rash Behari Bose was accepted as the leader of the abortive Ghadar revolt in 1915. ● Far from dwelling on the greatness of the Sikhs or the Punjabis, the Ghadarites constantly criticized the loyalist role played by the Punjabis during 1857. ● Democratic & egalitarian content: Ghadarites clearly stated that their objective was the establishment of an independent republic of India. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Evaluation of Ghadr (Cont...) ● But politically & militarily, it failed to achieve much because it ○ lacked an organised & sustained leadership, ○ underestimated the extent of preparation required at every level—organisational, ideological, financial & tactical strategic — & ○ perhaps Lala Hardayal was unsuited for the job of an organizer. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Previous Year Question Q. The Ghadr (Ghadar) was a: (a) Revolutionary association of Indians with headquarters at San Francisco (b) Nationalist organization operating from Singapore (c) Militant organization with headquarters at Berlin (d) Communist movement for India’s freedom with headquarters at Tashkent Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Revolutionaries in Europe ● The Berlin Committee for Indian Independence was established in 1915 by Virendra Nath Chattopadhyay, Bhupendranath Dutta, Lala Hardayal, etc. with the help of the German foreign office under Zimmerman Plan'. ● These revolutionaries aimed to mobilize the Indian settlers abroad to send volunteers & arms to India to incite rebellion among Indian troops there. ● To even organize an armed invasion of British India to liberate the country. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Revolutionaries in Europe (Cont…) ● Indian revolutionaries in Europe sent missions to Persia, Turkey, Baghdad & Kabul to work among Indian troops & the Indian POWs & to incite anti-British feelings amongst their people. ● One mission under Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, Barkatullah & Obaidullah Sindhi went to Kabul to organize a provisional Indian government there with the help of crown prince Amanullah. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Home Rule League Movement ● Indian response to the 1st World War in a less charged but a more effective way than the response of Indians living abroad which took the form of the romantic Ghadr adventure. ● The Indian Home Rule Leagues were organized on the lines of the Irish Home Rule Leagues & they represented the emergence of a new trend of aggressive politics. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Home Rule League Movement(Cont…) ● Tilak & Besant realised that the sanction of a Moderate-dominated Congress as well as full cooperation of the extremists was essential for the movement to succeed. ● Having failed at the 1914 session of the Congress to reach a Moderate-Extremist rapprochement, Tilak & Besant decided to revive political activity on their own while maintaining their pressure on the Congress to re-admit the Extremists. Modern History: XI -Indian Freedom Struggle (1911-17) Home Rule League Movement(Cont…) ● Annual Congress session in December 1914 was to prove a disappointment — Pherozeshah Mehta & his Bombay Moderate group succeeded, by winning over Gokhale