In the Indian nationalist movement, personalities and ideas emerged and evolved in response to British rule over a period of two centuries, first by the English East India Company and from 1858 the British parliament. Bengal, the seat of British rule saw the emergence of a nascent English-speaking educated class in administration and allied professions like law and commerce. Macaulay understood that long-term rule would require incorporation of certain sections of educated Indians, who were subsequently referred to as brown sahibs.
He also streamlined the administration with strict rules for British colonial administrators to justify the White Man’s rule as being better than that of the natives. A typical example of this period was Dwarkanath Tagore, grandfather of Rabindranath who was involved in a number of successful business enterprises. The real break in comprehending the nature of British rule and the task before India at that initial stage was best projected by Raja Rammohan Roy, the first modern man in India who emphasized on certain universal values like recognizing the historic importance of the French Revolution, meeting Bentham and fighting for the freedom of the press, comparable to Milton who in 1644 opposed censorship and upheld a free press for ascertaining truth and furthering social progress.
Rammohun also realised the urgent need for reforming a stagnant society in view of the prevailing inhuman practices including sati. He accepted the fact that India was in a situation of backwardness and was confident that its encounter with a more advanced order would be beneficial as it would imbibe a scientific temper, toleration, and the rule of law. He was of the view that India’s apprenticeship would be long, one that would last a century and half. His demands for civil liberties and political reforms reappeared as the demands of the early Congress.
Ranade’s Prarthana Samaj followed Rammohun’s footprints and even Dayanand went to Calcutta to imbibe the spirit of reform from the Brahmo Movement. Dayanand stressed on the cardinal importance of the Vedas but also conceded that India had a lot to learn from the British like the value they placed on contract, pride in speaking their language and wearing their own dress matter in which part of the world they were in. The shift from social reform to political matters in the discourse in India was with the articulation of Who wants to live without freedom by Ranglal Bandhopadhya in 1858 and Nil Darpan (The Indigo Mirror) by Deshbandu Mitra in 1858-59.
The latter graphically described the exploitation of the Indian workers by British plantation indigo owners. The establishment of the three universities after the first war of independence of 1857, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras helped in consolidating the urbanised English knowing middle class, a fact taken note of by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Surendranath Bannerjee’s Indian Association in 1876 was the first nationwide organization but was short lived mainly because of two reasons, (1) over centralization in Calcutta and (2) the mutual suspicion of the emerging elite in the metropolitan towns. The Hindu Mela, established by Nabagopal Mitra, Rajnarayan Basu and Manmohan Bose in Bengal in 1867 and the Ilbert Bill (1883) further consolidated the anger of the middle-class against the local British administration.
AO Hume was aware of the major contradictions within Indian society and wanted the Indian National Congress, established in 1885, to be a moderate organization. Surendranath Banerjee was kept out because of his radicalism. He joined the Congress in 1886. The leadership of the Congress was conscious of the deep cleavages with pronounced identities and rivalries within Indian society. Its attempt, as pointed out by Niharanjan Ray was to promote a “common platform for all sections of the Indian people, irrespective of the community and province to which they might belong.
Its proclaimed object was the ‘fuller development and consolidation of the sentiments of national unity’”. It took up issues like reform of the Legislative Council, abolition of the India Council, reduction of military expenditure and promotion of technical education. Its plank was a peaceful and constitutional movement for self-government and a slow and gradual consolidation of democratic institutions. It was perceived as a Hindu organization by a large section of the Muslim elite. Even Tyabji wanted some kind of protection/safeguards for the Muslim minority.
However, the Aligarh school of thought was that a permanent majority and a permanent minority would be detrimental to its interests and became firm supporters of the British Raj. Radicalism within the Congress consolidated in the 1890s with the rise of Tilak, the first major popular leader with his mobilization against the Age of Consent Bill in 1891 and in organizing the Ganapati and Shivaji festivals in 1893 and 1895-6 respectively. The split in the Congress was sealed in 1907 at the Surat session and a truncated Congress led by the Moderates continued till 1915.
The twin effect of Tilak’s return in 1914 and Gokhale’s death in 1915 facilitated alarger unity and also rapprochement with the Muslim League in 1916 with the Lucknow Pact. Tilak’s death in 1920 made Gandhi’s rise certain as there was no other comparable figure within the Congress after the Rowlatt Act Satyagraha in 1919 and his initiation of the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920. After the 1918 Jallianwala Bagh massacre Gandhi became a firm opponent, from a firm believer, of the Empire and that lasted till the end. His first major challenge to British rule was with his declaration of attaining swaraj within one year. The Gandhian era is a fascinating period where followers and opponents articulated their views on politics and Indian nationalism intensely.
Gandhi’s major achievement was two-fold: first, organizational, making the Congress a functioning political outfit with a constitution, regular elections and making it a mass and cadre party at the same time. In every village there was a Gandhi-capped Khadi clothed Congressman alongside the postman in his official uniform. Second was Gandhi’s announcement of the arrival of the Indian nation – based on linguistic states acknowledging India’s pluralism and a new national lingua franca Hindustani – thereby rejecting the British map.
Incidentally Dayanand was the first to propose the idea of a national language and this was subsequently iterated by Savarkar besides Gandhi. The Montford Reforms of 1919 also facilitated this discourse because of the imminence of dominion status for India and also because the British started treating the political class with a lot of respect and freedom. This was in sharp contrast to the earlier treatment meted to Tilak and Savarkar. Tilak was not allowed to carry the Bhagavad Gita during his imprisonment and this was subsequently granted only after Max Mueller’s intervention.
(The writer is a retired Professor of Political Science, University of Delhi)