Moderates and Extremists PDF

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Extremists and moderates in INC and their ideologies :

Introduction : Formation of INC : The Indian National Congress was formed in the year 1885 by a britisher, a retired Indian Civil Service Englishman, A.O. Hume. He played a significant role in the foundation of INC. It was often pointed out that Hume established the INC to provide a "Safety Value" to the British. The view had acquired credibility because Hume himself stated that the formation of the Congress was required because a safety value for the escape of great and growing forces generated by our own action was urgently needed. The first meeting of Congress took place in Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay. The first President of INC were W.C. Bonnerjee and it was attended by 72 delegates. This was during the tenure of Viceroy Lord Dufferin. The phase of Congress from its formation in 1885 to 1905 is called the Moderates Phase. The major incident of 1905 which led to the end of Moderates phase and the beginning of the Extremists phase was the Partition of Bengal planned by the Britishers under their Divide and Rule Policy. INC discussed the problems of all the Indians irrespective of their religion, caste, language and regions. Thus INC from the start was an all-India secular movement. The history of the Indian National Movement can be studied in 3 important phases: 1. The phase of moderate nationalism (1885-1905) when the Congress continued to be loyal to the British crown. 2. The years 1906-1916 which witnessed Swadeshi Movement, raise of militant nationalism (Extremism) and the Home Rule Movement. 3. The period from 1917 to 1947 known as the Gandhian era.

Moderates In INC : Background of Moderates : In the first twenty years of its existence the Congress remained a moderates org. It was dominated by leaders who were known as Moderates due to their peaceful methods of political work and their belief in the good sense of the colonial rulers. These leader thought that if public opinion was created, both in India and in Britain, and if reasonable demands were presented to the authorities, they would succeed in their goal. The Moderates had faith in the British Parliament and the British people and carried out propaganda in Britain to influence public opinion there. In 1889, a committee of the Indian National

Congress was founded. In Britain, in 1890 a journal titled India was started there, and many Indians were sent to Britain to campaign for the nationalist cause. Therefore, that although the Moderate nationalists provided devastating critique of colonial policies, they failed to understand that these harmful policies were consciously pursued by the British in their own interests, that the British Parliament was also a party to these measures and that many mong the British people, particularly those who were in prominent position to influence opinion were beneficiaries of these policies which were detrimental to the people in colonies. The Moderates, instead, believed in the good intentions of the colonial rulers and thought that if the true state of affairs was known to the British authorities, they would take the proper steps to correct the wrong. For this purpose, they used constitutional methods and sent petitions and memorials of the government.

The leading figures during the first phase of the National Movement were: 1. A.O. Hume, 2. W.C. Banerjee 3. Surendranath Banerjee, 4. Dadabhai Naoroji, 5. Feroze Shah Mehta, 6. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, 7. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, 8. Badruddin Tyabji, 9. Justice Ranade and 10. G.Subramania Iyer Prominent moderate leaders 1. Dadabhai Naoroji: # Known as the ‘Grand old man of India.’ # He became the first Indian to become a member of the House of Commons in Britain. # Authored ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’ which focused on the economic drain of India because of British policies. This led to an enquiry on the matter. 2.

W.C. Bonnerjee:

# First president of the INC. # Lawyer by profession. First Indian to act as Standing Counsel. 3. Subramanya Aiyer : #Founded ‘The Hindu’ newspaper where he criticised British imperifounded. # Also founded Tamil newspaper ‘Swadesamitran’. # Co-founded the Madras Mahajana Sabha.

4. Gopal Krishna Gokhale : # Regarded as Mahatma Gandhi’s political guru. # Founded the Servants of India Society. 5. Sir Surendranath Banerjee : # Also called ‘Rashtraguru’ and ‘Indian Burke’. # Founded the Indian National Association which later merged with the INC. # Cleared the Indian Civil Service but was discharged due to racial discrimination. # Founded newspaper ‘The Bengalee’.

Main Demands of Moderates: 1. Expansion and reform of legislative councils. 2. Greater opportunities for Indians in higher posts by holding the ICS examination simultaneously in England and in India. 3. Separation of the judiciary from the executive. 4. More powers for the local bodies. 5. Reduction of land revenue and protection of peasants from unjust landlords. 6. Abolition of salt tax and sugar duty 7. Freedom of speech and expression and freedom to form associations 8. Reduction of spending on army. 9. Freedom of speech and expression and freedom to form associations.

Methods of Moderates: 1. Moderates had total faith in the British sense of justice and looked to England for inspiration and guidance (Loyal to British) 2. Moderates used petitions, resolutions, meetings, leaflets and pamphlets, memorandum and delegations to present their demands. 3. Moderates use the practice of 3 Ps, I.e., Petition, prayer and persuasion. 4. Confined their political activities to the educated classes only. 5. Their main aim was to attain political rights and self-government stage by stage. Only demand of the Congress granted by the British was the expansion of the legislative councils by the Indian Councils Act of 1892.

Achievements of Moderates: 1. They explained how the British were exploiting Indians. Particularly, Dadabhai Naoroji in his famous book Poverty and Un British Rule in India wrote his Drain Theory. 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 2. In fact, the British Government was forced to appoint the Welby Commission, with Dadabhai As the first Indian as its member to enquire into the matter. 3. Some Moderates like Ranade and Gokhale favoured social reforms. They protested against child marriage and widowhood. 4. The Moderates had succeeded in getting the expansion of the legislative councils by the Indian Councils Act of 1892. 5.They were able to unite Pan-India on such a mass scale , a feeling of nationalism prevailed into the hearts of Indians.

Limitations of the moderates : 1. This phase of the national movement excluded the masses and only the educated elites participated in it. 2. They did not demand complete independence from foreign rule. 3. They did not understand the power of a mass movement of people unlike Gandhi who used this power. 4. Drew most of their ideas from western political thinking which further alienated them from the people.

Extremists in INC : The Extremist and militant nationalism did not believe in the methods of moderates. They thought that the British would not heed the voice of the nationalists unless some pressure was brought on them. According to the Extremists, the trust in the intentions of the colonial rulers was misplaced. The Indians, instead, should rely on their own resources to improve their conditions. But this could not be done under the foreign rule. Therefore, self government was needed. Bal Gangadhar Tilak the most prominent leader of the Extremists, declared that 'Swaraj is my birthright and we will have it. Aurobindo Ghosh, another leader, attacked the very foundation of the Western civilization and asserted that the Indians should oppose not only the political aspects of the foreign rule, but also abandon the foreign goods, foreign dress, foreign language and foreign habits and manners. The most important leaders of the Extremist wing were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh and Lala Lajpat Rai. Although both the Moderates and the Extremists believed that the British rule was harmful for the

Indians, their different approaches to the agitation generated a clash between them. The Swadeshi movement provided a spars which intensified this clash and increased the division between them. In 1907, at Surat Congress, there was a split in the Congress. The two wings were united in 1916. Extremists just took a more aggressive stance against the British Empire. They were typically younger and did not believe in the soft and persuasive approach of the moderate leaders. The extremist phase of Indian nationalism is from 1905 to 1920.

Background/Causes : # The failure of the moderate leaders in getting any significant results from the British authorities. # The limitations of the moderates were the main causes of the rise of extremism. # The partition of Bengal in 1905 opened the eyes of the Indians to the true colours of the British rulers. Spark for the rise of extremism in the Indian National Movement. Curzon's real motives were: - To break the growing strength of Bengali - To divide the Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. - To show the enormous power of the British Government in doing whatever it liked. The anti-partition movement culminated into the Swadeshi Movement and spread to other parts of India. # Lord Curzon and his disdain for anything Indian also created resentment and anger against the foreigners. # There was a fear among some leaders that the moderates with their westernised notions were trying to create an India in the image of the West. # There was a revival of national pride at that time. # The extremist leaders were also influenced by the growth of spiritual nationalism at that time. # The Delhi Durbar held in 1903 when people had not fully recovered from the horrific effects of the famine that killed lakhs of people drew widespread condemnation. # Events happening around the world also inspired the extremist leaders. Abyssinia’s successful repulsion of the Italian army in 1896 and Japan’s defeat of Russia in 1905 shattered the notion of European invincibility. # Other national movements like in Persia, Egypt and Turkey also motivated the Indian leaders.

Surat Split : # The differences between the moderates and the extremists became official in the Surat session of the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1907. # The meeting was to take place in Nagpur that year. The extremists wanted Lala Lajpat Rai or Bal Gangadhar Tilak to be the President. But the moderates wanted Rash Behari Ghosh as President. There

was a rule that the session’s President could not be from the home province. Tilak’s home province was Bombay Presidency in which Surat was also situated. So, the moderates changed the venue to Surat so that Tilak could be excluded from the presidency. # The moderates also wanted to drop the resolutions on swadeshi, boycott movements and national education. Rash Behari Ghosh became the president in the session which was held at Surat. # Tilak was not even allowed to speak and this angered the extremists, who wanted to cancel the session. # Both sides were firm on their demands and neither was willing to find a common path. # The moderates then held a separate meeting in which they reiterated the Congress goal of selfgovernment within the British Empire and to adopt only constitutional methods to achieve their goals. # Unfortunately, the Surat session was marred by the use of sticks and chappals by the members on one another. Methods of Extremist Leaders The extremist goal was ‘swaraj’. This, at that time either meant complete autonomy and freedom from British control, or a total Indian control over the administration but not necessarily a breakaway from Britain’s imperial reign. # This was in contrast to the moderates’ demand of only an increase in the share of Indians in the administration and military upper echelons. # The extremist leaders involved wider sections of people in the movement. They involved lower middle class people also. They did not stick to constitutional methods to protest and demand. They resorted to boycotts, strikes, etc. They also burned foreign-made goods. # They believed in confrontation rather than persuasion. # The Swadeshi movement gathered momentum in India because of the extremists’ support. This led to the establishment of Indian banks, mills, factories, etc. # They were strongly against British imperialistic policies in India. They took pride in Indian culture and history. They looked at the ancient scriptures for inspiration and courage. They believed in sacrificing everything including life for the cause of the motherland. # They opposed westernisation of Indian society by the British. # Tilak famously said, “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it.” # They were very vocal in their opposition to the British rule unlike the moderates who had faith in British justice. # They tried to instill self-respect and patriotism in the people by invoking past heroes like Ashoka, Shivaji, Maharana Pratap and Rani Laxmibai. # They did not believe in loyalty to the British Crown.

Extremist leaders : # Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal (the first three called Lal-Bal-Pal leading the extremist cause in Punjab, Bombay and Bengal respectively.) Other leaders included Aurobindo Ghosh, Rajnarayan Bose, A K Dutt, V O C Pillai.

Government reaction to extremists: # The government attacked the extremist leaders vigorously. # Laws were passed to check their activities and influence. The following laws were passed between 1907 and 1911: Seditious Meetings Act, 1907; Indian Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act, 1908; Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908; and the Indian Press Act, 1910. # Tilak was sentenced and served in prison in Mandalay (Burma) for writing in support of revolutionaries who were involved in the killing of two British women (their original target was a British magistrate)....