Indian Freedom Struggle, Swadeshi Movement and Foundation of Muslim League

Indian Freedom Struggle: Swadeshi Movement & Foundation of Muslim League

First phase of the Freedom Struggle (1885 - 1905) 

In the beginning, Indian National congress (INC) demanded to increase the number of Indians in the assembly and grants more political rights to them. They also demanded reforms in Civil services so as Indians are not in a disadvantageous position as compared to Europeans.

Their most important contribution in the first phase was to create political awareness among the masses and also economic critique of the colonialism.

As far as the methods of early nationalists are concerned, they adopted methods of constitutional agitation, prayers and petition within the four walls of the law. They preferred peaceful agitation and did not had faith in the capacity of the masses. Though they did not initiated any mass struggle, they were successful in creating awareness among the masses against the British/Colonialism. This awareness created by them facilitated future mass struggle against the British.

Second phase of the Freedom Struggle (1905 - 1947) 

In 1905, British government decided to divide the province of Bengal into two parts, i.e., Eastern Bengal with Muslim majority population (Bangladesh and Assam) and Western Bengal with Hindu majority (Bihar, Bengal and Odisha).

With the announcement of partition Indian National Movement entered into second phase of struggle. 

Partition of Bengal was effected on 16th October 1905. At this point of time militant nationalists were of the opinion that prayers and petitions must be backed by the pressure of passive resistant.

The greatest representative of the militant thought was Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Tilak preached his militant ideas through his newspaper Maratta (English) and Kesari (Marathi). He also initiated to start celebrating Ganpati Festival and Shiva Ji Festival to increase his popularity among the masses.

• Ganpati Festival - from 1893
• Shiva Ji Festival - from 1895

He gave propagative speeches against the Britishers and was supported by other nationalists like Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh.

Due to the methods adopted by tilak and his supporters, they came to be known as extremist leaders of the congress.

Important Congress Presidents 

1. 1st President - W.C. Banerjee (1st Session 1885 @Bombay)
2. 1st Female President - Annie Besant (32nd Session 1917 @ Calcutta)
3. 1st Indian Female President - Sarojini Naidu (40th Session 1925 @ Cawnpore)
4. 1st President from minority - Badruddin Tyabzi (3rd Session 1887 @ Madras)
5. 1st Female who addressed the congress session - Kadambani Ganguli (in 5th Session 1889 @ Bombay)

Swadeshi Movement (1905) 

1905 INC Session - 

• Held at Banaras
• President - Gopal Krishna Ghokhale
• Sanctioned the beginning of Swadeshi Movement and boycott of Manchester clothes and Liverpool salt.

In this context (partition of Bengal), the 1905 Congress session was held at Banaras which was presided by Gopal Krishna Ghokhale. He sanctioned the beginning of Swadeshi Movement and boycott of Manchester clothes and Liverpool salt. 

The Swadeshi and boycott movement was interlinked and they were based on self-reliance or Atmashakti.

The major contribution of the Swadeshi was in the field of cultural sphere which is as followed - 

1. Rabindra Nath Tagore composed Amar Sonar Bangla which later became the national anthem of Bangladesh.
2. Bankin Chandra Chatterjee's song Vande Mataram (composed in his novel Anandmath) became the theme song of the national movement.
3. Abindra Nath Tagore broke the European tradition of painting and started to paint on Indian theme. His most important contribution was the Painting of Bharat Mata which incited the feeling of the people.
4. In 1907, Oriental Society of Arts was created to promote Indian Arts.
5. Nandlal Bose was the 1st recipient of the scholarship offered by this institute. He late on went on to become the most important painter of INC.
6. In Maharashtra, Sakharam Ganesh Dauskar popularised the ideas of Dadabhai Naoroji, M.G. Ranade and promoted Swadeshi. In 1904, he wrote a text Desher Katha in which he warned against the colonial rule of the British. He also highlighted how Britishers were also conquesting the minds of the people. During the course of the Swadeshi Movement large number of copies of Desher Khtha was sold and it became highly popular as such in 1910 it was banned by the British authority.
7. V.O. Chidambaram founded Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company. 
8. Acharya P.C. Ray founded Bengal Chemical factory during the course of the Swadeshi Movement.

Limitations of the Swadeshi Movement 

It could not garner the support of Muslim masses due to the following two reasons -

1. The policy of divide and rule followed by Britishers.
2. Reactionary leadership among Muslim masses (Foundation of Muslim League in 1906).

Foundation of Muslim League (1906) 

In 1906, Agha Khan and Nawab Sallimullah of Decca created All India Muslim league at Dhaka with the support of then viceroy Viceroy Lord Minto.

They made their agenda very clear that this organisation will work to establish a political platform in the interest of the Muslim masses and their intention was not to create disharmony in the Indian society. Moreover, it also emphasised that Muslim league will always remain loyal to the British authority.

Later, Sir Syed Ameer Ali established a branch of Muslim League in London in 1908, supporting the same objective.

On the question of boycott, differences started to emerge between the extremist and moderate leader of the Congress. Extremists wanted all out boycott of all the British goods and services but moderates wanted to use the boycott provision in a limited way. 

This collision between the two factions was avoided by electing Dada Bhai Naoroji as the president of the congress session at Calcutta in 1906.

Naoroji gave the following resolutions so as to reconcile the moderates and the extremist leaders which are as follows -

1. Annulment of partition of Bengal
2. Swaraj
3. Swadeshi
4. Boycott
5. National education

In August 1906, National Council of Education was established.

Surat Split (1907) 

Different interpretations were given by moderate and extremist leaders regarding the resolution which created an atmosphere of confusion and anxity.

In this situation, INC Session was held at Surat in 1907, which was presided by moderate leader Rash Bihari Ghosh. Moderates captured the Congress machinery which led to the formal split of INC in 1907.

After the Surat split, British authority adopted the 'Policy of Carrot and Stick' going by which, the policy of appeasement was adopted for the moderate leaders and extremist leaders were repressed. For example - Bal Gangadhar Tilak was deported to Mandalay Jail (Burma) for 6 years, Lala Lajpat Rai for 1 year and Bipin Chandra Pal and Chidambaram Pillai for 6 months.

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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own. 

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