Religious Reform Movements

Protest and Religious Reform Movement

With the passage of time a gradual change came in the Vedic religion. It slowly became the religion of costly rituals and sacrifices. Many customs prevailed during this time in the society in the name of religion, like empty ritualism and costly sacrifices. People were fed up with this condition and wanted simplicity and sincerity in religion. Numerous religious sects arose in the sixth century BCE in the Ganga basin, in North India. We have records of as many as 62 religious sects with followers during this time. Each of these sects was based on regional customs and rituals. Many of these religious sects were started by teachers and preachers from the Kshatriya caste. Among the many great preachers were Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama Buddha, who became famous as the founders of two religious sects – Jainism and Buddhism respectively.

Both Mahavira and Buddha preached against the evil customs prevailing in the society in the name of religion. The changing patterns of social-economical living condition gave rise to new ideas and feelings which encouraged the development of these two sects Jainism and Buddhism. The rise of towns and the growth of industrial and commercial classes encouraged the development of these two religious movements. These two movements started almost at the same time in the eastern part of the Ganga basin in the region surrounding Rajagriha, Vaishali and Kashi.

Mahavira and Jainism

Vardhamana Mahavira was born at Kundagrama near the city of Vaishali in present Bihar about 540 BCE. He was a Kshatriya prince but led a simple life, not caring for the luxury and comforts of his father’s court. At the age of thirty, he left the comforts of the world and gave himself up to the penance for twelve long years. In the thirteenth year he gained the perfect knowledge called Kaivalya and began to teach and preach his philosophy. The new philosophy or religion was come to be called Jainism and his followers were called Jains. The word Jains has come from Jina meaning conqueror.

According to the Jains, Mahavira was their last teacher or the ultimate 24^th Tirthankar. Mahavira passed away in about 468BCE at the age of 72 at Pavapuri in Rajgir.

Mahavira’s Teachings

1. Mahavira taught the doctrine of Karma, the quality of one’s deed in the present life. He told that Karma decides what we will be in our next birth.
2. The highest goal of our life should be Moksha, the ultimate freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirths.
3. Anyone can attend Moksha, even a Shudhra, if he leads his life in right manner.
4. Moksha can be attained through the three fold path of right belief, right knowledge and right action.
5. He did not believe in God or the Vedas. He said Moksha could be attained even without prayers and sacrifices to gods.
6. He said that Ahimsa or Non-Violence was the best form of religion. According to Mahavira, no harm is to be done even to animals, insects, small birds and plants. He preached the extreme form of ahimsa.
7. He also taught the following doctrines – do not steal, do not tell a lie, do not be attached to worldly possessions, do not lead an impure life, to spent the extra wealth in charity and noble acts.

Mahavira’s teachings and his philosophy is compiled in a book called Kalpa Sutra which is the holy book of the Jains. It also contains the biographies of the rest of the twenty three Tirthankars.

Gautama Buddha and Buddhism

Gautama Buddha was born as Siddhartha in about 563BCE in the Sakya tribe at Lumbini Grove near the ancient city of Kapilavastu on the border of modern day Nepal and Uttar Pradesh and lived in a beautiful palace amid luxury and comfort. His father was Suddhodana, a ruler in Kapilavastu. At the age of sixteen, he was married to Yashodhara, by whom he had a son, Rahul.

Since his childhood days, Siddhartha was a sensitive and observant boy. He used to be very sad when he saw sufferings. He used to think of wiping out the sufferings. Soon there was an incident that changed the entire course of the young prince Siddhartha. One day while he was walking in the vicinity of his palace he came across four visuals. First he saw a very old man. Next he saw a sick man. Then he stumbled upon a dead body. Then he saw a hermit. These visuals disturbed him a lot and he began to relate these events to his life. He began to realize that life was full of sorrow and took upon the task himself of wiping these sorrows. He was completely withdrawn from the worldly affairs.

One night, when he was 29, he secretly left his palace abandoning his wife and son, and went to the forests to find a way out of the human sufferings and sorrows. This event in Buddhism is called the Great Renunciation.

In the years that followed, he sought knowledge at the feet of learned teachers. For six years, he undertook the most austere penances, like fasting for many days at a stretch. One day, as he was seated absorbed in meditation under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, he suddenly received the light of knowledge and got answers to all his questions. As a result of this enlightenment he came to be called the Buddha, meaning the enlightenment.

Soon he wanted to share the knowledge he acquired with all. He moved about from place to place teaching and preaching. He won many followers, including a number of prices and nobles. He preached his first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath near Varanasi. People called him Tathagat (one who possesses truth) or Sakyamuni (the sage of the Sakya tribe). After preaching his philosophy for about 45 years he died at Kusinagara in about 483BCE at the ripe age of 83 years. His religious philosophy was called Buddhism and his followers were called Buddhist.

Teachings of Buddha

Gautama Buddha taught in Pali, a common language of the Magadhan people. He preached ahimsa with special emphasis on kindness to animals, and rejected the authority of the Vedas. Buddhism has no place for god. His doctrines were called Ashta Marga or Eight Fold Paths.  There were eight elements in it – right view of things, right purpose in life, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right thinking and right kind of meditation. He taught that a person should avoid excesses of both luxury and austerity. He prescribed the Middle Path. He told his followers that the world is full of sorrow, the cause of which is desire and attachment; and sorrow can only be ended by getting rid of our desire for worldly things.

According to Buddha, the goal of life should be Nirvana, the freedom from the cycle of rebirths that can be attained only by following the Ashta Marga, and not by rituals, sacrifices, fasts and penances. He opposed the caste system and insisted on a simple way of life. He advised the king on how to rule and to care for the common people. In many places he established monasteries called Viharas, and also founded an order of monks called the Sangha. These monasteries became the centers of education and learning.

Buddhism unlike Jainism had mass appeal and soon became the most widespread religion of north India. It spread far and wide and went even beyond India to Sri Lanka, Tibet, China, central and south-east Asia. It carried with it the culture of India. The monks and nuns tirelessly preached the new religion. Buddhism became a missionary religion. Tipitaka is the religious holy book of Buddhists, written in Pali. It contains the life history of Buddha, his teachings and Buddhist doctrines.

Arya Samaj

The most profound reform movement in the late 19^th Century India was the Arya Samaj. It started in the western India and Punjab and gradually spread to a large part of the Hindi heartland. It was founded by Dayanand Saraswati in 1875. He wrote Satyarth Prakash (light of truth) in the same year and founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay. In 1877 the Lahore Arya Samaj was founded and subsequently Lahore became the epicenter of the Arya movement.

Dayanand opposed a ritual ridden Hindu religion and called for basing it on preaching of the Vedas. Only Vedas, along with their correct analytical tools, were true. He attacked Puranas, polytheism, idolatry and domination of the priestly class. He adopted Hindi for reaching out to the masses. He also opposed child marriage. He was fiercely opposed to multiplicity of castes which he thought was primarily responsible for encouraging conversion of lower castes into Christianity and Islam.

After Dayanand’s death in 1883, the Samaj lay scattered. Most important attempt to unite the Samaj and its activities was the founding of the Dayanand Anglo Vedic Trust (DAV Trust) in Lahore in 1886. In the same year, this society opened a school. However, some leaders of the Samaj were opposed to Anglo-Vedic education and wanted DAV trust to focus only on Sanskrit, Vedic scriptures and Aryan ideology while taking educational initiatives. Conflicts arose over the control of DAV management society leading to a formal division of the Arya Samaj in 1893 into DAV Group led by proponents of English education led by Lala Lajpat Rai  and Gurukul Group led by Swami Shraddhanand who initiated a gurukul-based education

The two wings of Arya Samaj had differences on the question of education but were united on important political and social issues of the time. The Arya Samaj as a whole opposed conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity and therefore advocated re-conversion of recent converts to Hinduism. This process was called Shuddhi. They also advocated greater usage of Hindi in Devnagri script and organized movement against cow slaughter.

Re-organization of States

Background  

At the time of independence the provinces in India were arranged by the British according to the pre-independence population and polity. The states were divided into 4 groups – A, B, C and D. Also following the independence the British government dissolved their early treaties with the five hundred Princely States directing them to either join the union of India or Pakistan.

After Independence  

Between 1947 and 1950, the Princely states were politically integrated into the Indian union. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organized into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh. Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bilaspur became separate provinces.

In 1950 the new Constitution of India came into force on 26 January and India now became a Union of States with three main types of states. ‘A’ states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. The ‘B’ states were Hyderabad, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala, East Punjab, Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Travancore-Cochin. The ‘C’ states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kutch, Manipur, Tripura and Vindhya Pradesh. The ‘D’ states was Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Movement for States  

After independence, political movement for linguistic-based states developed. The demand for creation of states on linguistic basis started in different parts of India. The movement took serious turn when one Telegu leader Potti Sriramalu died after 56 days of hunger strike demanding creation of Andhra Pradesh with 16 north Madras Telegu speaking districts. As a consequence the central government created a new state of Andhra Pradesh opening the floodgate for such demands.

Government Solution  

Ultimately on 22 December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced the appointment of a State Reorganization Committee headed by the Retired Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Fazal Ali. This Fazal Ali Commission recommended the re-organization of states based on languages. On the basis of the Commission’s report the discriminatory grouping system of states were abolished and a new 14 states and 6 union territories were established. The states were to be ruled by the state government and the Union Territories directly under the control of the Union government. The Act was implemented in November 1956.

The states were Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The six union territories were Andaman Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Laccadiv Minicoy Islands, Manipur and Tripura.

Swadeshi Movements

The Background  

Despite all protests, the partition of Bengal came into effect on 16 October 1905. A general strike was declared on this day in Calcutta. Thousands of people marched on the streets of Calcutta signing Vande Matram and people tied rakhi to the wrists of each other. Ananda Mohan Bose and Surendra Nath Banerjee addressed a huge gathering at Federation Hall in Calcutta and a collection of about 50000 rupees was made to organize a movement against the partition and for the cause of the unity of the people of Bengal.

Swadeshi Movement Launched  

Next year in the Calcutta Congress under the leadership of Dadabhai Naoroji the resolution for the Swadeshi Movement was passed in favour of boycott of the foreign goods, use of swadeshi goods and national education.

Leaders like Tilak, Lajpat Rai etc. belonging to the radical Congress group took this movement to all parts of India.  Tilak organised Boycott Movement in Bombay and Poona, Lajpat in Punjab and many other leaders throughout the country. At several places throughout the country, people burnt British goods and picketed the shops that sold these foreign made goods.

The Swadeshi Movement also increased the production of home-made goods. People spontaneously stopped using foreign goods such as clothes and sugar. A social boycott of the person purchasing foreign articles was started along with renunciation of English speech, resignation form Councils and government seats. Almost all sections of the society supported the move. There were bonfires of foreign goods.

Several societies and samitis were formed during the period that played an important role in spreading the boycott and swadeshi movement. The boycott of foreign goods also suited the interest of the local producers. Indigenous textile industry was revived. Several enterprises such as soap and match factories, banks and insurance companies opened during this period. Growth of regional medium educational institutions happened, so was the establishment of regional press.

The students became actively engaged in the movement, with women also joining along with peasants and common people from all walks of life.

Government Measures  

The British government resorted to severe repressive measures like brutal attacks on people participating in the movement; arrest and deportation of Tilak, Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; banning of Bande Mataram; gagging of the Press and passing several laws against the movement.

The biggest impact of this movement was the annulment of the partition of Bengal that the British had to decide in 1911. Bihar, Orissa and Assam were taken out from the province of Bengal and the capital of the British India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

Non Aligned Movement

Introduction  

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is an international organization that represents the political, economical, and cultural interests of the developing world. The main purpose of the NAM was not to align directly with any of the power blocs – the Communist Bloc led by the USSR (Russia)and the Western Bloc led by the USA (America). After the Second World War many of the newly independent countries wished to preserve their independence and not to ally themselves with either of the power bloc.

The NAM was established in 1955 at Bandung in Indonesia with the signature of the head of the 29 newly formed states of Asia and Africa.

Objectives  

The objectives of the NAM was to keep the members away from joining either of the power blocs, disarmament, abolition of imperialism and colonisation, preserving their independence and solving their economic problems through mutual cooperation and promoting world peace.

Role of India  

India played an important role in the foundation, evolution and growth of NAM as India had been opposed to colonisation and imperialism. India along with other newly independent nations wanted to establish a new economic order that would be free from any foreign intervention. It also called for greater interaction between the developed and the developing nations. In 1983, India hosted the NAM Summit at New Delhi.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Introduction  

Subhash Chandra Bose, also popularly known as Netaji, was one of the stalwarts of the Indian National Movement. Twice elected the President of the Congress, he resigned from the post in 1939 due to ideological difference with Gandhi and established a separate political party All India Forward Block.

At the outset of the Second World War, he escaped from India and with Japanese assistance, re-organized and later led the Indian National Army to fight against the British forces. He formed the Azad Hind Government in exile and fought the Allied forces in Burma and Imphal. Subhash Chandra Bose was presumed to have died in a plane crash in 1945.

Early Life  

Subhash Chandra Bose was born in Cuttack on 23 January 1897 and went on to graduate from the Scottish Church College under the Calcutta University in 1918 and went to England for further studies. He also qualified for the Civil Services but chose to fight for freedom of India.

Bose in Congress  

In the early 1920s he joined the Congress and came under the influence of C. R. Das whom he regarded as his mentor. In 1927 he became the general secretary of Congress and worked closely with Nehru and Gandhi and other Congress leaders. He was elected as the Congress President in 1938 and again in 1939, defeating Gandhi’s nominee. But he had to resign as his ideological difference with Gandhi was coming in his ways of working for the movement.

Conflict with Gandhi  

Bose believed in socialist ideas and wanted to create a society based on equal opportunity. He believed in complete independence of India politically and economically. His main point of difference was this approach to freedom, as Gandhi believed in dominion status for India and diplomacy. Bose was convinced that British would not grant full independence to India, and so was a proponent of violent armed struggle with the help of the international community who were British enemies.

Forward Block  

Subhash Chandra  Bose after resigning from the post of Congress President, formed the Forward Block at a public rally in Calcutta in 1939. The initial aim of the party was to organize all the leftwing sections within the Congress in order to create an alternative leadership inside the Congress.

In its first conference at Nagpur under the leadership of Subhash Chandra Bose, the All India Forward Block outlined the objectives of the party as to achieve complete independence in the immediate future.

Netaji’s Escape  

The government was alarmed by the activities of Bose and as a result they arrested him in July 1940. Bose started a hunger-strike in the prison and the government had to release him from jail and put him under house arrest. Bose escaped from his home in January 1941 in the guise of a Pathan and reached Afghanistan via Peshawar. From there he reached USSR, but was not successful in drawing Russian interest and so he ultimately went to Berlin and asked Hitler for helping India gain freedom.

At Berlin, he organised the Indian Legions of the prisoner of war from Africa and established a free India Radio in November 1941 and started to broadcast patriotic speeches to inspire the feelings of his countrymen.

Azad Hind Fauj  

The overseas Indians under the leadership of Rash Behari Bose decided to form an Indian Independence League with the aim to organize and unite the Indian community to fight the British for the independence of India. Also the league was joined by 55000 Indian prisoner of war in Singapore. In 1943 the leadership of the League was handed over to Subhash Bose, who now had shifted his movement from Berlin to South-East Asia. Bose reorganized the League and formed the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) with the 55000 prisoner of wars from Japan. The Japanese government supported the INA with arms and ammunition.

On 21 October 1943, the Provisional Government of Azad Hind was formed with Bose as the head of the state and the supreme commander of the Indian National Army. The Provisional Government was recognised by 9 countries – Japan, Burma, Croatia, Germany, Philippines, Nanking China, Manchuto, Italy and Thailand. Japan also handed over the Andaman Nicobar Islands to the Provincial Government of Bose.

The initial aim of the INA was to wait for the Japanese offense at Imphal. Once they were successful in breaking the British defences, the INA would reach up the Gangetic plains and continue guerrilla warfare till a revolution started. Initially, the INA was very successful and marched with the Japanese forces up to Imphal, but soon the Allied countries started to have more success. Soon it was monsoon and the INA along with the Japanese force suffered reverses and had to retreat in Burma.

In 1945, the INA and the Japanese forces were surrounded by the Allied forces, and also Japan surrendered to the Allies, marking the end of the INA and its Provisional Government. Most of the INA troops were arrested and rest surrendered.

According to Japanese official sources Netaji died in a plane crash over Taiwan while flying to Tokyo on 18 august 1945.

Mountbatten Plan

Lord Mountbatten arrived in India in March 1947 as the last Viceroy of British India. He started negotiations with Indian leaders of different parties in order to find a solution to the political problem regarding the independence and transfer of power. He wanted a solution that would be agreeable to all the political parties. After several rounds of talks between the Viceroy and the leaders, it became apparent that it was not possible to find a workable solution that would be agreeable to both the League and the Congress.

On June 3, 1947 Lord Mountbatten came up with a plan to solve the political crisis of India, also known as the Mountbatten Plan.

Provisions of the Plan

• India would be partitioned ans a new state of Pakistan would be created along with free India.

• Pakistan would be formed with the Muslim majority provinces of Sind, Baluchistan, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab and East Bengal, provided the Legislative assemblies of Bengal and Punjab would decide in favour of partition

• Indian dominion would be formed with the rest of British India, East Punjab and West Bengal.

• A Boundary Commission would be formed to demarcate the exact boundary line between India and Pakistan.

• Plebiscite would be held in Sylhett of Assam to decide whether the people want to join India or Pakistan

• The Princely states would be free to either join India or Pakistan or remain independent

       The Legislative Assembly of Sindh would take its own decision whether it would join India or Pakistan

• Independence would be on August 15, 1947.

The Congress accepted the Mountbatten Plan to avoid the civil war and for the unity of India as well as for the peaceful transfer of power.

Morley Minto Reforms

In 1906 the British government decided to take the advantage of the new political consciousness of the Muslims and announced a committee to look into the matter of extending the representative element in the legislative council. The Muslim leaders saw this as an opportunity for the possibility of negotiating with the government in order to safeguard their interests.

Viceroy Lord Minto assured the Muslim delegates to safeguard their interests and came up with the Morley-Minto Reforms in 1909. It accepted the Muslim demands of separate electorate for them in elections to Imperial Legislative Councils and provincial councils.

The concept of separate electorate meant that the Muslims representatives would be elected by the Muslims and the Hindu population would elect only Hindu representatives. The acceptance of separate electorate proved a fatal blow to the unity of India and acted as a precursor to the ‘Two Nation Theory’ and ultimately partition of the country on religious lines.

Civil Disobedience Movement

Background 

The failure of the Simon Commission and rejection of its recommendations, along with the death of Lajpat Rai due to police atrocities gave rise to nation-wide anger and hatred towards the British. It was decided in the Calcutta Conference of Congress that a civil disobedience movement with complete independence as its objective should be launched if the government failed to implement the dominion status soon.

Gandhi traveled across the country in order to prepare the masses for direct political action, but he was arrested leading to a widespread boycott movement. Soon Lord Irwin gave a proposal to the Congress to join Round Table Conference. The Congress leaders demanded to have discussion on only the dominion status modalities and principles of its implementation, if the government wanted it to participate in the Round Table Conference. Lord Irwin could not satisfy the Congress and as a result the Congress decided to launch a political movement called Civil Disobedience Movement under the leadership of Gandhi.

Before the launch the Congress gave 11-Point Demands to the government mainly based on military expenditure, financial and tax related reforms which was ignored by the British. As a result the Congress Working Committee gave Gandhi full power to launch the Civil Disobedience movement.

Dandi March  

It was decided that Gandhi along with a 78-member team of followers belonging to every caste, community and religion would march from the Sabramati Ashram to the coast in Dandi and break the British Salt Rule by making salt from the sea water without government permission. Gandhi along with his 78 member team marched to Dandi on 6 April 1930 and broke Salt Law by picking a handful of salt from the sea water and thus officially launched the Civil Disobedience Movement. The movement unleashed unprecedented participation of the common people.

The violation of Salt Laws started all over the country, people refused to pay taxes, foreign goods were boycotted, people boycotted courts and schools and colleges run b the government. Soon Gandhi and Nehru along with all top Congress leaders were arrested by the government. It is estimated that the government arrested around ninety thousand satyagrahis.

Impact  

The movement was withdrawn after the government tried to negotiate with the Congress and the famous Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed and the Congress agreed to participate in the Second Round Table conference in London.

Wavell's Plan

The Background  

During the Second World War the allies of the United Kingdom started to put pressure on the British India government to solve the Indian crisis and to seek further cooperation from India in the war. The British government in India was also staring at the possible Japanese aggression on their Indian colony. This further forced them to start negotiating with the Indian leaders. In October 1943 Lord Wavell replaced Lord Linlithgow as the Viceroy of India.

In England the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Lord Wavell to start negotiating with the Indian leaders. All the Congress leaders arrested during the Quit India Movement were released. The Viceroy called a Conference of leaders from all the major political parties at Shimla in June 1945 and put forward his plan for the preparation of a new constitution for India.

Main Features of the Wavell Plan  

The British government would start negotiations on the new constitution for India once the war was over. The Executive Council of the Viceroy would be expanded and would contain all Indian members except the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief. The Governor General Council would have equal representations from the Hindus and the Muslims.

Reason for the failure  

The Muslim League wanted that all the Muslim representatives in the council should be the nominees of the League, whereas the Congress objected for being treated as a party of the Hindus. The Muslim League wanted the veto power and the Congress insisted on being the representative of all caste community and religion in India. The plan fell apart.

Quit India Movement

The Background 

The Quit India Movement was one of the most powerful national struggle movements characterised by unparalleled heroism demonstrated by the people of India. The main reason behind this movement was the failure of the Cripps Mission; popular discontent among the mass due to rising prices of essential items and acute shortage of food stuff in the country; the news of collapse of the British invincibility worldwide; racial characters of the British empire; worsening of communal problems; and the fear of Japanese attack on India due to the British occupation.

Launch of the movement  

The Congress Working Committee met in Wardah on 14 July, 1942 and accepted Gandhi’s proposal of launching a mass movement to force British quit India. As a result a resolution called Quit India Resolution was passed by the Congress in Bombay on 8 August 1942. It called for the immediate end of the British rule and formation of a provisional government. Gandhi in his famous speech gave a call to oust the British by declaring ‘Do or Die’.

Program of the Movement  

Though the programs of the movement were not issued, Gandhi gave instructions in his famous speech. He asked the government servants to continue working and show their allegiance to the Congress. He asked the soldiers to report for their duty but refuse to shoot Indians. Peasants were asked to stop paying their dues to the Zamindars. He asked the students to quit studies until the country is free.

The government decided not to take any chance and on the morning of 9 August 1942, even before the movement was begun arrested all Congress leaders including Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad. As the news of the arrest of the Congress leaders spread people began to protest violently. Railway tracks were removed, telegraph lines were cut, offices and courts were damaged, police stations were attacked. Students boycotted schools and colleges and took out processions. Workers went on strike and peasants actively supported the strike.

Government Reaction

The government reacted by use of force and severe repression. Nearly 60000 people were arrested, 940 peoples died due to police firing and another 1630 were injured in the police firing.

The movement was a short lived one and was crushed with heavy hands by the government. The reason was lack of coordination among people and the absence of a clear cut program of action. Also the protest largely remained confined to students and workers and didn’t enjoy mass popularity.

Impact of the movement  

Despite being a short lived movement the Quit India movement had tremendous impact on the people of India. The movement though was crushed by the government, brought new confidence among the people and people from all walk of life participated. Also the British realised that it was no longer possible to rule India against the wishes of the Indian people. This also drew attention of the world powers and Britain’s ally in the WW2, the USA to the problems in the Indian colony leading to the pressure on the Britain to decide to quit India in the near future.

Lucknow Pact

Introduction

One of the most significant achievements of the World War period was the coming together of the Congress and the Muslim League. Both the parties signed a historic pact at Lucknow in 1916. Some of the most important factors that helped the two greatest party of the country to come together were – change in the leadership of the Muslim League; international events; coming together of the two factions of Congress Party and joint efforts of prominent leaders of the period of both parties.

Main points of the pact

The Congress party and the Muslim League organized a joint session at Lucknow in 1916. Both the parties agreed on several issues which was formalised as the joint scheme of reforms known as the Lucknow Pact. The Congress party accepted the Muslim League’s demand of separate electorate for the Muslims and one-third representation of the Muslims in the central government.

The main points of the pact was –

• Demand of self government
• Acceptance of separate electorate
• Reforms in the Imperial Legislative Council – numbers should be increased to 150 with provisions for 50 percent elected members
• Reforms in the Provincial Legislative Council – numbers should be increased to 125 in big states and 50 to 75 in small states with provisions for four-fifth elected members

• Direct Election – members to the legislative council to be directly elected on the basis of adult franchise for a term of 5 years and the elected members should themselves elect their president
• Safeguarding the interest of a community
• Abolition of the Indian Council – salaries of the Secretary of the State for Indian Affairs should be paid by the British government and not from Indian funds.
• Separation of judiciary and the executive

Significance

The Lucknow Pact was an important step in building unity among the Hindus and Muslims. The unity between the Congress and the League created a new sense of enthusiasm among the people of India. Even the British government decided to appease the nationalists by declaring the intentions of giving Indians the right to self governance.

The most remarkable drawback of the Lucknow Pact was the acceptance of the separate electorate by the Congress which ultimately paved to the way for the birth of the two-nation theory.

Government of India Act, 1935

Introduction

During the course of the second Civil Disobedience Movement after the failure of the Second Round Table Conference, the government organised a third Round Table Conference in November 1932. The Congress did not participate in the conference but still the government went ahead to bring out reforms in the Indian government. As a result Government of India Act, 1935 was passed.

Features of the Act

• Formation of the bicameral legislature consisting of the Council of States and the Federal Assembly
• Elections to the Council of States were to be direct and for the Federal Assembly indirect
• At the Provinces, the diarchy was replaced by provincial autonomy

Political leaders from almost all political parties condemned the Act. The Congress party demanded that the British government should immediately convene a constituent assembly to frame a constitution for independent India.

Government of India Act, 1919

Introduction

The Government of India Act 1919, was followed by the August Declaration, and was also called Montague-Chelmsford Reform. It aimed to gradually introduce progressive government in India. The provisions of this act were finally enforced in February 1921.

Main Provisions of the Act

• At the centre, the Governor-General’s executive council to have 3 Indians in the 8 member team
• The centre legislature will have two houses, the lower house or the central legislative assembly and the Upper House or the Council of the State. The lower house will have 144 members, out of which 103 were to be elected members. The Upper House was to have 60 members, of which 34 were to be elected.

• In the provinces the Dyarchy (rule of two, the executive councillors and popular ministers) was to be introduced in the council.

• The subjects were classified into – reserved and transferred subjects. The reserved subjects included land revenue, finance, law and order and irrigation and were to be governed by the governor and his executive councils. The transferred subjects included public health, education, industry, agriculture and local government to be administered by the ministers nominated from among the elected members of the council.

• The Act provided that in case of any emergency; the governor could take over the administration of the transferred subjects too.

• The ministers were responsible to the legislative council and had to resign if the legislature passed a no-confidence motion against them. However, the governor and his executive council were not responsible to the legislature.

• Seventy percent of the members of the council were to be elected, based on the adult franchise and communal and class electorate

• The legislative council had the power to reject the budget, but the governor had the power to over-rule.

The Drawback of the Act

The reform failed to satisfy the Indian leaders, as they found a number of drawbacks in the act itself like – the diarchy and the classification of the subjects were impractical and unworkable and at the centre the legislatures had no control over the governor general and his executive council. Both the Congress party and the Muslim League rejected it.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact

The Background

In 1931 the First Round Table Conference in London made the British realize that any discussion regarding constitutional reforms would be meaningless without the involvement of the Congress Party. And also it was imperative for the British government to carry out the constitutional reforms. It forced the British government to negotiate with the Congress. Gandhi and all Congress leaders who were behind the bars were released before this Round Table Conference.

The Pact

The Congress Working Committee authorised Gandhi to negotiate with the government, who was to meet the Viceroy, Lord Irwin. After a long negotiation that lasted for about a fortnight, both agreed on several terms and on March 5, 1931, the Gandhi Irwin Pact was signed.

The government, among other things, agreed to release the political prisoners who were not involved in violence; the right of the villagers living along the coast to make salt; allow peaceful and non-aggressive boycott; and withdraw the emergency ordinance passed during the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Gandhi on behalf of the Congress party agreed to withdraw the Civil Disobedience Movement and participate in the Second Round Table Conference.

The Cabinet Mission

The Background 

After the end of the World War 2, the British government in London sent a Cabinet Mission to India to negotiate the peaceful transfer of power on 24 March 1946. Several events during this period had forced the British to do so. The main events were the change of the ruling party in the British Parliament and the clear win of the Congress party in the general elections in 1945.

This election clearly established the Muslim League as the true representative of the Muslims, who wanted a state for the Muslims based on their Two-Nation Theory.  Also, the new ruling party in the British Parliament were eager to get rid of the Indian colony as soon as possible.

The Cabinet Mission consisted of Pethick Lawrence, the Secretary of State for India; Stafford Cripps, the President of the Board of Trade and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of Admiralty.

Features of the Mission 

The Cabinet Mission offered to create a federal union comprised of British Indian provinces and the princely states. The centre would control the defense, communication and the external affairs. It would have the power to raise money to carry out its activities.

The Mission rejected the demand of Partition made by the Muslim League on the ground that the area to be partitioned contained a large number of non-Muslim population, also dividing the army was not feasible. The Mission also felt the partition based on communal lines would open demands for more religious partition demands and would break the new country into fragments. Also, the British decided that dealing with one India is a better idea compared to dealing with numerous states based on religious lines.

The Mission also proposed the formation of the Constituent Assembly consisting of 389 members – 292 from provincial assemblies and 93 from princely states. The Mission proposed the formation of a federal India with three tiers – provinces, regional group of provinces and the Union Centre.

The British states were classified into three section – Section ‘A’ comprising Madras, Bombay, Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bihar and Orissa; Section ‘B’ comprising Punjab, North West Frontier Province and Sindh; and Section ‘C’ comprising Bengal and Assam. The Princely states were free to either join the new government, the Indian Union or be free after transfer of power. The Indian Union was free to either be a part of the British Commonwealth or leave.

Reactions of various parties  

The Congress believed that the Mission has ruled out any possibilities of the creation of Pakistan and the plan was to keep the unity of India. It accepted the proposal, though it opposed the grouping of the states fearing any veto power that the Muslim League may have due to the grouping especially the Section B and C.

The Muslim League on the other hand believed that the idea of Pakistan can be kept awake, as the grouping of the provinces of Section B and C would gradually form a separate identity and would decide to secede into Pakistan.

Swaraj Party

Introduction 

The arrest of Gandhi in 1922 after the withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement created a void among the nationalist leaders and a sense of disorganization and disorientation among the leaders of the Congress party. Many leaders started to look for new avenues to continue the struggle against the British. 

Leaders like C. R. Das, Motilal Nehru called to end the boycott of the Legislative Councils, but were opposed by the other Congress leaders like Vallahbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and C Rajagopalachari.

R. Das and Motilal Nehru resigned from the Congress and on 1^st January 1923 announced the formation of a new party, Swaraj Party. C R Das was the president and Motilal was the secretary.

Objectives 

The Swaraj Party accepted all the principles of the Congress Party. The Party decided to contest the elections and present before the council their demands for self-governance. In case their demand was rejected, they would follow the policy of uniform, continuous and consistent obstruction within the councils, with a view to make governance through council impossible.

Achievements 

The Council Elections were held in November 1923 and the Swaraj Party did exceptionally weel. They won 42 out of 101 elected seats in the Imperial Legislative Council. In the Provinces also they got clear majority in Central Province, emerged the largest party in Bengal, and did remarkably well in Bombay and United Provinces.

The Swarajists raised several important issues in the Councils and outvoted the government many times. They opposed the anti-people policies of the government and drew attention of the government to improve labour conditions, reduce railway fares, and other taxes and duties. Besides, working in the council made Indian leaders accustomed with the rules and working of the Legislative Assemblies.

Simon Commission

Introduction 

The Government of India Act 1919 had a provision to constitute a commission after ten years. This commission would look into the progress of the reforms. The committee would also suggest whether India was ready for further constitutional reforms. As a result, the British Parliament constituted the Indian Statutory Commission, a commission composed of 7 members of the British Parliament in 1927. John Simon was the chairman of the commission.

Recommendations 

The following points were recommended by the Simon

• Dyarchy should be scrapped at the provinces and the ministers should be made responsible to the legislature. No diarchy should be introduced in the Centre.

• A Federal Union including both British India and the Princely states, was the only long term solution for a united and autonomous India.

• Universal Franchise to be extended

• The Legislative Council should be enlarges

• The High Courts should be under the administrative control of the government of India

• The Viceroy’s executive council could not be made responsible to the elected members

Protest Against the Commission 

The Simon Commission arrived in India on November 8, 1927. However, the Commission faced anger and boycott in almost all the places it went. The people of India were agitated because the commission didn’t include any Indian. This was considered a denial of the right to self determination. The Congress, the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha all boycotted the Simon Commission.

Montague Chelmsford

Introduction 

The Montague-Chelmsford Reforms is generally called Government of India Act, 1919. It was aimed to gradually introduce a progressive government in India. This was the direct result of the Home Rule Movement in India. The provisions of the Act were finally enforced in February 1921.

Provisions of the Act 

It had separate provisions for the provinces and the centre. In the provinces the most important feature was the introduction of Dyarchy or the rule of the two (executive councillors and popular ministers). Subjects were classified into two categories – the reserved subjects and the transferred subjects. The Reserved subjects included land revenue, finance, law and order, irrigation and were to be administered by the governor and his executive council. The Transferred subjects included healt, education, industry, agriculture, local governance and were to be administered by the ministers nominated from among the elected members of the council.

The Act also provided the governor emergency provisions when he can overrule the minsters and take over the administration of the Transferred subjects also. Besides, the ministers were responsible to the legislative council and had to resign if a no-confidence motion is passed against them by the legislature. But the executive council of the governor was not responsible to the legislature.

At the centre, the Governor General was the chief executive authority and had full control over the reserved subjects of the provinces. Out of the eight members of the governor-general council, only three were to be Indians, rest British. The Legislature was Bicameral – lower house or central legislative assembly with 144 members and the upper house or the council of the state with 60 members. In the upper house, out of the 144 members 103 were elected, rest nominated, while in the upper house 34 elected and the rest nominated.

Drawbacks of the Act 

The reforms failed to satisfy the Indian leaders, as it was full of drawbacks like at the centre, the legislature had no control and in provinces the diarchy and the classification of the subjects were impractical and unworkable. Both the Congress and the Muslim League rejected the reform.

Home Rule League

Introduction 

In 1916, Bal Gangadhar Tilak decided to build a separate organization with an objective to attain ‘Swaraj’. This organization was called ‘Home Rule League’. Travelling from village to village he explained the aim of his league to the people. At the same time Mrs. Annie Besant launched another movement with the same name at Madras. Soon through mutual agreement, both the leaders decided that Tilak’s league would concentrate its activities in Maharashtra (excluding Bombay), Karnataka, Central Provine and Berar, while Mrs. Besant’s league would cover the rest of India.

Objectives 

The objective of the Home Rule Movement was to attain self-government on the lines of the white colonies after the war. The League made its intention clear from the beginning that the country shall have a government by councils, elected by people, elected with power of the purse and the government will be responsible to the house.

Programmes and activities 

Both the Leagues concentrated on educating the masses about the message of the Home Rule – Right of Self-Governance. They opened a large number of branches in the country and followed constitutional means of protest and refrained from adopting aggressive methods.

Both the Leagues spread their ideas through public meetings, organizing reading rooms and libraries, holding conferences and creating propaganda through newspaper, pamphlets, posters and songs.

Leaders of the Movement 

Apart from Mrs. Besant and Tilak, the Home Rule Movement brought into the forefront several new leaders including Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jinnah, Balubhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Chittaranjan Das.

Government’s Attitude 

The British government came down heavily on the movement. Mrs. Besant was arrested, Tilak was not allowed to travel to Punjab and Delhi. Students were banned from attending meetings called by the League movement. The arrest of Mrs. Besant created a nationwide protest.

Finally the government came up with the August Declaration and freed Mrs. Besant. The August Declaration was the first real political reform offered by the British to the Indians. It said the British Government was interested in increasing association of Indians in every branch of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire. This Declaration was succeeded by the Government of India Act 1919, which gave some real powers to the Indians at the provincial level.

Cripp's Mission

The Background 

During the WW2, the British Government came under tremendous pressure to seek the support of the Indian people to help it out of the war. They were even willing to consider granting India a dominion status with self governance after the war. Also, there was considerable pressure from the allies, especially from the USA on Britain to grant constitutional reforms to India.

In March 1942, the British Government sent Stafford Cripps, the leader of the House of Commons in England, to India with a set of proposals in order to seek its support for the war.

Proposals of the Cripps Mission 

Immediately after the War, the British Government would set up an Union with a dominion status. The government would constitute a Constituent Assembly to frame a Constitution for India. Members of this assembly would be elected by the provincial assemblies through proportional representation and nominated by the princes of the Indian state. Any province not willing to join the Indian union would be free to frame a separate constitution and from a separate union.

The British government would negotiate with the new constitutional assembly regarding the transfer of power and to safeguard the racial and religious minorities.

Till the Constituent Assembly was formed, the British government desired for effective participation of Indians in the governor-general’s council. Only the defense would be in the hands of the British.

Failure of the Cripps’s Mission 

The Congress rejected the Mission on several grounds. It rejected the offer of the dominion status; instead it wanted complete political freedom. It also objected to the proposal that the Princely states would nominate their representative instead of elected by the people. The Congress was against the right given to the states to secede, as it felt that this could divide the country into a number of independent states.

The Muslim League also objected to the proposal on the ground that it didn’t grant the Muslims the right to self determination and creation of Pakistan.

Surendranath Banerjee

Surendranath Benerjea was another prominent moderate leader of the early years of the national movement. He was born in Calcutta in 1848. He graduated from the Calcutta University in 1868, and subsequently proceeded to England to compete for the Indian Civil Services. After clearing the exam in 1871 he was appointed the Assistant Magistrate of Sylhet, however he was dismissed from his job due to some procedural irregularity in 1874.

Thereafter, Surendranath Banerjea started his teaching career as a professor of English at the Metropolitan Insttution, the Scottish Church College and the Ripon College.

In a teaching career that spanned more than three decades, Banerjee developed his ideas on nationalism and infused Indian students with a new spirit. He was instrumental in redirecting the Bengali youth’s interest and energy towards national movement. His other big contribution was the founding of the Indian Association in 1876. He also founded the newspaper, The Bengali.

It is generally accepted that the Indian National Conference which was held in Calcutta in 1883 under the leadersip of Surendranath Banerjee created an environment for the formation of the Indian National Congress.

Surendranath Banerjea played a pivotal role in the formative phase of the Indian National Congress and became its president twice in 1895 and 1902. A senior moderate, he used the platform of the Congress to protest against the partition of Bengal in 1905. He was one of the foremost leader of the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.

He accepted the Morley Minto reforms and became a minister for Bengal. However he was defeated in the Bengal Legislative Assembly elections in 1922, which ended his political career. He died in 1925.

Queen's Proclamation

The First War of Independence saw the end of the rule of East India Company in India with the passing of the Government of India Act 1858 by the British Parliament, which transferred the administration of the Indian territories from the East India Company to the British Crown. The Queen made a proclamation regarding the transfer of power from the company to the British Crown. The Queen’s Proclamation was declared by Lord Canning on November 1, 1858 in an open Darbar at Allahabad.

The main provisions of the Queen’s Proclamation were – 

• The Governor General of India now became the Viceroy, directly under the Crown and reporting to the Queen through the India Office headed by the Secretary of State for India. Lord Canning was the first Viceroy.

• The British government would not undertake any type of expansion activity. The rights, dignity and honour of native rulers would be respected.

• The British government would not discriminate with others on the ground of their religious faith. The government would not interfere with the religious belief or worships of the Indians.

• All citizens of British India would enjoy equal protection of law

• There would be no discrimination against Indians, in the matter of appointment to government jobs, on the basis of race or creed. The government jobs would be filled by open to competition under the rules made by the government.

• All the people who participated in the First War of Independence would be granted clemency, except those who were convicted of having murdered British subjects.

Moderates and Radicals

Introduction to the Moderates 

In the years following the foundation of the Indian National Congress, the national movement became wider including diverse groups of people. The Congress between the period 1885 and 1905 was dominated by the leaders who have been described as moderates. These leaders belonged to the politically conscious middle class consisting of professionals such as lawyers, doctors and teachers, who had faith in the British sense of justice.

Prominent among them were Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tayabji, M. G. Ranade, Pherozeshah Mehta, W. C. Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, and Ananda Mohan Bose.

Workings of the Moderates 

The demands of the moderates were initially mostly limited to constitutional, economical, administrative and civil reforms. They believed that the aim of India should be to achieve democratic self government and they petitioned the British government to abolish Indian Council and expand the Imperial Legislative Council besides demanding self-government.

The moderate Congress passed several resolutions urging several administrative reforms like separation of the judiciary and the executive, to hold simultaneous civil service examinations in London and Calcutta for recruitment of the civil services. They also urged the government to agree to the proposal of adequate representation of Indians in the executive council of the Viceroy and the provincial governors.

In the field of civil rights, the moderates fought for the right to freedom of speech, thoughts and association. They opposed the Vernacular Press Act and demanded the freedom of the press.

The moderates demanded several economic reforms like reduction in land revenue, abolition of salt tax, reduction in military expenditure, etc.

Methods of the Moderate Struggle 

The moderate leaders had complete faith in the honesty of the British. They firmly believed that the continuation of the political connection with Britain was beneficial to India at that period of time. Working within the constitutional limits, the moderates adopted a two-pronged methodology – awakening political consciousness and protests within the Constitutional methods.

Achievements and Failures of the Moderates 

National awakening and the creation of a sense of a nation were the two most important achievement of the moderates. Besides it created a platform for later mass movements.  The biggest failure of the moderates was its lack of mass support and too much faith and dependence on the British sense of honesty.

Introduction to the Extremists or Radical Nationalists 

In the end of the 19^th Century, many young Congress leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghosh were disappointed with the ideology and techniques of the moderates. They wanted the Congress to adopt aggressive methods against the British government. They were becoming aware of the exploitative policies of the British. The growing discontent of the people of India coupled with several other factors like severe famine and partition of Bengal led to the rise of radicalism in the Congress.

By 1907, the Congress was heading to a split. In Surat Session of the INC in 1907 the moderates and the radicals differed over the functioning of the Congress and the ultimate goal of the freedom struggle.

First Split in the Congress Part 

During the Surat Session in 1907 the radical nationalists wanted Tilak to be president, but the moderates were successful in nominating Rashbehari Ghosh as the president. Tilak was humiliated by not letting to speak. Violence erupted between both sides and the radicals were expelled from the party for nine years.

Causes of the rise of radical nationalism 

The growth of education and confidence coupled by repressive British policies like arrest of Tilak, Indian Penal Code, severe famines and rise of unemployment led to the rise of the radical nationals in the Congress. They differed over the functioning of the Congress and the ultimate goal of the freedom struggle.

Methods of Radicals 

The radical nationalists didn’t believe in the moderate ways of political struggle. They advocated the use of militant approach in the political struggle as they had no faith in the British systems. The ultimate objective of the radical nationalists was the attainment of absolute autonomy or swaraj for India. Their methods contained Boycott and swadeshi movements, passive resistance, involvement of masses and use of popular festival to unite people

The biggest achievement of this type of movement was the annulment of the Bengal Partition.

Dada Bhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Nooroji, a Parsi educationist, reformist and business man, was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress and was thrice elected to the post of the president of the Indian National Congress. He believed in keeping the nationalist movement on a moderate course during the formative years of the Congress. He had great faith in the British government and believed that the British could bring reforms and modify the rule.

During his stay in England, Dadabhai Naoroji tried to educate the British people about their government’s responsibilities as rulers of India. He delivered several lectures and published many articles, which contained his arguments regarding the unjust and oppressive regime of the British colonial rule.

In 1867 he established the East India Association, which kept the British government aware of the plight of the Indians. He got elected to the British Parliament in 1892 from Finsbury Central becoming the first ever Indian and Asian to do so. He delivered many speeches in the House of Commons highlighting the need for political reforms and justice for India.

He asked the British government to stop the drain of wealth from India, promote modern industries, and check unfavourable balances of trade through the policy of protective tariffs, reduce land revenue, abolish salt tax and reduce military expenditure.

One of the greatest contributions of Dadabhai Naoroji was the Drain Theory which contained facts and figures to illustrate the systematic drain of wealth and resources from India to Britain without any adequate return.

Dadabhai Naoroji wrote several books  and articles, prominent among them being – The Manners and Customs of the Parsees; The European and the Asiatic Races, The Wants and Means of India; and Poverty and Un-British Rule in India.

Bipin Chandra Pal

Bipin Chandra Pal was born in 1858 in Sylhet and did his graduation from Presidency College. During his student days in Calcutta, Pal came in several social reformers and intellectuals like Keshab Chandra Sen, Shivnath Shastri and Krishna Goswami. They played a significant role in shaping the social and political outlook of Pal.

Bipin joined the Brahmo Samaj and advocated the equality of male and female. He championed the cause of Indian education and put greater emphasis on female education.

Bipin Chandra Pal was inspired and encouraged to join congress by Surendranath Banerjea and Aurobindo Ghosh. He got influenced by the ideas of Tilak and Lajpat and became one of the most important radical nationalist. He started a weekly joural the New India and preached the ideals of swaraj. He was an exponent of composite patriotism which according to him was most suitable for a country like India.

Bipin Pal actively participated in the Swadeshi movement, which started after the partition of Bengal in 1905. He started a daily newspaper called ‘Bande Matram’ and tried to organize mass movement.

In 1911 after staying in England for three years, he came back to India and actively involved in the freedom struggle. He also presided over the Bengal Provincial Conference held at Barisal. However he was very critical of Gandhi’s idea of associating the Non-cooperation Movement with the Khilafat Movement. He finally retired from active politics in 1925 and died in 1932.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Popularly called Lokmanya Tilak, Bal Gangadhar was born in 1856 in Ratnagiri. He was a strong critic of the western education system believing that western education was demeaning to Indian students and disrespectful to the India’s heritage. 

He started a Marathi weekly called ‘Kesari’ and also English weekly Mahratta where he highlighted the plight of the Indians and their sufferings under the British rule. He called upon every Indian to fight for his right. He believed in aggressive demands for achieving political rights.

Tilak joined Congress in 1890 and was critical of the moderates, especially towards the fight for the self-government.

Tilak along with other nationalists like Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab opposed the policies of the moderates. These three leaders were fondly remembered as La-Bal-Pal.

In 1907, at Surat Session, the Congress was split into two factions – moderates and radicals. Tilak belonged to the Radical faction of the Congress. In 1908, Tilak was arrested on charges of sedition and sentenced to six years of imprisonment.

In 1916 he decided to build a separate organization called the ‘Home Rule League’ with the objective to attain swaraj. Travelling from village to village, he explained the aim of his league to the people and thus playing a crucial role in making the people aware of their right for self rule and organized them for the future course of the freedom struggle.

He was a great social reformer. He was against the social evils like child marriage and supported widow remarriage. He emphasized the use of swadeshi goods. He was instrumental in opening a big swadeshi market in front of his own house, where only India made goods were sold.

Tilak also authored several books – The Hindu Philosophy of Life, Ethics and Religions, Vedic Chronology, and Vedanga Jyotisha.

1857 - the Great Revolt

Introduction 

In Indian history, the term ‘First War of Independence’ is used to refer to the Great Uprising of 1857. This was a great uprising against the oppressive foreign rule. There were many causes that led to the First War of Independence in 1857. The main causes were political, economic, social, religious and military.

During the span of 100 years from 1757 to 1857, the British had managed to expand their political power throughout the country. They dispossessed the native rulers; ruthlessly exploited the masses; used trade and commerce for their own benefit and drained wealth from India. All these caused widespread dissatisfaction and distrust among all sections of Indian society including native rulers, landlords and common people. 

All these led to the Uprising which initially started as a mutiny of sepoys (Indian soldiers) and later spread to the other sections of the society.

Causes of the Uprising 

Political – Due to the British policy of annexation there was distrust among the native rulers and discontent among the people of the annexed territories. The Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse were used indiscriminately to annex many independent states leading to great discontentment among the rulers and subjects of states annexed. 

Jhansi was an example which was annexed after the death of the ruler on the pretext that the king had no legal heir, although the king had named his successor. Also the annexation of Awadh on ground of mis-governance created discontent among the people towards the British. Besides, the Mughal king was disrespected as Lord Dalhousie had ordered Bahadur Shah II to ask his successors to leave the Red Fort after his death. The title of Mughal Emperor was to be abolished after Bahadur Shah’s death. Common Indians who were part of one ruling class or the other found themselves without any power and prestige with the British excluding Indians from all high civil and military  posts.

Economic – The British utilised their political power for exploiting the economic resources of the country. Within a few decades after the establishment of political power iin Bengal, the British drained out its resources to the extent that its people were not even left with bare minimum for existence. Next, they adopted several policies that resulted in the destruction of the cottage and handicraft industries of India. 

Also the British Government introduced new land revenue systems in India solely based on the aim of extracting as much as possible from the peasantry. The British planters forced peasants to produce cash crops like indigo instead of food crops leading to food shortage and famines. Also the indigo cultivators were treated inhumanly. India was reduced to an agrarian colony of England. 

Besides the Inam Commission appointed by the British to look into proprietary rights confiscated the properties of more than twenty one thousand zamindars making them landless over night. Also the British policy of annexation of Indians states rendered many native soldiers, civil officers and religious teachers jobless.

 

Social and Religious – A serious apprehension among all the classes of Indians was that the British were attempting to convert them all to Christianity. The banning of Sati, passing of Widow Remarriage Act and Religious Disability Act (law against depriving the religious converts of his hereditary property)  also created distrust among the people. The spread of western education that rendered the religious teachers jobless was also seen with suspicion. Even the replacement of Persian by English as court language was not liked by the people.

Military – The Indian soldiers in the British army were unhappy with many rules and regulations. The Sikh and Muslims rulers resented when they were asked to cut their beard, those who disobeyed were dismissed. Also the poor salary and no prospect made the sepoys unhappy. They were also dissatisfied because they were asked to go to distant places to fight without any extra remuneration. Also sea voyages were a concern among the Brahmin soldiers.  But the immediate cause was the introduction of Enfield rifles whose cartridges were believed to be greased with cow and pig fats.

Spread of the Revolt 

The Uprising actually started at Barrackpore on 29 March 1857 when Mangal Pandey a soldier of the 34^th Regiment fired at his Major after refusing to use the greased cartridges and instigated other soldiers to revolt. He was executed. 

Next in Meerut on 6^th May 1857, 85 soldiers of the 3^rd Cavalry Regiment refused to use the greased cartridges. The soldiers were punished and arrested leading to the storming of the prison and killing of the resident British officers. The soldiers after killing all British officers in Meerut marched to Delhi and declared the Mughal King Bahadur Shah II as Emperor of India. 

Soon the whole of north India was under the uprising. Many civilian English men and British officers were killed. The war was led by Nana Saheb in Kanpur, Begum Hazrat Mahal in Lucknow and Laxmi Bai in central India (Jhansi).

Suppression of the Revolt 

Lord Canning, the Governor General took immediate steps to suppress the uprising and regained lost territories soon. He collected the forces of Madras, Bombay, Sri Lanka and Burma and with the loyal Sikh armies proceeded to Delhi and soon overthrew the Mughal king, killed his two sons, arrested and deported him to Rangoon. Next was Allahabad and Kanpur followed by Lucknow, Gwalior, Jhansi and central India.

Failure of the First War of Independence 

The First War of Independence seriously crippled the British government initially. Still they succeeded in suppressing the revolt for many reasons. The primary reasons being – the uprising was limited to only central and north India, lack of unity and planning of the leaders of the war, no unified leadership, better resources of the British, no support of the native rulers and educated Indians. Large parts of south Indian, Punjab and west India had no uprising. There was no concept of nationalism, as every party was fighting for its own revival and regional interests. Also native rulers remained unsympathetic to the revolt and in many cases supported the British.

Consequences of the First War of Independence 

The Uprising saw the end of the rule of the East India Company in India. The British Parliament passed The Government of India Act which transferred all East India Company territories to the British Crown. India was started to be ruled in the name of the British Queen, after Queen Victoria made a Proclamation regarding transfer of power from the Company to the British crown on November 01, 1858 in Allahabad. 

Lord Canning was made the first Viceroy of the British territories. The Queen in her Proclamation declared that the British government would not discriminate against Indians nor would undertake any type of expansion activities and the rights, dignity and honour of native rulers would be respected.