moderates and extremists

Question 1

writings on nationalism

Answer 1

The writings on nationalism include
Benedicts Anderson’s Imagined communities
Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism
Parth Chatterjee’s Nationalist Thought and the colonial World
Eric Hobsbawm’s Nations and Nationalism

Question 2

hobsbawn on nationalism

Answer 2

Hobsbawm defines nationalism as the ideology that the political and national units should coincide.
He views the nation as a changing, evolving, modern construct that is brought into being by nationalism, and not the other way around.
He agrees that there are certain political, technical, administrative and economic conditions necessary for the emergence of the nation, such as the existence of administrative and educational infrastructure.
Finally, Hobsbawm believes nationalism is constructed from above, although it needs to be studied from bellow as this is where it takes root and is most powerful and volatile.

Question 3

Anderson nationalism

Answer 3

n imagined community is different from an actual community in that it is not (and, for practical reasons, cannot be) based on everyday face-to-face interaction among its members. It is a concept coined by Benedict Anderson to analyze nationalism. Anderson believes that a nation is a socially constructed community, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group.[1]:6–7

Anderson’s book, Imagined Communities, in which he explains the concept in depth, was first published in 1983, and reissued with additional chapters in 1991 and a further revised version in 2006.

The media also create imagined communities, through usually targeting a mass audience or generalizing and addressing citizens as the public. Another way that the media can create imagined communities is through the use of images. The media can perpetuate stereotypes through certain images and vernacular. By showing certain images, the audience will choose which image they relate to the most, furthering the relationship to that imagined community.

Question 4

chatterjee on nationalism

Answer 4

Thus anti-colonial nationalism shares a thematic with colonialism, even when the problematic is exactly opposite. Nationalism accepts the notions of progress towards reason and modernity propounded by colonialism. Freed from the rule of colonial difference, however, nationalism can bring modernity to the citizens of the new nation in a way that colonialism never could. Colonialism presents itself as governmentality, but deeply, at the last resort, it must resort to force, to sovereignty, a premodern form of power. In its lack of representativeness, colonialism can never realize the project of modernity; nationalism can.

Question 5

gellner nationalism

Answer 5

Gellner argues that nationalism appeared and became a sociological necessity only in the modern world. In previous times (“the agro-literate” stage of history), rulers had little incentive to impose cultural homogeneity on the ruled. But in modern society, work becomes technical; one must operate a machine, and as such, one must learn. There is a need for impersonal, context-free communication and a high degree of cultural standardisation.

Furthermore, industrial society is underlined by the fact that there is perpetual growth: employment types vary and new skills must be learned. Thus, generic employment training precedes specialised job training. On a territorial level, there is competition for the overlapping catchment areas (such as Alsace-Lorraine). To maintain its grip on resources and its survival and progress, the state and culture must for these reasons be congruent. Nationalism, therefore, is a necessity.
features
Shared, formal educational system
Cultural homogenization and “social entropy”
Central monitoring of the polity, extensive bureaucratic control
Linguistic standardization
National identification – the abstract community
Cultural similarity as a basis for political legitimacy
Anonymity, single-stranded social relationships

Question 6

key to nationalising endeavour

Answer 6

capitalism

Question 7

Emergence of nationalism in the colonies

Answer 7

Idea of the nation-state in India
Bordered sub-continental identity
The ‘British Idea of India’
How the Western Educated Indian elite conceived of it?

Question 8

How does India, a colonised country find nationalism?

Answer 8

Colonialsim

Question 9

Who is responsible for the making of the Indian nation?

Answer 9

Was it the interventions of the colonial state with its categorising, maps, census and museum that made possible India and Indians
Or
Was it the growth of a powerful Indian nationalist identity the achievement of the Indian nationalist struggle.

Question 10

By the late 19th century

Answer 10

New political associations were being formed which included the western educated elite, the Brahmin upper caste men.
The organisational expertise of educated Bengalis were an important political catalyst
Service in municipalities brought Indians into the range of the official honours list

Question 11

political identity bestowed on britain through what?

Answer 11

map, census, museums and you could look at caste

Question 12

colonial gaze

Answer 12

bringing british values, trying to benefit financially from them, imperialism is a project which runs for nearly 200 years. a project the colonisers and the colonised have to invest in because otherwise it would be continuous conflict.

Question 13

why were railways critical to modern india?

Answer 13

5 per cent return on investment. They redrew map ofindia. Connect different parts ofindia. Providecommunicastion, allowedbritishgoods to be pushed throughoutindia

Question 14

importance of the map

Answer 14

Map was necessary for troops to back up their claims. Paradigm of how the military operation served. Powerful, political and military by creating a map creating map allows legitimacy. puts on seals, logos letterheads by british.

Question 15

colonial archaeology

Answer 15

Monumental archaeology (taj mahal) – increasingly linked to tourism. High Hindu art and not popular indian art was shown. british create a modern india. Types of culture in musseum. upper class - tribal on a lower plane

Question 16

what did nehru state about the congress and country

Answer 16

Nehru said congress is the country and the country is theindiannational congress. British liked to think they created modernindiabut he argues the nationalist achievementwasfrom the national party

Question 17

phases of nationalism

Answer 17

early nationalism 1880-1916 and later nationalism 1916-1947

Question 18

who are the intelligensia

Answer 18

Clerks and functionaries, lawyers and businessmen and teachers are the core of the intelligentsia. This is the rising middle class who show a loyalty to thebritish which outweigh the anger of the old elite which manifested itself in the Sepoy Mutiny. ENGLISH EDUCATION in common. –culture etc. reading of the english classics install in them notions of justice, freedom and love of country. This changed after racism etc?

Question 19

Bengali renaissance and early Indian Nationalism

Answer 19

Cultural and political movements which encouraged vernacular literature
Most important of these was the Bengali renaissance whose fruits reached the west through the writings of Rabindranath Tagore. These included poetry and prose writings
The question to ask is whether these different renaissance movements encouraged nationalism or local identities

Question 20

The Indian NationalCoongresswas founded by anenclishman

Answer 20

hume

Question 21

Alan Octavian Hume critical of empire

Answer 21

One of the founding members of the Indian National Congress was Alan Octavian Hume, an ornithologist and former British civil servant responsible for overseeing the notorious customs barrier to collect the salt tax‘the Great Hedge of India’. (Robert Moxham, The Great Hedge of India)
Did he set up the INC as a ‘lightening conductor? I order to Was a cog in imperial rule but critics empire and when retires, helps found the indian national congress and is mainly critical of taxation and indebtedness is heart of problem with the peasant

Question 22

who were Indian Moderates?

Answer 22

English speaking intelligentsia whose reading of the English classics had instilled in them had instilled in them justice, freedom and love of country
Men like Surendranath Bannerjee, Dadabhai Naoroji, Gokhale, R.C. Dutt and M.G. Ranade were the four outstanding moderate leaders.

Question 23

Dadabhai Naoroji, 1825-1917

Answer 23

Wrote the Poverty and the un-British nature of
British rule in India
1st Indian British MP elected from Finchley in 1892
‘To sum up the whole, the British rule has been: morally, a great blessing; politically, peace and order on one hand, blunders on the other; materially, impoverishment, relieved as far as the railway and other loans go. The natives call the British system “Sakar ki Churi,” the knife of sugar. That is to say, there is no oppression, it is all smooth and sweet, but it is the knife, notwithstanding. I mention this that you should know these feelings. Our great misfortune is that you do not know our wants. When you will know our real wishes, I have not the least doubt that you would do justice. The genius and spirit of the British people is fair play and justice.’

Question 24

what did moderates try to tell british?

Answer 24

• Reform too slow and divergence betweenindiaandbritish.impoverished. Subbjectedto famine underbritishrule. want economic reform. No taxation without representation.
Naorojiwrtiesofbritishand impoverishment and the unbritish nature of british rule in india. appealing to justice and fair play and speaking language of the british as trained in western practice. first indian british moo.

Question 25

The drain of wealth from India to Britain

Answer 25

Dadabhai Naoroji calculated the annual drain of the national income at 2000 million pounds a year from India to Britain
‘No territorial rule ever before extracted in so short a time so much tribute- in labour power, in natural resources and in means of payment as the British state did in India in the course of the late 19th century’ (quoted in Manu Goswami)
there is an argument London tube system built onindia

Question 26

Bannerjee

Answer 26

Sir Surendranath Banerjee About this sound pronunciation (help·info) (Bengali: সুরেন্দ্রনাথ বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়) (10 November 1848 – 6 August 1925) was one of the earliest Indian political leaders during the British Raj. He founded the Indian National Association, one of the earliest Indian political organizations, and later became a senior leader of the Indian National Congress. He was also known by the sobriquet, Rashtragur[1]

Surendranath Banerjee was born in Kolkata (Calcutta), in the province of Bengal to a Bengali Brahmin family. He was deeply influenced in liberal, progressive thinking by his father Durga Charan Banerjee, a doctor. Banerjee was educated at the Parental Academic Institution and at the Hindu College. After graduating from the University of Calcutta, he traveled to England in 1868, along with Romesh Chunder Dutt and Behari Lal Gupta, to compete in the Indian Civil Service examinations. He cleared the competitive examination in 1869, but was barred owing to a dispute over his exact age. After clearing the matter in the courts, Banerjee cleared the exam again in 1871 and was posted as assistant magistrate in Sylhet. However, Banerjee was dismissed soon from his job owing to racial discrimination. Banerjee went to England to protest this decision, but was unsuccessful. During his stay in England (1874–1875), he studied the works of Edmund Burke and other liberal philosophers. These works guided him in his protests against the British. He was known as the Indian Burke.

moderates are writing a bit tongue in cheek at this time– look at slide– again a moral appeal

Question 27

Moderate aspirations

Answer 27

Against taxation
Discriminatory tariffs
Recurrence of famines in the late
nineteenth century
Impoverishment of the nation
A dependent colonial economy
The national economy as the sacred object of the national community, exemplified in the swadeshi movement 
(Moderate aspirations – against taxation, discriminatory tariffs, recurrence of famine 19c, impoverishment of the nation,dependemtcolonial economy, national economy needs to be part of the national community)

Question 28

Extremism and Terrorism

Answer 28

Part of the Bengali renaissance was the growth of terrorism. Young men bound by religious training, vows and discipline.
Left in its wake serious repression by the British and led to the exile of Aurobindo Ghosh for example. Later extremist leaders like Tilak were served deportation orders. (Extremist -part of the Bengali renaissance was the growth of terrorism.Readingtheories about unification of Italy. Young men bound by religious training, vows and discipline)

Question 29

mother india ghosh language - in exile

Answer 29

Nation becomes feminised as ahindudeity - Ghosh
Not a piece of earth, not a figure of speech, nor a fiction of mind but a mighty shakti or power. And the mission of this country as goddess was to purge barbarism and to Aryanise the world.
Aurobindo Ghosh (1872-1950)
The nation sacralised and
feminised as a Hindu diety

Question 30

ways extremists used to reach people

Answer 30

Editorial in the Indian mirror – reachingthrooughthe paper. Cultural revival to breathelifeinto India
With the loss of our country we have lost our national religion, our national literature, our national science and philosophy, and our national traditions. It is not surprising that under such circumstances, the growth and progress of the Indian people should be in abeyance….In our present denationalised condition, we are neither fish nor flesh, neither Indian nor English. 1884

STRONGER WORDS THAN THE MODERATES

Question 31

Partition of Bengal 1906

Answer 31

British reaction – Curzon partition of Bengal. When he launches partition – huge mass protest.Swadeshi movement– Women start participating. Women active in terrorism

Lord Curzon’s partition of Bengal raised a storm of protest from Bengali Hindus who clustered in Calcutta and in the Presidency’s eastern districts
Anti partition agitation led by educated Bengalis who organised meetings and petitions to boycott English cloth and develop indigenous industry. The swadeshi movement in Bengal

This is vital - they are taking back control of their economy

Question 32

The sharpening of communal divisions

Answer 32

In the Punjab increasing hostility between, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs under the Arya Samaj
In U.P . Elite Muslims chaffed under the growing restrictions of Hindu revivalism which threatened elite provincial culture which had been moulded over centuries by Urdu
In 1906 the Muslim League came into being an all India body heavily influenced by U.P. men and their problems

Question 33

indian national congress

Answer 33

Congress still a nascent political organisation of western educated men.
Started in 1885 its formal constitution only set up in 1899
Lacked funds until the early twentieth century
Leaders included A.O. Hume, Dadhabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Bannerjee and Romeshchandra Dutt

Question 34

The Muslim League

Answer 34

Syed Ahmed Khan’s men toured India persuading Muslims to repudiate the Congress.
In 1906 a Muslim deputation to Lord Minto anticipated Indian constitutional reform
Membership of the Muslim League restricted to people over 25 who were literate.
Not till the 1930s did the League become popular.

EMERGES MUSLIM MINORITY PLACE WHERE THEY FEEL MORE THREATENED

Question 35

British attempts at Reform

Answer 35

The Morley-Minto reforms of 1909
Lord Morley had driven forward a package of reform called the Morley-Minto reform in 1909. The Viceroy’s Legislative Council was to be enlarged, though officials remained a majority in it.. The executive still controlled legislative functions. Election of non official members was by a combination of direct and indirect election. Morley was influenced by G.K. Gokhale a moderate Indian He realised that the British needed to support moderate Indians a stance that was to dominate British policy. It granted separate electorates to Muslims

Question 36

Enduring structures of rule

Answer 36

By the end of this period structures of governance had been put into place and the British Raj had emerged as a political force with associated crucial allies from an Indian population.
Incremental legislative reforms were to herald this new period of increased nationalism

Question 37

Montagu-Chelmsford reforms of 1917

Answer 37

Lord Montagu who was known for his liberal views made the momentous announcement that the goal of British policy was ‘the increasing association of Indians in every branch of self government, and the gradual development of self governing institutions, with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible government for India as an integral part of the British empire’. This was the first time self government was envisaged for a non-white colony. But it was no licence for independence

Question 38

India National Assosciation

Answer 38

The Indian National Association also known as Indian Association was the first avowed nationalist organization founded in British India by Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose in 1876.[1] The objectives of this Association were “promoting by every legitimate means the political, intellectual and material advancement of the people”. The Association attracted educated Indians and civic leaders from all parts of the country, and became an important forum for India’s aspirations for independence. It later merged with the Indian National Congress.

Question 39

Colonial gaze

Answer 39

Most often referring to how westerners view or have viewed non-Western cultures, and encompassing a sense of superiority and entitlement. The “colonial gaze” is often evident in period photographs (from the 19th and early 20th centuries) and with tourist images, including contemporary ones. The concept is based on the fact that images cannot be objective–any photograph contains evidence of the culture and personal history of its maker. “Colonial gaze” may also have a sexual connotation, referring to the objectification of women, particularly by westerners in colonial or post-colonial environments.

Question 40

Why partition of bengal

Answer 40

divide and rule policy

Question 41

phases of indian national congress

Answer 41

Indian National Congress underwent three different phases or periods, which include
Moderate period (1885 –1905)
Extremist period (1905 – 1920)
Gandhian Period (1920-1947)

Question 42

Moderate Period of Indian National Congress (1885-1905)

Answer 42

Congress politics during the first twenty years of its history is roughly referred to as moderate politics. Congress at that time was hardly a full-fledged political party; it was more in the nature of an annual conference, which deliberated and adopted resolutions during the “three day tamashas”, and then dispersed.
Its members were mostly part-time politicians, who were successful professionals in their personal lives-a thoroughly Anglicized upper class who had very little time and commitment for full-time politics.

Question 43

Moderate Leaders:

Answer 43

Moderate Leaders:
The leading figures during the first phase of the National Movement were A.O. Hume, W.C. Banerjee, Surendra Nath Banerjee, Dadabhai Naoroji, Feroze Shah Mehta, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Badruddin Tyabji, Justice Ranade, G.Subramanya Aiyar etc.

Question 44

S Banerjee

Answer 44

Surendranath Banerjee
He founded the Indian National Association. He was also known by the Rashtraguru.
He cleared the Indian Civil Service examinations in 1869, but was barred owing to a dispute over his exact age.Banerjee cleared the exam again in 1871 and was posted as assistant magistrate in Sylhet. However, Banerjee was dismissed soon from his job owing to racial discrimination. Banerjee went to England to protest this decision, but was unsuccessful. During his stay in England (1874–1875), he studied the works of Edmund Burke and other liberal philosophers. These works guided him in his protests against the British. He was known as the Indian Burke.
In 1879, he founded the newspaper, The Bengalee.
He founded the Indian Association (1876) to agitate for political reforms. He had convened the Indian National Conference (1883) which merged with the Indian National Congress in l886.
He firmly opposed the Partition of Bengal.He was an important figure in the Swadeshi movement – advocating goods manufactured in India against foreign products.
Banerjee supported the Morley-Minto reforms 1909 – which were resented and ridiculed as insufficient and meaningless by the vast majority of the Indian public and nationalist politicians. Banerjee was a critic of the proposed method of civil disobedience advocated by Mahatma Gandhi,

Question 45

naoroji

Answer 45

Dadabhai Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader. He was a member of parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP.In his political campaign and duties as an MP, he was assisted by Muhammed Ali Jinnah,
In 1867 Naoroji helped to establish the East India Association, one of the predecessor organisations of the Indian National Congress with the aim of putting across the Indian point of view before the British public. This Association soon won the support of eminent Englishmen and was able to exercise considerable influence in the British Parliament. He was also a member of the Indian National Association founded by Sir Surendranath Banerjee from Calcutta a few years before the founding of the Indian National Congress in Bombay, with the same objectives and practices. The two groups later merged into the INC, and Naoroji was elected President of the Congress in 1886.
In 1874, he became Prime Minister of Baroda and was a member of the Legislative Council of Mumbai (1885–88).
Dadabhai Naoroji became Indian representative in the socialist Second International, at their 1905 congress in Amsterdam. Later , on 22 August 1907, his assistant Mrs. Bhikaiji Rustom Cama attended the International Socialist Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, where she described the devastating effects of a famine that had struck the Indian subcontinent. In her appeal for human rights, equality and for autonomy from Great Britain.
Naoroji published Poverty and un-British Rule in India in 1901.Dadabhai Naoroji’s work focused on the drain of wealth from India into England through colonial rule. Naoroji’s work on the drain theory was the main reason behind the creation of the Royal commission on Indian Expenditure in 1896 in which he was also a member. This commission reviewed financial burdens on India and in some cases came to the conclusion that those burdens were misplaced.
In 1906, Naoroji was again elected president of the Indian National Congress.

Question 46

idology

Answer 46

Ideology:
They did demand equality, which seemed to be a rather abstract idea; they equated liberty with class privilege and wanted gradual or piecemeal reforms.
‘British rule’, to most of them seemed to be an act of providence destined to bring in modernization. Indians needed some time to prepare themselves for self-government. In the meanwhile, absolute faith could be placed in British in Parliament and the people. Their complaint was only against “un-British” in India perpetrated by the viceroy, his executive council and the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy-an imperfection that could be reformed or rectified through gentle persuasion.
Their politics was very limited in terms of goals and methods.
They were secular in their attitudes, though not always forthright enough to rise above their sectarian interests. They were conscious of the exploitative nature of British rule, but wanted its reforms and not expulsion.

Question 47

methods

Answer 47

Methods:
Early Congressman had an implicit faith in the efficacy of peaceful and constitutional agitation as opposed to popular mean of agitation. It was well explained by Gokhle in his journal Sudhar as 3P method: Petition, Prayer and Protest. The press and platform of the annual sessions were their agency of agitation.
The holding of annual sessions was another method of Congress propaganda. At this session, the government policy was discussed and resolutions were passed in forceful manner, this annual sessions attracted the attention of both educated section of educated middle class and government. But the biggest drawback was that the Congress lasted only for 3 days in a year and it had no missionary to carry on the work in the internal between the two sessions.
The congressmen believed in the essential sense of justice and the goodness of British nation. The Moderates believed that the British basically wanted to be just to the Indians but were not aware of the real conditions.They thought it was only the bureaucracy which stood between the people and their rights.Therefore, if public opinion could be created in the country and public demands be presented to the Government through resolutions, petitions, meetings, etc., the authorities would concede these demands gradually.To achieve these ends, they worked on a two-pronged methodology (1)create a strong public opinion to arouse consciousness and national spirit and then educate and unite people on common political questions; (2)persuade the British Government and British public opinion to introduce reforms in India on the lines laid out by the nationalists.
To remind the British, deputations of leading Indians were sent to Britain to give this viewpoint. To do this in 1889, a British committee of INC was founded to carry was founded to carry out its propaganda. It was to present India’s view point to the British authority. Dadabhai Naoroji was to present it. He spent his major part in England where he got elected in the British House Commons and formed a powerful Indian lobby in the House of Commons. In 1890, it was decided to hold a session of the Indian National Congress in London in 1892, but owing to the British elections of 1891 the proposal was postponed and never revived later.

Question 48

drain of wealth naoroji

Answer 48

In Naoroji’s calculation this drain of wealth from India to Britain amounted to about £ 12 million per year, while William Digby calculated it to be £ 30 million. To quote Dadabhai Naoroji “materially British rule caused only impoverishment; it was like ‘the knife of sugar’. That is to say there is no oppression; it is all too smooth and sweet, but it is the knife notwithstanding.
What the moderates wanted was a c

Question 49

Extremist period (1905 – 1920)

Answer 49

The closing decade of the nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of a new and younger group within the Indian National Congress, which was sharply critical of the ideology and the methods of the old leadership.
These “angry young men” advocated the adoption of Swaraj as the goal of the Congress to be achieved by more self-reliant and independent methods. The new group came to be called the Extremist party in contrast to the older one, which began to be referred to as the Moderate party.
By the starting of the 20th century, Indian politics had come under influence and dominance of extremists. Though from the last few years of the 19th century, extremists came into existence, it was only after the partition of Bengal that they gained popularity.
From 1905 onwards, the moderate leaders rapidly lost their influence over the National Congress. Gradually, over the years, the trend of militant nationalism (also known as Extremism) grew in the country. Extremism on the Indian national scene did not spring up all of a sudden in the first decade of the twentieth century. In fact, it had been growing slowly since the revolt of 1857, but was invisible. The nationalist ideas behind the revolt of 1857, according to the extremists, were Swadharma and Swaraj.

Question 50

Causes of Extremism:

Answer 50

The refusal to meet the political and economic demands by the government and its repressive measures against the growing national movement shook the faith of an increasing number of Indians in the ideology and technique of liberal nationalism. Leadership of moderates had failed to deliver any fruit to India and so young nationalist leaders started to acquire dominant position gradually.
Act of 1892 dissatisfied the congress leaders and so they choose to resort to legal and nationalist policies for their demands.
Now they recognised the true nature of the British rule which moderates failed to and had belief in its being just.
Education gave them a new vision and they got inspiration from India history. Western thinkers also influenced them.
Increasing westernisation of India by British led them to think that they will destroy Indian traditions, customs and culture and so they grew against British.
Lord Curzon’s reactionary policy was also responsible for the growth of extremism. He spoke derogatorily of Indian character in general which hurt pride of Indians.At Calcutta University Convocation, he said,” Undoubtedly truth took a high place in th codes of the west before it had been similarly honoured in the East.” The Calcutta Corporation Act, Official Secret Act, Indian University Act of 1904 created great resentment in India. The Delhi Durbar held n 1903 when India had not fully recovered from famine of 1899-1900 was interpreted as a “a pompous pageant to a starving population”.
Much more was the dissatisfaction with achievements of moderates which pave a way to extremists in Indian politics.
The rise of the extremism in the national movement was a reaction against the attempts of the Western reformists to reconstruct India in the image of the West. They were greatly influenced by the growth and development of spiritual nationalism in India.
Contemporary International influences: Abyssinia’s repulsion of Italian Army in 1896, and Japan’s victory over Russia in 1905 broke the spell of European invincibility. Nationalistic movements in Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Russia also influenced extremism, Also humiliating treatment of Indians in British colonies like South Africa helped extremism.
Partition of Bengal was one of the most important reason of emergence of extremism.
Most of the limitations of moderates were cause of birth of extremism.

Question 51

goal

Answer 51

Goal:
The goal of the extremists was ‘swaraj’, which different leaders interpreted differently.
For Tilak, it meant, Indian control over the administration, but not a total severance with Great Britain.
Bipain Chandra Pal believed that no-self government was possible under British rule. So, for him,swaraj was complete autonomy, absolutely free from the British control.
Aurobindo ghosh in Bengal also visualized swaraj still meant self-rule within the parameters of British imperial structure.

Question 52

nature

Answer 52

Nature of Extremism and Its Leaders:
Extremists had wide social base of political agitations, they involved lower middle class and middle class public apart from educated class of people.
They did not believe in British rule and believed crown’s claim unworthy.
They got their inspiration from Indian history, tradition, culture and heritage and had faith in masses capacity to participate and sacrifice.
They also adopted extra constitutional methods of boycott, etc.
Their demand was Swaraj, as their birthright.
Strong reaction to British imperialist policies in India.
The philosophy of politi­cal extremism, was greatly influenced by the writings of Bankim Chandra and his spiritual nationalism.
Attachment to rationalism and western ideals almost alienated the moderates from the masses in India. That is why despite their high idealism, they failed to create a solid mass base for their movement.The militant nationalists drew inspiration from India’s past, invoked the great Episodes in the history of the Indian people, and tried to instill national pride and self-respect among the Indian people.
They opposed the idealizing of the Western culture by the liberals and considered it cultural capitulation to the British rulers. The militant nationalist leaders emphasized that it would only bring about an inferiority complex among the Indians and repress their national pride and self-confidence so vital to the struggle for freedom.
The militant nationalists revived the memories of the Vedic past of the Hindus, the great phase of the regimes of Asoka and Chandragupta, the heroic deeds of Rana Pratap and Shivaji, the epic patriotism of Rani Laxmibai. They propounded that the Indian people were endowed with a special spiritual consciousness.
The leading extremists such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosem Rajnarayan Bose, Ashwini Kumar Dutt were all products of English education. Though all of them were highly educated and greatly influenced by English literature and political ideas, and institutions, they drew heavily from the traditional culture and civilization of India rather than from the West. All of them felt the necessity for changing the outlook of Indians in the light of the advancement made by the West in the fields of science and technology and also the need for reforming the society and the religion.
Extremist thought derived its support from teachings of Vivekananda and Dayananda Sarswati. Extremist slogan of Swaraj was first introduced by Arya Samaj of dayannada Sarswati.
(More clarity in Nature of Extremism will be discussed in the next chapter : Swadeshi Movement in Bengal)
§

Question 53

§ghosh

Answer 53

Aurbindo Ghosh
Aurobindo Ghose, was an Indian nationalist, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet.Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King’s College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the maharaja of the princely state of Baroda and began to involve himself in politics. He was imprisoned by the British for writing articles against British rule in India. He was released when no evidence was provided. During his stay in the jail he had mystical and spiritual experiences, after which he moved to Pondicherry, leaving politics for spiritual work.He founded there Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926.From 1926 he started to sign himself as Sri Aurobindo,
For Sri Aurobindo, nationalism was not a mere political or economic cry; it was rather the innermost hunger of his whole soul for the rebirth in him and through men like him, the whole India, the ancient culture of the Hindustan and its pristine purity and nobility. Indian nationalism was given a spiritual orientation by the nationalists.
Aurbindo Ghosh wrote pamphlet, New Lamps For The Old which is considered as Bible of Extremism in which he described Congress being out of touch with proletariats. He wrote a series of articles in Bangadarshan, the journal of Bankim Chandra Chatarjee. He potrayed India as “Mother” and appealed to the emotional aspect of Indian Nationalism.
Vishnu Shahtri Chiplunkar wrote Nibandhmala, a collection of poems with extremist thoughts.
Till Mahatma Gandhi arrived on the political scene of India, the extremists dominated the Indian National Congress.

Question 54

assessment extremism

Answer 54

Assessment of Extremism:
Advocates of extremism ranged from active revolutionaries at one end to secret sympathizers of revolutionaries to those who were opposed to all violent methods at the other end.
Their goal of swaraj also had different meaning as we have seen earlier.
The extremists transform patriotism from ‘an academic pastime’ to ‘service and suffering for nation’.
Socially they became revivalists. Rai and Pal, though advocates of social reform spoke of Hindu nation. TIlak opposed age of consent bill though reason was ligitimacy of British to enact this Act. TIlak’s Cow protection policy, organisation of Ganesh festival in 1893 projected him as a leader of Hindu orthodoxy. These factors divided Hindu and Muslim.
They got some success: (a)Partition of Bengal was annulled in 1911 (b) Aim of Swaraj, though denied by Lord Morley, was no longer looked upon as a revolutionary demand.

Question 55

Differences between Moderates and Extremists in Indian Politics:
Moderates:

Answer 55

Moderates:
Social base was zamindars and upper middle classes in towns.
Ideological inspiration was western liberal thought and European history.
Believed in England’s providential mission in India.
Believed political connections with Britain to be in India’s social, political and cultural interests.They believed in cooperation.
Professed loyalty to the British Crown.
Believed that the movement should be limited to middle class intelligentsia; masses not yet ready for participation in political work.
Demanded constitutional reforms and share for Indians in services.
Insisted on the use of constitutional methods only.
They were patriots and did not play the role of a comparator class.
Extremists:
Social base was educated middle and lower middle classes in towns.
Ideological inspiration was Indian history, cultural heritage, national education and Hindu traditional symbols.
Rejected ‘providential mission theory’ as an illusion.
Believed that political connections with Britain would perpetuate British exploitation of India.They believed in confrontation.
Believed that the British Crown was unworthy of claiming Indian loyalty.
Had immense faith in the capacity of masses to participate and to make sacrifices.
Demanded swaraj as the panacea for Indian ills.
Did not hesitate to use extra- constitutional methods like boycott and passive resistance to achieve their objectives.
They were patriots who made sacrifices for the sake of the country.

Question 56

rai

Answer 56

Lala Lajpat Rai is popularly known as the ‘Lion of Punjab’. He played an important role in the Swadeshi Movement. He founded the Indian Home Rule League in the US in 1916. He was deported to Mandalay on the ground of sedition. He received fatalLala Lajpat Rai injuries while leading a procession against the Simon Commission and died on November 17, 1928.

Question 57

bipan chandra

Answer 57

Bipan Chandra Pal began his career as a moderate and turned an extremist. He played an important role in the Swadeshi Movement. He preached nationalism through the nook and corner of Indian by his powerful speeches and writings.