THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE-1857 • During the War of Independence the Governor General was Lord Canning. He had assumed the charge of his office in 1856. • Wajid Ali Shah was the Nawab of Awadh. He was sent on exile to Calcutta and his state was annexed by the British in April 1856. • Three-fourth of the infantry and nearly two-third of the whole Bengal Army was composed of the people from Awadh. • Maulvi Ahmadullah devised the distribution of chapatti scheme during his travels in the North-West Provinces to prepare the mind of the people for a war of freedom. It was a silent indication of association with a cause. Lord Dalhousie had proposed that the successors of Bahadur Shah II (Zafar) would have to vacate the Red Fort of Delhi and move to suburban town of Mehrauli. • Besides Awadh, the Punjab, Satara, Nagpur, Jhansi, and other small states had been annexed. • Dalhousie discontinued the pension allowed to Peshwa’s son Nana Sahib and expelled him from his ancestral palace at Poona and exiled him to Bithur near Cawnpore. • Lord Macaulay designed the English system of education to glorify the Christian faith and to bring into contempt the religious beliefs of the young students. William Bentinck abolished sati. • In 1856 the government promulgated the General Enlistment Act which required the new recruits to serve wherever ordered. • The Brahmins were irritated on their forced participation in the wars against Burma and Afghanistan because they feared that they will lose their caste if they cross the sea and leave subcontinent. • The dispatch of European troops to the wars in China and Persia had reduced the proportion between the British troops and the Sepoys to 1 and 3. • About half of the available British troops were stationed in the recently subjugated Punjab.
An insignificant number was stationed in Bengal, Bihar, and the Doab. • The paucity of the European troops gave an opportunity to the disaffected Sepoys. • A new kind of rifle, named Enfield, was introduced in the army in January 1857. Its cartridges were smeared with grease and had to be bitten at one end by the user. • It came to be known that this grease was made of fats of cows and pigs. • Between Jan. and March 1857 there were several plots and mutinies in Calcutta and the cantonments of Behrampur and Barackpur. • On 26th Jan. , 5th Feb. , and again on 10th March, the
Sepoys of Calcutta and Behrampur tried to seize Fort William. • On May 9, in Meerut, a company of Sepoys was court-martialed for refusing to use the cartridges. Each member of the company was sentenced to 10 year’s rigorous imprisonment. • On May 10 their fellow Sepoys of three regiments in different places rose into rebellion. They opened the gates of the prison-house, killed their British officers and marched towards Delhi. • Delhi local troops joined them and now their number rose to 5000. • The Sepoys took possession of Delhi and proclaimed the aged Bahadur Shah Zafar as Emperor of Hindustan on May 11. A cabinet was installed and a constitution known as Dasturul ‘Amal was also prepared. • Mirza Mughal, a son of Bahadur Shah, was chosen as commander-in-chief. • Princes Mirza Abu Bakr, Mirza Mendhu, and Mirza Khizr Sultan were appointed commanders. • The Muslim chiefs of Awadh, Rohailkhand and Bijanor expressed loyalty with the Emperor. • Bakht Khan of Bareilly reached Delhi with 14000 troops. • Sikh forces from Patiala and Jhind came to assist the British troops. • Bakht Khan defended Delhi for 4 months. • The British artillery succeeded in making breaches in the walls and entering the city on Sept. 20. The Emperor took shelter in the tomb of Humayun. • The Bakht tried to persuade the Emperor to continue fight from the Doab or Deccan. The Emperor did not agree with him so he left Awadh and from there went to Nepal. • Hodson arrested the Emperor and shot dead his two sons and one grandson. • A tribunal tried the Emperor for treason and sent him to be exiled to Rangoon where he died in 1862. • In Awadh Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah led the fight and drove the British out of Lucknow after killing Sir Henry Lawrence on July 15. • Wajid Ali Shah’s young son, Birjis Qadr, was raised to the masnad and his mother Hazrat Mahal, became the regent. On 1st March 1858 the British troops under Sir Colin Campbell entered Lucknow. • Hazrat Mahal fought bravely but then on 16th March left for Bundi with Birjis Qadr. From there she escaped to Nepal. • Maulvi Ahmadullah kept fighting for 3 more days but then retreated. He set up a small principality for himself in the suburbs of Shahjahanpur with its capital at Mohammadi. • He was there defeated by the British troops and was shot dead in June 1858. • Nana Sahib, who lived in Bithur, led the revolt in the Cawnpore area. He was helped by Azimullah Khan and Tantia Topi, a Maratha leader. The rising begin in Cawnpore on 10th June, 1857 and Nana Sahib took possession of the city. He allowed safe passage to the British troops for Allahabad by river. • The Sepoys of Nana Sahib opened fire at the British troops when they had boarded the boats. Most of them were killed. • Havelock came from Allahabad and defeated Nana Sahib’s forces on his way to Cawnpore. • In revenge Nana Sahib ordered a general massacre of the English prisoners, 5 men and 206 women and children kept in building called Bibigarh. • On July 17, Havelock entered Cawnpore.
Nana Sahib left for Awadh and Tantia Topi went to Gwalior. Tantia continued his resistance but was captured on April 7, 1859 through the treachery of a Hindu Chief, Man Singh. • From Awadh Nana Sahib fled to Nepal. • The widowed Rani of Jhansi, Lakshmi Rai, led a force of 20,000 in Bundelkhand and massacred every European that fell into her hands. • In June 1858 she died after receiving a wound in a fight. • In Rohailkhand Khan Bahadur Khan, a grandson of Hafiz Rehmat Khan led the fight against the British. On his orders foreign rule was eliminated from Bareilly, Bada’un, Shahjahanpur and Muzaffarnagar. Nawab Majiduddin Khan gave a lead to the Sepoys in Moradabad and Bijanor where the resistance was organized by Mahmud Khan. • Haji Imdadullah led the fight in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar. • After capturing Lucknow in March 1858 the British sent a major portion of their troops to Rohailkhand which was recovered after a protracted warfare in June 1858. • In Allahabad the Sepoys rose on June 1857 and were led by Maulvi Liaqat Ali. The city came under their control but the Sikh garrison defended the fort. The arrival of Neil with a force restored British authority in Allahabad. By the beginning of 1859 the British had regained complete supremacy over the subcontinent. • Because of an agreement concluded by the governor general Lord Canning with Amir Dost Muhammad in 1856, the Afghans did not seize the opportunity to take revenge for the British campaign of 1939. • As a penal measure Delhi was separated from North-Western Provinces and was joined to the Punjab. INDIA AFTER THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE • The War of Independence caused elimination of the rule of East India Company in India and the British Government assumed direct responsibility for the administration of its empire in the subcontinent. The change was effected by the Queen’s proclamation and the government of India Act 1858. • By a proclamation issued on 1st November 1858, the Queen Victoria announced the transfer of the empire of the Company to the Crown. • Lord Canning became the first Viceroy. • A Secretary of State for India was appointed in British Cabinet to take the place of the President of the Board of Control (of East India Company). He was to be advised by a Council of 15 members. • 8 members of the Council were to be appointed by the Crown and 7 in the first instance by the Court of Directors and later by the Council itself. The most difficult problem for the government after the war was that of finances. The war had increased the public debt by about ? 42 million. • The military charges that followed augmented the annual expenditure by about ? 10 million. • To help the situation a distinguished economist and parliamentary financer, James Wilson, was sent from England as finance member of the Viceroy’s Council. • Mr. James Wilson died after a brief tenure of 9 months but during this period he reorganized the financial system, outlined necessary economies, imposed an income tax and introduced the practice of annual budgets and statements of accounts. His work was carried on by his successor, Samuel Laing, who introduced a uniform tariff of 10 per cent, a convertible paper currency, and a higher salt duty. • The financial reforms initiated by Wilson and continued by Laing had brought about equilibrium in finances by 1862. • Before the war there had been 238000 local and 45000 European troops in the Company’s army in the presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Bengal. • After the war the proportion of local soldiery was reduced. By 1863 the British Indian army consisted of 140,000 Indians and 65,000 Europeans. • In 1859 the Bengal Rent Act was passed to protect the rights of zamindars.
This Act applied to Bengal proper as well as the whole of north-west, except Awadh and the Punjab. • This Act conferred property rights on all cultivators who could prove possession for ore than 12 years and forbade the raising of rents except in accordance with its own provisions. • Macaulay’s Penal Code was drawn up in 1837 but was enforced in 1860. • In 1861 the Indian High Court Act authorized the abolition of the Supreme and Sadr ‘Adalat Courts representing the jurisdiction of the Crown and the Company. This Act authorized creation of High Courts at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. THE INDIAN COUNCIL ACT OF 1861 This Act added a 5th ordinary member in the Governor-General’s Executive Council in addition to the Commander-in-Chief who sat as an extraordinary member. • In this Act the Governor General was empowered to make rules for the transaction of business. This helped Lord Canning to introduce the portfolio system placing each member of the council in charge of a specific department. • Each member disposed of minor matters himself and important ones in consultation with the Governor-General. • The Council was chiefly concerned with issues in dispute between departments or those of general administrative importance. The Act increased the number of additional members to the Governor-General’s Legislative Council (created since 1853) from 12 to 18. At least half of these members were to be non-officials. • The functions of the Legislative Council were strictly limited to legislation. It was expressly forbidden to transact any other business and was very much under the control of the Viceroy. Its members were not allowed to ask questions or move resolutions, not they could exercise any control over the executive. • The Act had also allowed inclusion of non-official members in the Provincial Legislative councils. Lord Canning resigned office in 1862. He was succeeded by Lord Elgin. • Lord Elgin died at the hill station of Dharamsala in November 1863 after remaining in office only for 20 months. LORD LAWRENCE ( 1864-1869) • Sir John Lawrence assumed office as Viceroy and Governor-General in Jan. 1864. • Lawrence paid special attention to the policy of constructing works of public utility like railways, irrigation and roads. • He passed Punjab, and Awadh Tenancy Acts of 1968 giving them the same rights as were given to other areas by Bengal Rent Act 1859. In 1866 Orissa famine claimed lives of one to two million people. • In 1868-69 another famine in Bundelkhand and Rajputana played havoc. • Lawrence adopted the policy of not trying to subjugate the tribes living near Frontier. • The Amir of Afghanistan Dost Muhammad died in 1863. During the war of succession that followed his demise Lawrence adopted a policy of strict non-interference. When Sher Ali emerged as the victor in 1868, Lawrence promptly recognized him Amir. • During the tenure of Lawrence there was a huge financial deficit. LORD MAYO (1869 – 1872) Lawrence retired in January 1869. • The British Prime Minister, Disraeli, appointed Lord Mayo as the new Viceroy and Governor-General of the Subcontinent. • Before this appointment Mr. Mayo was the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister for Ireland. • Mayo continued Afghan policy of Lawrence. • Amir of Afghanistan Sher Ali visited subcontinent in March 1969. He was formally recognized at the Ambala darbar. • Mayo, with the help of Strachey brothers, brought equilibrium in the finances by raising income tax from 1 to 2. 5 and then 3 percent and by increasing salt duty and enforcing economies. Mayo organized the first census of the subcontinent. • He created a department of agriculture and commerce and introduced the system of provincial finance. • Mayo was stabbed to death by a Pathan convict in Feb. 1872 during his visit to the Andaman Islands. LORD NORTHBROOK (1872-1876) €€€€€€€ • Northbrook took office in 1872. • Except for a year of famine, the subcontinent was prosperous during his tenure partly because of financial reforms of Lord Mayo and partly because of increase in overseas trade with the opening of the Suez Canal. His careful measures successfully averted the famine which threatened Bengal and Bihar in 1893-74. • In 1875 he dethroned the Gaikwad of Baroda for misgovernment and for an attempt to poison the British Resident. • In 1874 the Conservative party came to power in Britain with Disraeli as PM and Salisbury as Secretary of State for India. • The Liberal policy of moderation was now replaced by the Conservative policy of aggression. • To establish British influence as the court of Kabul, Salisbury suggested, in 1875, that the Amir of Afghanistan should be sked to accept a British Resident at his court. • Northbrook and his entire council disapproved of the suggestion which was repeated by Salisbury as an instruction with the result that Northbrook retired in 1876. LORD LYTTON ( 1876-1880) • Lytton assumed charge in 1876. • There was a terrible famine in India in 1876-78 which affected most of Southern India, Madras, Bombay, Hyderabad, Mysore and parts of Central India and the Punjab and cost more than 5 million human lives in British Territory alone. • Lytton appointed a famine commission under the chairmanship of Sir Richard Strachey. On the recommendations of this commission the Famine Code of 1883 was formulated. • In 1878 Lytton passed Vernacular Press Act which greatly curbed the freedom of the Vernacular Press and caused much resentment to the educated classes. • In 1879 he removed the customs on coarse kinds of cotton cloth to benefit the textile manufacturers of Lancashire. • In 1879 he established the Statutory Civil Service of nominated Indians thus fulfilling the promise of the Charter Act of 1833 and that of Royal Proclamation of 1858. Since this service was regarded as inferior to the Covenanted Civil Service it failed to attract higher classes and was abolished eight years later. SECOND AFGHAN WAR • Lytton secured the occupation of Quetta by a treaty with the Khan of Kalat in 1876 which gave the British access top the Bolan Pass, one of the principal gateways to Afghanistan. • By a confidential arrangement with the Maharaja of Kashmir Lytton established a British Agency in Gilgit. • In 1877 Sher Ali refused to the posting of a British officer in Afghanistan. In September 1878 Lytton dispatched a mission to Kabul under Neville Chamberlain. This mission was repulsed by Afghans at Ali Masjid, a lonely post on the entrance of Khyber Pass. • Britain invaded Afghanistan in November 1878. • Britain had initial successes but soon it proved to be a failure. • Amir Abdur Rehman became new Afghan Amir in 1880. • Lytton resigned in 1880 when there was a new Liberal government in Britain. • Lord Ripon became new Viceroy for India. BEGINNINGS OF MUSLIM NATIONALISM Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) wrote a treatise in 1858 namely Risalah Asbab-i-Baghawat-i-Hind (The Causes of the Indian Revolt). • Sir Syed commenced the publication of a series of pamphlets, The Loyal Mohammedans of India. • He also wrote a commentary on Bible know as Tabyin-ul-kalam, which developed into a scholarly work on comparative religion. • In 1868 he produced a documented pamphlet, Risalah Ahkam-i-Ta’am-i-Ahl-i-kitab. • Sir Syed founded a school in Ghazipur in 1863 that included English as a regular subject in its curriculum. In 1864 he founded a Translation Society in Ghazipur which later moved to Aligarh and named as scientific society. • The chief object of this society was to get standard English books translated into Urdu so as to make it possible for the Muslims to get acquainted with the latest developments of Western thought. • In 1866 Sir Syed called a meeting of eminent residents of Aligarh and made a move for the establishment of an association representing all parts of the North-Western Provinces to bring to the notice of the Government the feelings of the people with regard to the laws and regulations enforced by the British administration. The suggestion was accepted and the British Indian Association, Aligarh was formed with Raja Jaikishandas as president and Sir Syed as secretary. It was the first joint Hindu-Muslim organization that envisaged the development of a common outlook towards Indian problems and towards the relations of the people with their rulers. • It flourished only for a year. Its only noteworthy contribution was to submit a scheme for the establishment of a vernacular university in the North-Western Provinces. In 1867 some prominent Hindus of Banaras started a movement for the replacement of Urdu by Hindi written in the Deva Nagiri script as the court language. This forced Sir Syed to realize that Hindus and Muslims could not live together. • In 1869 Sir Syed went to England and stayed there for a year and a half. • In 1870 Sir Syed set up a committee called the Committee Striving after the Educational Progress of the Muslims. • The Committee proposed to establish a college at Aligarh to be known as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College.
Sir Syed was nominated secretary of its managing committee. • In May 1875 the M. A. O school was opened. • The school was soon upgraded to college level. • On 8th Jan. 1877 Viceroy Lytton laid the foundation stone of the M. A. O College. • The educational mission which Syed Ahmed Khan began in Northern India was started in Bengal by Nawab Abdul Latif who was born in 1828 in Faridpur. • His family traced its descent to Hazrat Khalid bin Walid. • Nawab Latif was educated at Calcutta Madrassa. After his education he became professor of Arabic in the same institution. In 1849 he was appointed Deputy Magistrate by the Govt. of Bengal. For sometime he acted as the Presidency Magistrate in Calcutta. • He was appointed Member of the newly created Bengal Legislative Council and was the first Muslim to sit in a legislative council. • In April 1863 he founded the Muhammadan Literary Society of Calcutta. • In 1863 he was made a fellow of the Calcutta University. • In 1875 Dayananda Saraswati started a movement called Arya Samaj. This gave birth to a violent Hindu reaction to foreign influences.
He also began the Shuddhi movement for conversion of non-Hindus, particularly Muslims of Hindu origin to Hinduism. • In 1882 Dayananda formed a Cow Protection Society to rouse Hindu feelings against Christians and Muslims for slaughtering cows and oxen. • A Hindu political organization known as the Indian Association came into being in Calcutta in 1876. • The Indian Association was established by a few educated Bengali Hindus led by Babu Surendranath Benerjea. It was forerunner of the Indian National Congress. • The Indian Association did not attract much attention outside Bengal except when it agitated the Govt. ecision in 1877 to reduce the maximum age limit for the Indian Civil Service Competitive examination from 21 to 19. • Muslims had no role in Indian Association. • In 1877 Syed Ameer Ali (1849 – 1928) established the Central National Muhammadan Association in Calcutta. It was the first Muslim political body organization to represent the Muslims of the subcontinent as a whole. • In 1882 the Vernacular Press Act was repealed. • In 1885 The Indian National Congress was founded on the initiative of A. O. Hume, a retired member of the Civil Service. • In 1886 Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan founded the Muhammadan Educational Conference. • In December 1887 a Bombay Muslim Badruddin Tyebji presided the 3rd session of the Indian National Congress. • Nawab Abdul Latif retired from public life in 1887. • In 1888 Sir Syed laid the foundation of the Indian Patriotic Association • Bankim Chandra Catterjee started a literary movement in Bengal and identified nationalism with the Hindu religion. • Militant Hindu Nationalism was started by B. G. Tilak. • In 1892 Indian Council Act was passed. It enlarged the legislative councils and extended their functions.
In the Imperial Council the number of additional members was fixed between 10 and 16, of whom not more than six were to be officials. • In the legislatures of Madras and Bombay the additional members were to be not less than 8 and not more than 20. The number of members of Councils of Bengal and North-Western Provinces was to be raised to 20 and 15 respectively. • The Act allowed the members to discuss the budget and offer suggestions for its improvement. The introduction of interpellation allowed the members to put questions to the executive about its administrative acts. This Act also made room for an elective element in the councils. • Sir Syed died in1898. • After his death Mohsin-ul-Mulk became secretary of the Aligarh college. • In April 1900 the Lt. Governor of the North-Western Provinces Sir Anthony issued a resolution declaring that Hindi written in the Nagiri script would enjoy equal status with Urdu as the language of the law courts in the provinces and in future only such persons would be appointed, except in a purely English office, to government jobs who knew Urdu as well as Hindi. In August 1900 the Aligarh leaders established in Lucknow an Urdu Defense Association with Mohsin-ul-Mulk as president and Barrister Hamid Ali Khan as secretary. • The governor threatened that the government will discontinue the financial of Aligarh College if Mohsin-ul-Mulk continued as president of Urdu Defense Society. Keeping in view the importance of the college Mohsin-ul-Mulk gave up president ship of this society. • A representative Muslim meeting held in Lucknow in October 1901 decided to found a genuine All-India Muslim political association. Viqar-ul-Mulk was asked to establish district associations in different parts of the country which should later coalesce into a central organization. • In 1903, Viqar-ul-Mulk established district associations in some parts of the United Provinces. But at eh beginning of the next year he want on pilgrimage to Mecca. • His work having been stopped, the formation of the proposed organization remained deferred till the establishment of the All-India Muslim League in 1906. THE PARTITION OF BENGAL • Assam had been separated from Bengal in 1874 and was placed under a Chief Commissioner. On 16th October, 1905 the unwieldy province of Bengal was partitioned. • The Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong Divisions (excluding the Darjeeling district) and the District of Malda having been separated from it were united with Assam and a new province under the name of Eastern Bengal and Assam were formed. • In this province the Muslims formed an overwhelming majority and saw a better chance of their progress. The Hindus on the other hand regarded this change as apposed to their economic and political interests and started a vehement agitation against it. • The idea of partition of Bengal was quite an old one. The agitation by Hindus against the partition soon took the form of a communal movement. • Vande Mataram (Hail Mother) was adopted by the anti-partition Hindus as their national song. This song was taken from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Ananda Math (The Abbey of Bliss). This novel had for its theme the Sanyasi rebellion against Muslim rule in Bengal in the 1770s and was essentially an anti-Muslim song. • As an economic device to compel the Government to revoke the partition, the anti-partition elements started the swadeshi movement which aimed at boycotting British manufacturers and using home made goods. The Indian National Congress fully identified itself with the anti-partition movement. THE SIMLA DEPUTATION • In 1905 Minto succeeded Curzon as Viceroy. Soon after he assumed office, a Liberal ministry came to power in Britain with John Morley, a radical, a Secretary of State for India. • Congress expected Minto to restore Bengal to its original boundaries. However due to administrative reason it was difficult for the British to undo the partition. • In order to appease the Congress in another way, it was inclined to consider the question of giving a more representative character to the legislative councils. A clear indication in this direction came in July, 1906 when Morley announced in the House of Commons that the Governor-General was about to appoint a small committee of his Executive Council to consider the extension of representative element in his Legislative Council and that he expected the Committee to frame recommendations in the near future. • Muslims had not been satisfied with the working of the Councils Act of 1892 as it had given them practically no representation on the Councils. After Morley’s announcement several Muslim newspapers and leaders began emphasizing the necessity of Muslims making an organized effort to place before the rulers their own views regarding constitution of the reformed councils. • On the initiative of Mohsin-ul-Mulk, the Muslims decided to place their point of view before the through a representative deputation. • On 1st October, 1906 a deputation consisting of 35 prominent Muslims from all parts of the Sub-continent met the Viceroy, Minto in Simla. In an address read by the Aga Khan, it pointed out that the Muslims were inadequately represented on the councils, and that their representatives who were almost always nominated did not enjoy approval and confidence of the community. It demanded that the Muslim representatives on all councils-local, provincial, and Imperial- should be elected by separate Muslim electorates, and that the representation accorded to the Muslims should commensurate with their numbers as well as the value of their contribution to the defense of the empire. THE ALL-INDIA MUSLIM LEAGUE In September, 1906, when Muslim leaders met in Lucknow to decide the composition of the Simla deputation it was also decided that an All-India Muslim political organization should be established at the next annual meeting of the Muhammadan Educational Conference. • The matter was again discussed at Simla in October, 1906 by the members of the Simla Deputation who decided that the nature and the aims and objects of the proposed organization should be finally determined at a representative meeting at Dacca to be held after the conclusion of the annual session of the Muhammadan Educational Conference in the last week of December, 1906. Nawab Salimullah suggested the name “All-India Muslim Confederacy” in the middle of December, 1906. • A meeting of the delegates to the Educational Conference and of other prominent Muslims was held at Dacca on December 30, 1906 presided by Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk. • A resolution proposed by Nawab Salimullah Khan, seconded by Hakim Ajmal Khan and supported by a number of leading Muslims including Mohammad Ali Johar and Zafar Ali Khan, was unanimously passed and All-India Muslim League was formed. A provisional committee consisting of leading Muslims representing all provinces was appointed with Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Viqar-ul-Mulk as joint secretaries to frame a constitution for the Muslim League and place it before a representative meeting of Muslims to be convened at a suitable time and place. • At the first session of the League, held in Karachi in December 1907, some new members were added to the committee and it was here that the task of framing the constitution of the League was completed. • This constitution was given a final approval at a special session of the Muslim League in Aligarh in the middle of March, 1908.
This session also elected Aga Khan as president and Sayyid Hasan Bilgrami as secretary of the League. • In 1908 a branch of Muslim League was also established in London with Syed Ameer Ali as president and Syed Ibn Hasan as Secretary. • At this stage of time the British Government was considering to increase the local representation in legislative councils but the Secretary of State was not in favor of separate Muslim electorates. • The Muslim League at its second annual session held at Amritsar in December, 1908 passed emphatic resolutions demanding that Muslim seats in the Councils should be filled only by Muslim electorates. In January 1909 a deputation headed by Syed Ameer Ali met the Secretary of State and told him that the proposed mixed electoral colleges would prove highly detrimental to Muslim interests. MORLEY-MINTO REFORMS :- • These reforms materialized in the form of the Indian Councils Act of 1909. It represented a notable improvement on the Councils Act of 1892. • This Act introduced for the first time the principle of election side by side with that of nomination. • The number of the members the councils was also increased. • The additional members of the imperial Legislative
Council were increased from 16 to a maximum of 60, those of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay to a maximum of 50. The same number was assigned to the United Provinces and Eastern Bengal and Assam. The Punjab was to have 30 members. • An official majority was retained in the Imperial Legislative Council but small non-official majorities were given to the Provinces with a considerable number of non-elected members. • Morley had, in 1907, nominated two Indians to the India Council. After the passage of this Act an Indian member was also appointed to the Viceroy’s Executive Council. The scope of discussion in the new councils was considerably enlarged. • Members were allowed to discuss budget item by item. They could also ask questions and move resolutions on matters of public interest. • The Act did not, however, empower the councils to control the government. • The member-in-charge had the option not to answer questions and they could also be disallowed by the President. • Similarly, resolutions passed by the councils could be ignored by the government as they had no binding force. A very important feature of the Minto-Morley Reforms was the introduction of separate electorates for the Muslims. Some seats were reserved in each council, excepting that of the Punjab to be filled exclusively by Muslim voters. The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending British colonial authority in South Asia. The term incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy.
The first organised militant movements were in Bengal, but it later took political stage in the form of a mainstream movement in the then newly formed Indian National Congress (INC), with prominent moderate leaders seeking only their basic rights to appear for civil services examinations and more rights, economic in nature, for the people of the soil. The beginning of the early 1900s saw a more radical approach towards political independence proposed by leaders such as the Lal Bal Pal and Sri Aurobindo. Militant nationalism also emerged in the first decades, culminating in the failed Indo-German Pact and Ghadar Conspiracy during World War I.
The last stages of the freedom struggle from the 1920s saw the Congress adopt the policies of nonviolence led by Mohandas Gandhi. Some leaders, such as Subhash Chandra Bose, later came to adopt a military approach to the movement, and others like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati who along with political freedom wanted economic freedom of peasants and toiling masses of the country. The World War II period saw the peak of the movements like the Indian National Army (INA) movement and the Quit India movement. The movement culminated in the formation of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan in 1947.
India remained a dominion of The Crown until 26 January 1950, when it adopted its Constitution to proclaim itself a republic. Pakistan proclaimed itself a Republic in 1956 but faced a number of internal power struggles that has seen suspensions of democracy. In 1971, the Pakistani Civil War culminating in the 1971 War saw the splintering-off of East Pakistan into the nation of Bangladesh. The Indian independence movement was a mass-based movement that encompassed various sections of society at the time. It also underwent a process of constant ideological evolution. 1] While the basic ideology of the movement was anti-colonial, it was supported by a vision of independent capitalist economic development coupled with a secular, democratic, republican and civil-libertarian political structure. [2] After the 1930s, the movement took on a strong socialist orientation, due to the increasing influence of left wing elements in the INC as well as the rise and growth of the Communist Party of In European traders came to Indian shores with the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 at the port of Calicut in search of the lucrative spice trade.
After 1757 Battle of Plassey, during which the British army under Robert Clive defeated the Nawab of Bengal, the British East India Company established itself. This is widely seen as the beginning of the British Raj in India. The Company gained administrative rights over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765 after the Battle of Buxar. Then they won over Tipu Sultan and brought most of South India under their control or under subordinate princely states. Then they conquered regions ruled by the rulers of the Maratha Empire by defeating them in several wars.
They then annexed Punjab in 1849 after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839 and the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–46) and then the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–49). [pic] [pic] Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey The British parliament enacted a series of laws to handle the administration of the newly-conquered provinces, including the Regulating Act of 1773, the India Act of 1784, and the Charter Act of 1813; all enhanced the British government’s rule. In 1835 English was made the medium of instruction.
Western-educated Hindu elites sought to rid Hinduism of controversial social practices, including the varna (caste) system, child marriage, and sati. Literary and debating societies initiated in Calcutta and Bombay became forums for open political discourse. The educational attainment and skillful use of the press by these early reformers created the growing possibility for effecting broad reforms within colonial India, all without compromising larger Indian social values and religious practices.
Even while these modernising trends influenced Indian society, Indians increasingly despised British rule. As the British increasingly dominated the continent, they grew increasingly abusive of local customs by, for example, staging parties in mosques, dancing to the music of regimental bands on the terrace of the Taj Mahal, using whips to force their way through crowded bazaars (as recounted by General Henry Blake), and mistreating sepoys. In the years after the annexation of Punjab in 1849, several mutinies among sepoys broke out; these were put down by force.
See also: Poligar War [edit] The Revolt of 1857 [pic] [pic] States during the rebellion [pic] [pic] Secundra Bagh after the 93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab regiment fought the rebels, Nov 1857 Main article: Indian rebellion of 1857 The Revolt of 1857 was a period of uprising in the northern and central India against British rule in 1857–58, which was the result of a combination of several factors. The conditions of service in the East India Company’s army and cantonments increasingly came into conflict with religious beliefs and prejudices of the sepoys. 3] The predominance of members from the upper castes in the army,[3] loss of caste due to overseas travel, and rumours of secret designs of the Government to convert them to Christianity led to deep discontentment among the sepoys. [4] The sepoys were also disillusioned by their low salaries and racial discrimination vis-a-vis British officers in matters of promotion and privileges. [4] The indifference of the British towards Indian rulers like the Mughals and ex-Peshwas and the annexation of Oudh were political factors triggering dissent amongst Indians.
Dalhousie’s policy of annexation, the doctrine of lapse or escheat, and the projected removal of the descendants of the Great Mughal from their ancestral palace to the Qutb, near Delhi also angered some people. The final spark was provided by the rumoured use of cow and pig fat in the newly-introduced Pattern 1853 Enfield rifle cartridges. Soldiers had to bite the cartridges with their teeth before loading them into their rifles, and the reported presence of cow and pig fat was offensive to Hindu and Muslim soldiers. 5] On 10 May, the sepoys at Meerut broke rank and turned on their commanding officers, killing them. They then reached Delhi on May 11, set the Company’s toll house afire, and marched into the Red Fort, the residence of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II. They asked the emperor to become their leader and reclaim his throne. He was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed and was proclaimed Shehenshah-e-Hindustan by the rebels. [6] Revolts broke out in places like Meerut, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow etc.
The British were slow to respond, but eventually responded with brute force. British moved regiments from the Crimean War and diverted European regiments headed for China to India. The British fought the main army of the rebels near Delhi in Badl-ke-Serai and drove them back to Delhi before laying siege on the city. The siege of Delhi lasted roughly from 1 July to 31 August. After a week of street fighting, the British retook the city. The last significant battle was fought in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.
It was during this battle that Rani Lakshmi Bai was killed. Sporadic fighting continued until 1859 but most of the rebels were subdued. Some notable leaders were Maulavi Ahmedullah Shah, an advisor of the ex-King of Oudh; Nana Sahib; his nephew Rao Sahib and his retainers, Tantia Tope and Azimullah Khan; the Rani of Jhansi; Kunwar Singh; the Rajput chief of Jagadishpur in Bihar; Firuz Saha, a relative of the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah and Pran Sukh Yadav who along with Rao Tula Ram of Rewari fought with the British at Nasibpur, Haryana. edit] Rise of organized movements, 1857-1885 Main articles: Nationalist Movements in India, Indian National Congress, Congress Socialist Party, and All India Kisan Sabha See also: Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Subramanya Bharathy, and Syed Ahmed Khan The war of 1857 was a major turning point in the history of modern India. The British abolished the British East India Company and replaced it with direct rule under the British crown. A Viceroy was appointed to represent the Crown.
In proclaiming the new direct-rule policy to “the Princes, Chiefs, and Peoples of India,” Queen Victoria promised equal treatment under British law, but Indian mistrust of British rule had become a legacy of the 1857 rebellion. The British embarked on a program in India of reform and political restructuring, trying to integrate Indian higher castes and rulers into the government. They stopped land grabs, decreed religious tolerance and admitted Indians into the civil service, albeit mainly as subordinates.
They also increased the number of British soldiers in relation to native ones and allowed only British soldiers to handle artillery. Bahadur Shah was exiled to Rangoon, Burma where he died in 1862, finally bringing the Mughal dynasty to an end. In 1877, Queen Victoria took the title of Empress of India. ‘ The decades following the Sepoy Rebellion were a period of growing political awareness, manifestation of Indian public opinion and emergence of Indian leadership at national and provincial levels.
Dadabhai Naoroji formed East India Association in 1867, and Surendranath Banerjee founded Indian National Association in 1876. Inspired by a suggestion made by A. O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, seventy-three Indian delegates met in Mumbai in 1885 and founded the Indian National Congress. They were mostly members of the upwardly mobile and successful western-educated provincial elites, engaged in professions such as law, teaching, and journalism. At its inception, the Congress had no well-defined ideology and commanded few of the resources essential to a political organization.
It functioned more as a debating society that met annually to express its loyalty to the British Raj and passed numerous resolutions on less controversial issues such as civil rights or opportunities in government, especially the civil service. These resolutions were submitted to the Viceroy’s government and occasionally to the British Parliament, but the Congress’s early gains were meagre. Despite its claim to represent all India, the Congress voiced the interests of urban elites; the number of participants from other economic backgrounds remained negligible.
The influences of socio-religious groups such as Arya Samaj (started by Swami Dayanand Saraswati) and Brahmo Samaj (founded, amongst others, by Raja Ram Mohan Roy) became evident in pioneering reform of Indian society. The inculcation of religious reform and social pride was fundamental to the rise of a public movement for complete nationhood. The work of men like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Sri Aurobindo, Subramanya Bharathy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Rabindranath Tagore and Dadabhai Naoroji spread the passion for rejuvenation and freedom.
By 1900, although the Congress had emerged as an all-India political organization, its achievement was undermined by its singular failure to attract Muslims, who felt that their representation in government service was inadequate. Attacks by Hindu reformers against religious conversion, cow slaughter, and the preservation of Urdu in Arabic script deepened their concerns of minority status and denial of rights if the Congress alone were to represent the people of India.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan launched a movement for Muslim regeneration that culminated in the founding in 1875 of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh (renamed Aligarh Muslim University in 1920 not in 1921). Its objective was to educate wealthy students by emphasizing the compatibility of Islam with modern western knowledge. The diversity among India’s Muslims, however, made it impossible to bring about uniform cultural and intellectual regeneration. [edit] Rise of Indian nationalism Main article: Nationalist Movements in India
The first spurts of nationalistic sentiment that rose amongst Congress members were when the desire to be represented in the bodies of government, to have a say, a vote in the lawmaking and issues of administration of India. Congressmen saw themselves as loyalists, but wanted an active role in governing their own country, albeit as part of the Empire. This trend was personified by Dadabhai Naoroji, who went as far as contesting, successfully, an election to the British House of Commons, becoming its first Indian member. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first Indian nationalist to mbrace Swaraj as the destiny of the nation[citation needed]. Tilak deeply opposed the British education system that ignored and defamed India’s culture, history and values. He resented the denial of freedom of expression for nationalists, and the lack of any voice or role for ordinary Indians in the affairs of their nation. For these reasons, he considered Swaraj as the natural and only solution. His popular sentence “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it” became the source of inspiration for Indians. In 1907, the Congress was split into two.
Tilak advocated what was deemed as extremism. He wanted a direct assault by the people upon the British Raj, and the abandonment of all things British. He was backed by rising public leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, who held the same point of view. Under them, India’s three great states – Maharashtra, Bengal and Punjab shaped the demand of the people and India’s nationalism. Gokhale criticized Tilak for encouraging acts of violence and disorder. But the Congress of 1906 did not have public membership, and thus Tilak and his supporters were forced to leave the party.
But with Tilak’s arrest, all hopes for an Indian offensive were stalled. The Congress lost credit with the people, A Muslim deputation met with the Viceroy, Minto (1905–10), seeking concessions from the impending constitutional reforms, including special considerations in government service and electorates. The British recognised some of Muslim League’s petitions by increasing the number of elective offices reserved for Muslims in the Government of India Act 1909. The Muslim League insisted on its separateness from the Hindu-dominated Congress, as the voice of a “nation within a nation. ” World War I
See also: Hindu-German Conspiracy and Defence of India Act 1915 World War I began with an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards the United Kingdom from within the mainstream political leadership, contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt. India contributed massively to the British war effort by providing men and resources. About 1. 3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. However, Bengal and Punjab remained hotbeds of anti colonial activities.
Nationalism in Bengal, increasingly closely linked with the unrests in Punjab, was significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional administration. [7][8] Also from the beginning of the war, expatriate Indian population, notably from United States, Canada, and Germany, headed by the Berlin Committee and the Ghadar Party, attempted to trigger insurrections in India on the lines of the 1857 uprising with Irish Republican, German and Turkish help in a massive conspiracy that has since come to be called the Hindu-German Conspiracy[9][10][11] This conspiracy also attempted to rally Afghanistan against British India. 12] A number of failed attempts were made at mutiny, of which the February mutiny plan and the Singapore mutiny remains most notable. This movement was suppressed by means of a massive international counter-intelligence operation and draconian political acts (including the Defence of India act 1915) that lasted nearly ten years. [13][14] In the aftermath of the World War I, high casualty rates, soaring inflation compounded by heavy taxation, a widespread influenza epidemic, and the disruption of trade during the war escalated human suffering in India.
The Indian soldiers smuggled arms into India to overthrow the British rule. The pre-war nationalist movement revived as moderate and extremist groups within the Congress submerged their differences in order to stand as a unified front. In 1916, the Congress succeeded in forging the Lucknow Pact, a temporary alliance with the Muslim League over the issues of devolution of political power and the future of Islam in the region.
The British themselves adopted a “carrot and stick” approach in recognition of India’s support during the war and in response to renewed nationalist demands. In August 1917, Edwin Montagu, the secretary of state for India, made the historic announcement in Parliament that the British policy for India was “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. The means of achieving the proposed measure were later enshrined in the Government of India Act 1919, which introduced the principle of a dual mode of administration, or diarchy, in which both elected Indian legislators and appointed British officials shared power. The act also expanded the central and provincial legislatures and widened the franchise considerably.
Diarchy set in motion certain real changes at the provincial level: a number of non-controversial or “transferred” portfolios, such as agriculture, local government, health, education, and public works, were handed over to Indians, while more sensitive matters such as finance, taxation, and maintaining law and order were retained by the provincial British administrators. [edit] Gandhi arrives in India
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi), had been a prominent leader of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, and had been a vocal opponent of basic discrimination and abusive labour treatment as well as suppressive police control such as the Rowlatt Acts. During these protests, Gandhi had perfected the concept of satyagraha, which had been inspired by the philosophy of Baba Ram Singh (famous for leading the Kuka Movement in the Punjab in 1872).
The end of the protests in South Africa saw oppressive legislation repealed and the release of political prisoners by General Jan Smuts, head of the South African Government of the time. Gandhi, a stranger to India and its politics after twenty years, had initially entered the fray not with calls for a nation-state, but in support of the unified commerce-oriented territory that the Congress Party had been asking for. Gandhi believed that the industrial development and educational development that the Europeans had brought with them were required to alleviate many of India’s problems.
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a veteran Congressman and Indian leader, became Gandhi’s mentor. Gandhi’s ideas and strategies of non-violent civil disobedience initially appeared impractical to some Indians and Congressmen. In Gandhi’s own words, “civil disobedience is civil breach of unmoral statutory enactments. ” It had to be carried out non-violently by withdrawing cooperation with the corrupt state. Gandhi’s ability to inspire millions of common people became clear when he used satyagraha during the anti-Rowlatt Act protests in Punjab.
Gandhi’s vision would soon bring millions of regular Indians into the movement, transforming it from an elitist struggle to a national one. The nationalist cause was expanded to include the interests and industries that formed the economy of common Indians. For example, in Champaran, Bihar, the Congress Party championed the plight of desperately poor sharecroppers and landless farmers who were being forced to pay oppressive taxes and grow cash crops at the expense of the subsistence crops which formed their food supply.
The profits from the crops they grew were insufficient to provide for their sustenance. Main article: Jallianwala Bagh massacre The positive impact of reform was seriously undermined in 1919 by the Rowlatt Act, named after the recommendations made the previous year to the Imperial Legislative Council by the Rowlatt Commission, which had been appointed to investigate what was termed the “seditious conspiracy” and the German and Bolshevik involvement in the millitant movements in India. 15][16][17] The Rowlatt Act, also known as the Black Act, vested the Viceroy’s government with extraordinary powers to quell sedition by silencing the press, detaining the political activists without trial, and arresting any individuals suspected of sedition or treason without a warrant. In protest, a nationwide cessation of work (hartal) was called, marking the beginning of widespread, although not nationwide, popular discontent. The agitation unleashed by the acts culminated on 13 April 1919, in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (also known as the Amritsar Massacre) in Amritsar, Punjab.
The British military commander, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, blocked the main entrance, and ordered his soldiers to fire into an unarmed and unsuspecting crowd of some 5,000 men, women and children. They had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, a walled in courtyard in defiance of the ban. A total of 1,651 rounds were fired, killing 379 people (as according to an official British commission; Indian estimates ranged as high as 1,499[18]) and wounding 1,137 in the episode, which dispelled wartime hopes of home rule and goodwill in a frenzy of post-war reaction. edit] The Non-cooperation movements Main articles: Mohandas Gandhi and Non-cooperation movement It can be argued that the independence movement, even towards the end of First World War, was far removed from the masses of India, focusing essentially on a unified commerce-oriented territory and hardly a call for a united nation. That came in the 1930s with the entry of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi into Indian Politics in 1915. [edit] The first Non cooperation movement The first satyagraha movement urged the use of Khadi and Indian material as alternatives to those shipped from Britain.
It also urged people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts; resign from government employment; refuse to pay taxes; and forsake British titles and honours. Although this came too late to influence the framing of the new Government of India Act of 1919, the movement enjoyed widespread popular support, and the resulting unparalleled magnitude of disorder presented a serious challenge to foreign rule. However, Gandhi called off the movement following the Chauri Chaura incident, which saw the death of twenty-two policemen at the hands of an angry mob.
In 1920, the Congress was reorganized and given a new constitution, whose goal was Swaraj (independence)[citation needed]. Membership in the party was opened to anyone prepared to pay a token fee, and a hierarchy of committees was established and made responsible for discipline and control over a hitherto amorphous and diffuse movement. The party was transformed from an elite organization to one of mass national appeal and participation. Gandhi was sentenced in 1922 to six years of prison, but was released after serving two.
On his release from prison, he set up the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on the banks of river Sabarmati, established the newspaper Young India, and inaugurated a series of reforms aimed at the socially disadvantaged within Hindu society — the rural poor, and the untouchables. This era saw the emergence of new generation of Indians from within the Congress Party, including C. Rajagopalachari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and others- who would later on come to form the prominent voices of the Indian independence movement, whether keeping with Gandhian Values, or diverging from it.
The Indian political spectrum was further broadened in the mid-1920s by the emergence of both moderate and militant parties, such as the Swaraj Party, Hindu Mahasabha, Communist Party of India and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Regional political organizations also continued to represent the interests of non-Brahmins in Madras, Mahars in Maharashtra, and Sikhs in Punjab. However, people like Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, Vanchinathan and Neelakanda Brahmachari played a major role from Tamil Nadu in both freedom struggle and fighting for equality for all castes and communities. edit] Purna Swaraj Following the rejection of the recommendations of the Simon Commission by Indians, an all-party conference was held at Bombay in May 1928. This was meant to instill a sense of resistance among people. The conference appointed a drafting committee under Motilal Nehru to draw up a constitution for India. The Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress asked the British government to accord dominion status to India by December 1929, or a countrywide civil disobedience movement would be launched.
By 1929, however, in the midst of rising political discontent and increasingly violent regional movements, the call for complete independence from Britain began to find increasing grounds within the Congress leadership. Under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru at its historic Lahore session in December 1929, The Indian National Congress adopted a resolution calling for complete independence from the British. It authorised the Working Committee to launch a civil disobedience movement throughout the country.
It was decided that 26 January 1930 should be observed all over India as the Purna Swaraj (total independence) Day. Many Indian political parties and Indian revolutionaries of a wide spectrum united to observe the day with honour and pride. [edit] Salt March and Civil Disobedience Main article: Salt Satyagraha Gandhi emerged from his long seclusion by undertaking his most famous campaign, a march of about 400 kilometres from his commune in Ahmedabad to Dandi, on the coast of Gujarat between 12 March and 6 April 1930.
The march is usually known as the Dandi March or the Salt Satyagraha. At Dandi, in protest against British taxes on salt, he and thousands of followers broke the law by making their own salt from seawater. In April 1930 there were violent police-crowd clashes in Calcutta. Approximately 100,000 people were imprisoned in the course of the Civil disobedience movement (1930–31), while in Peshawar unarmed demonstrators were fired upon in the Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre.
The latter event catapulted the then newly formed Khudai Khidmatgar movement (founder Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the Frontier Gandhi) onto the National scene. While Gandhi was in jail, the first Round Table Conference was held in London in November 1930, without representation from the Indian National Congress. The ban upon the Congress was removed because of economic hardships caused by the satyagraha. Gandhi, along with other members of the Congress Working Committee, was released from prison in January 1931.
In March 1931, the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed, and the government agreed to set all political prisoners free (Although, some of the key revolutionaries were not set free and the death sentence for Bhagat Singh and his two comrades was not taken back which further intensified the agitation against Congress not only outside it but with in the Congress itself). In return, Gandhi agreed to discontinue the civil disobedience movement and participate as the sole representative of the Congress in the second Round Table Conference, which was held in London in September 1931.
However, the conference ended in failure in December 1931. Gandhi returned to India and decided to resume the civil disobedience movement in January 1932. For the next few years, the Congress and the government were locked in conflict and negotiations until what became the Government of India Act of 1935 could be hammered out. By then, the rift between the Congress and the Muslim League had become unbridgeable as each pointed the finger at the other acrimoniously.
The Muslim League disputed the claim of the Congress to represent all people of India, while the Congress disputed the Muslim League’s claim to voice the aspirations of all Muslims. [edit] Elections and the Lahore resolution Main article: Lahore Resolution [pic] [pic] Jinnah with Gandhi, 1944. The Government of India Act 1935, the voluminous and final constitutional effort at governing British India, articulated three major goals: establishing a loose federal structure, achieving provincial autonomy, and safeguarding minority interests through separate electorates. The federal rovisions, intended to unite princely states and British India at the centre, were not implemented because of ambiguities in safeguarding the existing privileges of princes. In February 1937, however, provincial autonomy became a reality when elections were held; the Congress emerged as the dominant party with a clear majority in five provinces and held an upper hand in two, while the Muslim League performed poorly. In 1939, the Viceroy Linlithgow declared India’s entrance into World War II without consulting provincial governments. In protest, the Congress asked all of its elected representatives to resign from the government.
Jinnah, the president of the Muslim League, persuaded participants at the annual Muslim League session at Lahore in 1940 to adopt what later came to be known as the Lahore Resolution, demanding the division of India into two separate sovereign states, one Muslim, the other Hindu; sometimes referred to as Two Nation Theory. Although the idea of Pakistan had been introduced as early as 1930, very few had responded to it. However, the volatile political climate and hostilities between the Hindus and Muslims transformed the idea of Pakistan into a stronger demand. edit] Revolutionary activities [pic] [pic] Bhagat Singh [pic] [pic] Bagha Jatin Main article: Revolutionary movement for Indian independence Apart from a few stray incidents, the armed rebellion against the British rulers was not organized before the beginning of the 20th century. The Indian revolutionary underground began gathering momentum through the first decade of 1900s, with groups arising in Maharastra, Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and the then Madras Presidency including what is now called South India. More groups were scattered around India.
Particularly notable movements arose in Bengal, especially around the Partition of Bengal in 1905, and in Punjab. [19] In the former case, it was the educated, intelligent and dedicated youth of the urban Middle Class Bhadralok community that came to form the “Classic” Indian revolutionary,[19] while the latter had an immense support base in the rural and Military society of the Punjab. Organisations like Jugantar and Anushilan Samiti had emerged in the 1900s. The revolutionary philosophies and movement made their presence felt during the 1905 Partition of Bengal.
Arguably, the initial steps to organize the revolutionaries were taken by Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barin Ghosh, Bhupendranath Datta etc. when they formed the Jugantar party in April 1906. [20] Jugantar was created as an inner circle of the Anushilan Samiti which was already present in Bengal mainly as a revolutionary society in the guise of a fitness club. The Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar opened several branches throughout Bengal and other parts of India and recruited young men and women to participate in the revolutionary activities.
Several murders and looting were done, with many revolutionaries being captured and imprisoned. The Jugantar party leaders like Barin Ghosh and Bagha Jatin initiated making of explosives. Amongst a number of notable events of political terrorism were the Alipore bomb case, the Muzaffarpur killing tried several activists and many were sentenced to deportation for life, while Khudiram Bose was hanged. The founding of the India House and the The Indian Sociologist under Shyamji Krishna Varma in London in 1905 took the radical movement to Britain itself.
On 1 July 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra, an Indian student closely identified with India House in London shot dead William Hutt Curzon Wylie, a British M. P.
