Moderate Phase, Extremist Phase & Swadeshi Movement

1. Moderate Phase (1885–1905): Methods, Demands, and Achievements

1. Prayer — petitions to the British government and Parliament.
2. Petition — constitutional memoranda, representations.
3. Protest — through newspapers and public speeches; no boycott or mass agitation.

• Expansion and reform of Legislative Councils — more elected Indian members.
• Separation of judicial and executive functions — to prevent abuse of power.
• Indianization of higher Civil and Military Services — allow Indians to compete equally (ICS exams held simultaneously in India and England, or raise the age limit).
• Reduction of military expenditure (which drained Indian revenues).
• Free and compulsory primary education.
• Reduction of Home Charges (drain of wealth).
• Repeal of the Arms Act (1878) — which disarmed Indians.
• Freedom of press — repeal of the Vernacular Press Act (1878).

• Indian Councils Act (1892): Slightly enlarged the legislative councils; introduced indirect elections for some non-official seats — a small step toward representative government.
• Indian Councils Act, 1861 had already expanded councils but with nominated (not elected) members.
• Created a national political consciousness and trained the country in political thinking.
• Developed the concept of economic nationalism — Drain theory, critique of British economic policy.
• Secured some relief — abolition of salt tax in certain areas, some tariff adjustments.

• Their methods were largely ineffective — petitions were ignored.
• They had faith in British "sense of justice" — which was misplaced.
• Congress was seen as an elite talking shop — not representative of the masses.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak (one of the leaders who would later become an Extremist) famously said: "Mendicancy is no politics at all." He and others grew frustrated with the Moderate approach.

2. Partition of Bengal (1905) and Swadeshi Movement

• West Bengal (Hindu majority) + Bihar and Orissa → smaller Bengal province.
• East Bengal and Assam (Muslim majority, capital Dacca) → new province.

• Weaken the Bengali nationalist movement — Bengal was the hotbed of Indian nationalism.
• Create a wedge between Hindus and Muslims.
• Counter the influence of educated Bengalis who led anti-British agitation.

• August 7, 1905: INC session at Calcutta adopted a Boycott Resolution — beginning of the Swadeshi Movement.
• October 16, 1905 (Partition Day): Rabindranath Tagore led a protest — people tied rakhi on each other across religious lines; observed as day of mourning.

1. Boycott of British goods: Manchester cloth burned; Agarbattis and Indian lamps used instead of British items. Leaders: Lal-Bal-Pal + Aurobindo Ghosh.
2. Promotion of indigenous industry: National stores (Swadeshi Bhandar) opened; spinning and weaving revived; new Swadeshi factories.
3. National Education Movement: Bengal National College (Calcutta, 1906) — Aurobindo Ghosh became principal. Satish Chandra Mukherjee's Dawn Society.
4. Cultural awakening: Tagore composed Amar Sonar Bangla; Swadeshi songs, plays, art exhibitions. Tilak's Ganapati (1893) and Shivaji (1896) festivals now became platforms for nationalist fervor.
5. Secret revolutionary activities: Alipore Bomb Case (1908), Nasik Conspiracy.

• At the Delhi Durbar to celebrate King George V's coronation, the Partition was annulled.
• Bengal reunited; Assam separated; Bihar and Orissa made a separate province; capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi (proclaimed December 12, 1911).
• Nationalists celebrated the annulment as a victory of mass agitation.
• Hindu reactionaries and Muslim leaders were unhappy for different reasons.

3. Extremist Phase and Surat Split (1907)

• Passive resistance + mass agitation — go beyond petitions.
• Swaraj (self-rule) — their goal, unlike Moderates who wanted only reform within the British system.
• Swadeshi and boycott as weapons.
• Invocation of Hindu tradition and nationalism — Kali, Durga, Shivaji — to mobilize masses. (This is why they are also called the "Hindu nationalists" — though this had mixed consequences for Hindu-Muslim unity.)
• Tilak's famous line: "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it!"

• Deccan Education Society (1884) and Kesari (Marathi) and Mahratta (English) — powerful nationalist newspapers.
• Ganapati Festival (1893) and Shivaji Festival (1896): Used to mobilize masses under cultural/religious umbrella.
• Aravind Ghosh's Yugantar and Kal (Kaal): Revolutionary journals.

• At the Surat session of INC (1907), the Moderates (supporting Rash Behari Ghosh for President) and Extremists (supporting Lala Lajpat Rai) clashed physically.
• The session ended in chaos — shoes thrown, chairs broken.
• INC split into: (a) Moderate INC, and (b) Extremist INC.
• British used this split: Tilak was arrested and imprisoned in Mandalay (Burma) for 6 years (1908).
• After Tilak's return from Mandalay, both groups reunited at the Lucknow Session (1916) — also famous for the Lucknow Pact (1916) between INC and Muslim League (Congress agreed to separate electorates for Muslims).

• Named after Secretary of State John Morley and Viceroy Lord Minto.
• Enlarged legislative councils at the Centre and provinces.
• Introduced separate electorates for Muslims — a major constitutional landmark; Muslims could only vote for Muslim candidates in Muslim seats. Seen as the beginning of communal politics.
• Introduced the principle of election — though limited.
• Tilak denounced the separate electorates; Congress accepted it grudgingly. Muslim League (founded 1906, Dhaka) celebrated.
• First Indian member of the Viceroy's Executive Council: Satyendra Prasad Sinha (1909).

4. Home Rule Movement (1916) and World War I Context

• Initially, INC leaders supported Britain in the war, expecting rewards (constitutional advance) after its conclusion.
• The war created opportunities for nationalist leaders to bargain for political reforms.

• Two separate leagues formed in 1916:
  1. Tilak's Home Rule League (April 1916) — based at Poona, active in Maharashtra, Central Provinces, and Karnataka.
  2. Annie Besant's Home Rule League (September 1916) — based at Adyar (Madras), active in the rest of India.
• Goal: Home Rule (self-government) within the British Empire — similar to what Ireland was demanding.
• Methods: Mass lectures, pamphlets, newspaper campaigns — not boycott. More organized and geographically broader than previous movements.
• Impact: Created a mass political organization for the first time; first movement to go beyond the educated elite to include large sections of the urban middle class.
• Annie Besant was interned by the British (June 1917) — this created enormous sympathy for her; she was released September 1917 and became INC President (the first woman president, Calcutta Session 1917).

• Historical agreement between INC and Muslim League at the Lucknow Session.
• INC leaders included: Tilak and the Moderate-Extremist reunited Congress.
• Muslim League leaders included: Muhammad Ali Jinnah (then a strong nationalist).
• Terms: INC accepted separate electorates for Muslims; Congress-League joint demand for greater self-government.
• Significance: Rare moment of Hindu-Muslim political unity; both organizations presented a joint demand to the British. Tilak and Jinnah praised each other — Sarojini Naidu called the pact the "Lucknow marriage." However, the acceptance of separate electorates deepened communal division long-term.

• Secretary of State Edwin Montague announced: British Government's policy was the "increasing association of Indians in every branch of administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions" — first formal British acknowledgment that self-government was the goal.
• This declaration led to the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (1918) and the Government of India Act, 1919 (Dyarchy) — important constitutional development.