The years 1911 to 1914 saw the alienation of the Indian Muslim community from the British government due to the Balkan Wars against Turkey. So far as the Congress was concerned, it was following the usual constitutional policy. Though it did not feel satisfied with the Morley-Minto Reforms, it started working on those reforms under the guidance of Ferozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Surendra Nath Banerjee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.
The extremist movement got a setback because of the repressive steps of the government. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested and deported. Aurobindo Ghosh left politics and turned to spiritualism.
Lord Hardinge followed a moderate policy as compared to that of Lord Minto. He adopted an attitude of conciliation and expressed his sympathy for India’s political demands. The Partition of Bengal had been annulled. New provinces of Bengal and Bihar were created. The Bengali nationality was reunited. It brought down the heat that the Bengal Partition had generated in the political life of India.
World War I started in 1914. India participated with full force. It made valuable contribution in terms of men, money and material. The Indian soldier proved his worth in different theatres of war. Indians expected, in return, the fulfilment of their political aspirations. The demand for the application of the principle of “self-determination”, as enunciated by President Thomas Wilson of the USA, became widespread. The Congress was too mild an organisation to provide sufficient outlet for political agitation. It was simply passing resolutions of loyalty at its every annual session. In 1915, it was presided over by Sir S. P. Sinha, who had just retired from the Executive Council of the Governor-General. The session had been graced by the Governor of Madras Presidency. Sir S. P. Sinha said : “My first duty is again to lay at the feet of our august and beloved sovereign, our unswerving loyalty, our unshaken allegiance and our enthusiastic homage.”
Dr. Annie Besant was one of the fire-brands of this period. She was known all over the world as one of the leaders of the Theosophical Movement. She adopted India as her country and worked for its social, educational and religious regeneration. She was active in the reunion of the Extremists and the Moderates in the Congress, but due to the rigid attitude of the Moderates, she could not succeed. All the same, she was disillusioned by the beseeching policy of the then leadership of the country. Like a true patriot, she wanted to do something tangible for the political liberation of India. It was under such circumstances that she organised the ‘Home Rule Movement’.
Home Rule Movement
Dr. Annie Besant was inspired by the Irish Home Rule Movement. At the Congress session of 1915 in Bombay, she proposed that a Home Rule Movement should be started in India. Bal Gangadhar Tilak wholeheartedly supported the move since both of them felt that the Congress organisation then was lifeless and that it should be replaced by a more vigorous and dynamic association to win over mass sympathy. The Congress did not approve their plan of action.
Towards the end of 1915, Dr. Annie Besant founded her Home Rule League in Madras, which soon became popular in Madras Presidency. Lokmanya Tilak started his Home Rule League at Poona the same year and it became equally popular in the Bombay Presidency.
Dr. Annie Besant said that she was an Indian tom-tom waking up all the sleepers so that they might work for their motherland. She said: “India claims the right, as a nation, to justice among the people of the Empire. India asked this before the War not as a reward but as a right. On that, there must be no mistake.” It was an impassioned appeal for India’s freedom. She defined the political aim as “complete self-government from village councils, through District and Municipal Boards and Provincial Legislative Assemblies to a National Parliament, equal in its powers to the legislative bodies of the self-governing colonies”. She wanted India and Britain to come near each other. She advised Britain that it was “wisdom and prudence to keep India contented by granting Home Rule to her”.
The Home Rule Movement spread all over India, particularly among the educated middle classes. Home Rule Leagues were established everywhere in the country. The movement reached its peak in 1917. The government was alarmed. Tilak and Besant were subjected to many restrictions by the government. Tilak was asked to furnish security. New India had to deposit a security of Rs. 2,000 in 1916. It was confiscated and a fresh security of Rs. 10,000 had to be deposited. In 1917, the government prohibited students from attending the Home Rule meetings. Tilak’s entry into Punjab and Delhi was banned. Besant, Arundale and Wadia were interned. Jawaharlal Nehru, while commenting on these arrests, said that “the atmosphere became electric and most of the young men felt exhilarated and expected big things in the future”. This made the Home Rule Movement more popular. All the provincial committees of the Congress elected Besant as the next President of the 1917 session. The movement could not go beyond because soon Mahatma Gandhi took the reins of the Congress in his own hands and after 1919 started the Gandhian Era in Indian politics.
Rift in the Congress
The Congress politics began to be influenced by the defenders of militant nationalism and extremism in the beginning of the 20th century. There developed two sections within the Congress : one consisting of Moderates led by Ferozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Surendra Nath Banerjee and the other consisting of Extremists led by Lokmanya Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai. The conflict between the two groups came to the surface in the Congress session held in 1906. But the rift was averted by inviting Dadabhai Naoroji to preside over this annual session. A resolution regarding Swaraj was passed but the Moderates did not work wholeheartedly for the attainment of Swaraj. The Extremists were becoming impatient and restive. They wanted to start a vigorous movement through Swadeshi, boycott and national education for the attainment of Swaraj. Things came to a head in 1907. The quarrel started on the election of the President. The Tilak group wanted to capture the Congress. Lajpat Rai refused to accept Presidentship of the party. The candidate of Moderates, Rash Behari Ghosh was elected President. Chaos followed and the session had to be closed. It resulted in the split of the Congress. The Moderates met separately and adopted the constitution of the Congress and closed the doors of the party to those who did not believe in constitutional methods. The Extremists formed a separate party. The Congress remained in the hands of the Moderates.
Congress : Faithful Ally of the
British Empire
The Congress remained stuck to constitutional methods. It kept its faith in the goodwill of the English nation and demanded recognition of its services by the government. The Congress annual sessions in the last week of December every year were graced by Governors and Lieutenant-Governors. Its leaders were in direct contact with the Viceroy. In the words of Lajpat Rai, “The Congress failed to communicate high principles and lay down high ideals and it failed to create that spirit of self-sacrifice, that willingness to suffer, without which no national movement can grow, prosper and inspire.”
The leaders of the Congress were elected to Legislative Councils under the Minto-Morley Reforms and were offering cooperation in the working of this new scheme of government. All the same, they served the cause of Indian nationalism by offering constructive criticism of the British policies in the Councils and making valuable suggestions and proposals for reforms. Surely, no government could remain unaffected and uninfluenced by the views of Gokhale and Malaviya or Mehta and Sapru. In fact, the Minto-Morley Reforms were introduced to conciliate the Congress and the Congress, by working on them, found that these were not adequate. The Congress began to think in terms of ‘Self-Government’, but according to Gokhale, the step towards the attainment of this goal was a long and weary step.
Reunion of the Congress
The Congress cooperated whole-heartedly with the British Government during World War I. But the year 1915 is really a landmark in the history of India, according to Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Dr. Annie Besant joined the Congress in 1914. She brought new ideals, new talents, new resources and an altogether new method of organisation and a new outlook. Mehta and Gokhale died in 1915. Wadia was failing in health. Surendra Nath Banerjee was not quite in tune with the new thought and aspiration. The Congress had no ‘commander’. Lajpat Rai was disgusted and had gone overseas. Tilak was released in 1914, but had not yet entered the Congress. In the absence of any top leader of repute, Sir S. P. Sinha presided over the 1915 session of the Congress held in Bombay. He had just retired from his membership of the Executive Council of the Governor-General. As Pattabhi Sitaramayya remarked, “Leadership was almost passing from the nation to the bureaucracy. Sir Sinha was a loyalist and out of tune with the political development of the country. He pleaded for loyalty to the British Government.”