emergence of nationalism in india

7/28/2019 Emergence of Nationalism in India

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EMERGENCE OF NATIONALISM IN INDIAQues: What were the factors that lead to the emergence of the Indian National Congress in 1885?The Indian National Congress, which was to become the leading body guiding the Indian National Movement towards independence and produced some of the importantleaders of the movement like Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel was founded in 1885.Although one of the leading political parties in the Indian political system atthis point of time the INC was started as an idea to provide a space for regular meetings and hadnt been visualised as a political party. It aimed at providinga common platform for common grievances that had arisen as a result of the deficiencies in British rule. However, it was the first organised expression of Indian Nationalism on an all-India scale.The initial years of the INC came to be known as the moderate phase. According toSR Mehrotra, the INC wished to retain the British Yolk. The moderates were guidedby the belief that British rule wasnt essentially bad but certain deficiencies intheir rule had to lead to certain common problems. Thus, they were only advocating a change within the existing framework of colonial rule and not the overthrow of the British Empire. They believed that the British were genuinely interested in working towards the upliftment of the Indian people but the absence of a common platform prevented the Indians from being able to express themselves effectively. Thus, the INC was meant to overcome this obstacle and act as a link between the people and the government and at the same time through the medium of newspapers, journals, pamphlets, petitions etc bring about these reforms and raisepublic opinion and awareness about the plight of the Indians.

The initial moderate years of the INC has given rise to criticisms against theparty for being pro-British Rule and thus for being an implant of the British themselves. It is this that has given currency to the safety-valve theory myth, whichat one point of time was the most important factor forwarded for the creation ofthe INC.The myth states that the INC was created because of the initiative taken by A.O.Hume, a retired English ICS officer under the official direction and guidance ofLord Dufferin, the viceroy of that time. After retiring from the civil servicesand towards the end of Lord Lytton's rule, Hume sensed that the people of Indiahad got a sense of hopelessness and wanted to do something, "a sudden violent outbreak of sporadic crime, murders of obnoxious persons, robbery of bankers andlooting of bazaars, acts really of lawlessness which by a due coalescence of forces might any day develop into a National Revolt." The memory of the revolt of 1

857 still afresh the British government didnt want to deal with another major rebellion of this kind. Therefore, they believed that the rising discontent among the masses that was inevitably leading towards a popular and violent revolution could be best dealt with by providing a safe, mild, constitutional outlet or safety valve for the masses. It was based on the assumption that such an organisation would serve to provide a mechanism to channelize the thoughts, demands and anger of the Indians in a peaceful and well-organised manner, without endangering the British rule or interests in India. The INC was meant to play the role of anintermediary and act like a line of communication between the rulers and the ruled thereby helping to prevent a mass revolution. Thus, it was the fear of another popular revolt and the need to safeguard the British rule that encouraged themto undertake this initiative.This theory seemed to have been accepted for a long time by various schools of t

hought and used by them to highlight the INC in a negative light. For instance,as early as 1916 the extremist leader Lajpat Rai criticised the INC for being abrainchild of the British and for giving his prominence to British interests than to that of India. He argues that the Congress was created to preserve Britishrule in India than to win political liberty for the country and thus condemned it. R.P.Dutts work India Today also used this theory to criticise the INC from theMarxist point of view. He believed that the INC acted as an obstacle in the national movement as it forestalled an impending revolution. He believed that this was due to the genesis of the organisation that had been an outcome of the directintervention of the British. Thus, the British intended to use this body as a w


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eapon against the rising tide of anti-imperial sentiments. Even though he admitsthat in its later years the INC shed its loyalist character and became a nation-wide party the original sin of its birth left a permanent dark mark on its character. Some of the extremist right wing leaders like M.S.Golwalkar- RSS chief- have also used the safety valve theory to denounce the secularism of the INC portraying it as an anti-nationalist party for cooperating with the old foes of Hindu nationalism i.e. Muslims.This theory had first originated from William Wedderburns biography of Hume published in 1913. Wedderburn claims that Hume had come across seven volumes of secret reports which showed that there had been growing discontent among the masses and a conspiracy to overthrow the British rule by force. It was this discovery that led Hume, an English patriot according to Lajpat Rai despite his love for liberty, to create this safety valve to safeguard British interests. Gradually, theseseven volumes assumed a new character. For instance, R.P. Dutt claimed that these were secret police reports and hence provided authentic information. This view has been accepted by numerous other historians like R.C. Majumdar and Tara Chand.However, by the 1950s serious questions began to be raised about this theory. Firstly, these seven secret volumes have not been discovered in any archives, either in India or Britain. Apart from Wedderburns biography no other source mentionsthe existence of these volumes and even in this work he states that Hume had procured these volumes from religious gurus and not official sources. Thus, theircredibility, even if they did exist is dubious. Moreover, the structure of the British administration in the 1870s also creates logical obstacles in the accepta

nce of the existence of these seven volumes. The intelligence department at thattime could not have employed more than a few hundred people at that time, whichwas not enough to produce such a large volume of secret reports as was claimedby some leaders like Lajpat Rai. Also, Hume at this point of time worked for theRevenue department and thus could not have had access to secret or home department files. Bipan Chandra also argues that these secret reports were read by Humein 1878 and if the possibility of a mass rebellion was so high than why did ittake the British seven long years to finally create the INC. Finally, Shekhar Bandyopadhyay argues that the opening up of Lord Dufferins private papers in the 1950s cleared up all the myth that existed around his alleged sponsorship of the INC. Dufferin had definitely met Hume in Simla in 1885 but refused to take his views or predictions seriously and had also warned the government to be cautious of the delegates that were meeting in Simla later that year. In fact, he was firm

ly opposed to the creation of the INC as he believed that it could lead to the creation of another Irish Home League movement, which would endanger the Britishrule more than helping it. He criticised the INC in its formative years by calling it a minority organisation and this in itself explodes the myth of the safety-valve theory.Most of the historians today reject the existence of the seven volumes as mentioned in Wedderburns work that forms the basis of the safety-valve theory. However, at the same time it would be wrong to overlook the contribution of A.O.Hume in the formation of the INC and he did indeed play an important role. He was a political liberal, who definitely had a clear idea about the growing discontent amongthe Indians. Thus, he visualised an all-India organisation, which would represent Indian interests and act like an opposition in the government. Moreover, Humewas also moved by more nobler issues than the desire to protect British rule in

India. He possessed a sincere love for India and its poor cultivators and therefore urged the INC to focus on issues of poverty alleviation. He wished that theINC would act as an "association for the mental, moral, social, and political regeneration of the Indian people". He also attempted to increase the Congress base by bringing in more farmers, townspeople and Muslims between 1886 and 1887 and this created a backlash from the British, leading to backtracking by the Congress. In 1892, he tried to get them to act by warning of a violent agrarian revolution but this only outraged the British establishment and frightened the Congress leaders. Disappointed by the continued lack of Indian leaders willing to work for the cause of national emancipation, Hume left for Britain in 1894. The rol


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e and impact that Hume had on the INC can be gauged by the fact that the 27th session of the Indian National Congress at Bankipur (26-28 December 1912) recordedtheir "profound sorrow at the death of Allan Octavian Hume, C.B., father and founder of the Congress, to whose lifelong services, rendered at rare self-sacrifice, India feels deep and lasting gratitude, and in whose death the cause of Indian progress and reform sustained irreparable loss." However, despite his effortsand role it would be wrong to credit the entire creation of the INC solely to him or the British. There were a number of other factors that helped in the formation of the INC.A number of theories have been propounded regarding the rise of nationalism in India. Benedict Anderson argued that nationalism in Asia and Africa (including India) developed on similar lines as it did in the west. Thus, this theory essentially ignores the possibility of the people of India or Asia having the intellectual capability of shaping their own history. This has recently been criticised by a number of scholars, prominent among them being Partha Chatterjee in his article Whose Imagined Community?. He believes that the concept of nationalism is highly subjective, case specific and needs based. Therefore, to impose a western model blindly on Indian nationalism would be ahistorical and incorrect. He believesthat the Indian society was imagining its nation and domain of sovereignty muchbefore the actual movement started. Thus, according to Chatterjee this nationalism was modern but not necessarily western. It was from this cultural construction of a space for autonomy in the early 19th century that the seeds for Indian nationalism had been sown.C.A.Bayly has traced the roots of Indian nationalism to its pre-colonial days. H

e believes it stemmed out from traditional patriotism, which essentially meant theattachment of the people to land, language and culture; a concept that developed much before the arrival of westernisation. However, he argues that in the 18thand early 19th century these feelings were extremely regional in character butthese regional barriers were breaking down as a result of growing commercialisation and improving means of communication. It was the growth of the oppressive rule of the British that provided the stimuli that brought this traditional patriotism together and resulted in a major upheaval against the British i.e. the revolt of 1857. After the revolt, a modern sector of politics emerged in India through the rapid spread of education, development of the communications system likethe railways and telegraph etc that reshaped and reworked the older system of patriotism resulting in the creation of a new colonial modernity.Keeping these theories in mind it is very important to trace these changes that

were taking place in India in the 18th and early 19th century that tried to fusetogether, according to Shekhar Bandyopadhyay the different local, regional andfragmentary identities into a modern nation.The British rule witnessed the administrative and economic unification of the country. This unification and the process of the emergence of an Indian nation in the 19th century helped in the growth of the nationalistic feelings among the people. As most of the principalities were under British administrative control, a uniform and modern system of governance prevailed all over the country thereby subjecting people to uniform and at times common laws, institutions and taxes. TheGovernment of India was one and indivisible and its actions infused in the peoplethat they too were one and indivisible.The introduction of modern trade and industries on an all-India scale that had led to the destruction of the rural and localised self-sufficient economy made In

dias economic life a single whole and interlinked the economic fate of people living in different parts of the country. For instance, if famine or scarcity occurred in one part of the country the availability of food or their prices were affected in a different part of the country as well.However, it was the telegraph and the railways that played one of the most significant roles in this unification process. The steady improvement of the postal system, with the introduction of a cheap and uniform rate of postage placed the privilege of communicating freely with all parts of India within the reach of thepoorest. It allowed public men, who were taking the lead in the protest and agitation movements to be in close touch with public men in other parts of the coun


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try. It annihilated distances, lessened isolation and helped in promoting the social and intellectual interaction between people, which went a long way in promoting the spirit of unity and oneness.The railways in India were also a creation of the British. It not only speeded up travel and communication between different parts of the country but it also led to the exchange of information and culture as it became a popular means of transport used by a variety of people. People from different castes, regions and religions travelled in the same compartment and were exposed to the different traditions and cultures that existed all over the country and this according to S.R.Mehrotra became the symbol of a new and united India in the making. Madhav Raostated in the 1880s that the railways along with the medium of English languagehad welded India into a nation that no other factor or medium had succeeded in doing. Travel through railways also served as a great education in patriotism asit heightened ones awareness of the geography, history and culture of ones own land. A number of prominent leaders like Surendranath Banerjee, Keshavchandra Sen etc travelled all over the country and it was this, which helped them to discovertheir own country and added a new sense of patriotism to their dimension. For instance, when Sen travelled to Bombay and Madras from Bengal he discovered thatthe people of these presidencies were not all that different from the people ofBengal and that they were facing similar grievances at the hands of a common enemy. It was the railways, which like the postal system, facilitated the quick transport of ideas from one region to another.A large number of nationalist newspapers made their appearance during the last half of the 19th century. The press provided a regular and potent means of consti

tutional agitation and became important means of propoganda. They fearlessly criticised official policies and gave expression to the wants and views of the people. Most of the messages also contained messages for Indians to unite and work for national welfare, while, at the same time they were promoting ideas of democracy, self-governance, freedom etc which were to become the leading ideals of theIndian national movement. The Indian newspapers developed an all-India outlook;not only did they circulate freely all over the nation but they were constantlyin touch with what was happening in different parts of India. The leading English newspapers like the Indian Mirror of Calcutta made it their deliberate policyto inculcate an all-India outlook in their readers and were available in largenumbers in almost every important town of India. The vernacular newspapers had afar more restrictive circulation as compared to the English newspapers but eventhen they did not confine themselves to parochial matters and had a much wider

circulation than what is generally imagined. Thus, the press was able to break down the internal barriers and encouraged inter-regional solidarity. It enabled people in one part of the country to become aware about the aspirations, ideas and grievances of people living in a different part of the country. Thus, in thisway the press helped in unity the country by creating a community of thought andfeeling. It also helped in the growth of the nationalist sentiments as newspapers were used increasingly by the early nationalist leaders to spread their wordand it was because of this medium that people like Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, Syed Ahmed Khan etc became well known national public figures.However, the most important factor that united the people was the existence of acommon enemy that oppressed all sections of society irrespective of their social class, caste, religion or region. Although, the British had been able to establish their control over India due to the differences that existed between the In

dians the subjugation of the entire population to a common yoke had laid the foundations for the development of national unity. This common yoke created commongrievances and disabilities, and as every section of society- from the peasantsto the artisans and from the educated Indian to the politically minded class- realised that they were suffering at the hands of a common enemy it became possible for the heterogeneous population of India to unite in a common hatred of its foreign rulers.The complete foreignness of British rule and their unwillingness to shed that character and learn about the real life and feelings of Indian people acted as animportant unifying factor. India had been exposed to foreign rule in the past bu


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t on all these occasions the foreigners had gradually got Indianised and thus eventually became a part of the Indian society. However, the British, who continued to uphold the notion of white mans burden and belonging to a superior race prevented this phenomenon from occurring and with time the gulf between the rulers andruled went on increasing. The British were not only conscious of their racial and cultural superiority but also anxious that the people of India should recogniseit. Even the ordinary British in India considered himself to be a demi-god looking upon the Indians and their customs with contempt and disgust. Thus, the Indians who were racially abused or insulted would naturally have united in their common humiliation and even developed a xenophobia of their own. According to S.R.Mehrotra, a common hatred binds people more strongly than a common love. This growing racial antagonism naturally provided this bond uniting people from all classes and sections in common protest. He goes on to say that by the 1860s there was a growing demand for equal rights and privileges for Indians with their British fellow-subjects, which was spearheaded by the educated Indians. Thus, the British unlike anyother previous rulers were unable to imbibe in the people a senseof allegiance or loyalty towards them, which was essential for any foreign power trying to rule over the indigenous people.Closely linked to the racial prejudices of the British were the activities of the Christian missionaries. Even after the revolt of 1857, the Christian missionaries continued their policy of denouncing Indian religions and of forcible conversion of Indians. They believed that the entire purpose of British rule in Indiawas the Christianisation of the Indian race and such views were gradually echoedby the British press in Britain and India. This constant attack by the missionar

y party forced the Indian reformers to turn their past in order to derive inspiration and sanction for their progressive views. This also lead to a process thatBernard Cohn has described as the objectification of culture. The purpose of thisprocess was to purify and rediscover an Indian civilisation that would be compatiblwith the European ideals of rationalism, empiricism, monotheism and individualism. It was meant to show that Indian civilisation by no means was inferior to that of the west, and in one sense i.e. spiritual accomplishment was superior to its western counterpart. This sense of pride in the spiritual essence of the Indian civilisation, as opposed to the material culture of the West, not just helpedthe Indians reorganise and sanctify their private spheres of life; its ideological inspiration also motivated them to confront the colonial state in a newly emerging public space. It was this rediscovery of Indias past that provided the ideological foundation of modern Indian nationalism that developed in the late 19th c

entury.Modern Education probably played the most decisive role in bringing about nationalism in India as it created a critical public discourse conducive to the growthof nationalist feelings as it placed the colonial state under stringent scrutiny. Modern education had been started in India with the intention of creating a class of Indians, educated in modern and western thought and thus capable of working in the administrative system of British India. This education was designed to colonise the minds of the Indian intelligentsia and imbibe in them western ideas, cultural traits and mannerisms that would produce a sense of loyalty in themtowards the British, thereby, becoming the mainstay of British power in India in the long run. However, the exposure to western thoughts and ideas had a positive impact on this class of Indians as they were able to imbibe a modern, rational, secular, democratic and nationalist political outlook, which gave rise to a c

ritical consciousness among these Indians against British rule. These ideas cameto constitute an ideological package that Dipesh Chakrabarty has called political modernity, consisting of concepts such as citizenship, the state and civil society, equality before law, human rights, social justice, democracy etc and thesebecame the ideal milestones that these leaders hoped to achieve. The educated Indians now used these concepts to form their own critique of autocratic rule andto form their own theories of nationalism. This new educated middle class that had emerged in India studied and got encouragement from revolutionary movements in America, Europe, France and other colonies of Britain to dream of the idea ofan independent and united India. It was this new class of Indians that were the


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first to feel the humiliation of foreign subjection and by becoming modern in their thought process they also acquired the ability to scrutinise the foreign rule and become aware of its evil effects. They realised that the social, economicand political development of India was not possible till the Indians themselvesruled over their country in the interest of the people. Thus, in due course of time it was this class that took upon themselves the burden of organising and leading a nationwide movement against colonial rule. They were the ones who took the initiative to use their modern education, control over the press and access togovernment services to initiate agitations and protests over the racial policies of the British, exclusion of Indians from government services and other acts of the British.Like most other innovations of the British, English education also served to become a means of unification. English proved to be a common medium of interactionand it soon replaced the various regional and vernacular languages making it easier for the Indians to interact with each other. The Bombay Guardian reported inthe 1860s that English language is becoming a medium of communication between the natives of the different presidencies. Moreover, the system of English education was more or less uniform throughout the country thereby imposing a common setof standards and a common cultural discipline. The Hindoo Patriot wrote in 1877-8 that English education is binding the whole population of India with a golden chain. It is breaking down provincial jealousies, tribal exclusiveness, caste antipathies. Similarly, S.N.Banerjee stated that Educated Indians, whether of Bengal,Madras, Bombay or the North-Western Provinces, are brought up under the same intellectual, moral and political influences. Kindred hopes, feelings and aspirati

ons are thus generated. The educated class of Indians are thus brought nearer together.In the second half of the 19th century, the educated Indians had many reasons tobe aggrieved and antagonised by the British rule. The British policies throughout the 1860s and 70s helped in creating an environment that was favourable to the growth of anti-imperial sentiments. The imposition of income tax in 1860 without giving Indians any control over its expenditure and their progressive exclusion from the civil services through various restrictions and provisions throughout the 1860s and 70s had become reason enough for these Indians to start agitating for reforms. Although, they met with some form of initial success they were quickly reversed. When the government decided to cut back its expenditure on English education in order to rechannel the funds for mass education through vernacular languages, it was looked upon as a government attempt to crush the rising tid

e of nationalist feelings that were being promoted by the modern education system. It became a further source of tension when it was realised that the same funds were being used unnecessarily on the army, public works serving imperial interests or being sent back home as remittances. However, it was the policies adopted by Lord Lytton that caused the most uproar among the educated Indians. In 1878, in order to curb the freedom of press that had become the most important meansof propaganda he passed the Vernacular Press Act. The act provided for a deposit from all printers and publishers of regional language newspapers, which was tobe forfeited and their machinery confiscated if it published anything objectionable. The act lead to immediate nationwide resentment lead by the educated Indians, which was further intensified by the passing of the Arms Act that prohibitedIndians from carrying firearms but excluded Europeans or Eurasians from under its purview.

However, the act that provided the final spark leading to the creation of the INC was the Ilbert Bill. Lord Lytton had been replaced by a far more liberal viceroy- Lord Rippon, who repealed the Vernacular Press Act and made changes to the arms act to exclude the racial aspects within it. Moreover, he also proposed to introduce local self-government in India. Thus, an appreciable liberal environmentwas being developed under his tenure. However, the proposal of the Ilbert Bill that made provisions for the Indian district magistrates to try European offenders was bitterly opposed by every section of the Europeans. They believed that an effeminate babu was not fit to preside over the trial of a manly Englishman. This racial prejudice made it extremely clear to the Indians that the colonial regime,


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despite the facade of humanity that it may display, was not willing to provide any form of racial equality to the Indians. Moreover, the withdrawal of the billmade the educated Indians painfully aware of their subordinate position in the imperial power structure. The counter agitations and protests initiated by them laid the foundation for a new era of political activity in India.It should be kept in mind that while the INC was the first nation-wide organisation, it was not the first organisation or political structure to have existed inIndia. From the early years of the 19th century a number of public associationshad come up in the first half of the 19th century. However, these were all dominated by the landed class and were highly provincial or local in character. Moreover, they were highly passive and moderate in their demands and wanted the Indians to become a part of the British administration. However, it was post the introduction of modern education that new associations dominated by these educatedIndians started appearing. As the new middle class became more and more aware ofthe evils of colonial rule they wanted to engage in political activity to havea productive outlet for their discontent and the existing associations did not satisfy their intentions. For instance, in Bengal the British India Association was replaced by the India Association, lead by Surendranath Banerjee that aimed at creating strong public opinion in the country on political questions and the unification of the Indian on a common political programme. Many branches of thisorganisation were opened up in different towns and villages of Bengal and some outside of Bengal as well. Younger elements were stepping up to take the lead inother parts of the country as well. For instance, in Pune, the Poona SarvajanikSabha was established in 1870 by Justice Ranade and others with the aim of repre

senting the wishes of the people. Within a year it was able to get about 17,000members thereby becoming a truly representative body. The Bombay Presidency Association was started in 1885 by the efforts of Pherozeshah Mehta, K.T.Telang andBadruddin Tyabji. In South India, however, political activities remained at a low ebb and it was only with the establishment of the Madras Mahajan Sabha that the political life became vibrant once again. Outside of the presidencies, new associations came up that gave voice to the discontent of the people. Prominent among them were the Allahabad Peoples Association in the United Provinces and the Lahore Indian Association in Punjab. What set these new associations distinctly apart from their predecessors was the national outlook that they had adopted. While they may have been confined to a particular region or locality their demands reflected the spirit of Indianness that was emerging all over the country. They demanded Indian representation in the legislative council, separation of power of

the branches of the government, Indianisation of the civil services, protectionof Indian industries, reduction of unnecessary expenditure etc. Apart from initiating agitations against various British policies and laws they also took up the cause of the peasantry and worked progressively towards their upliftment and welfare. While these associations may have been fighting for limited reforms, they reflected a new public awareness, a nationalist outlook and a demand for Indians to be treated on par with the British. They may not have been extremely successful in their intended aims and objectives but they along with their young leaders provided the base for the creation of a much larger and more effective organisation that was to take over the reign of the national movement i.e. the INC.Thus, to conclude, one can say that it is true that the very conditions of the British rule assisted in the growth of national sentiment among the Indian peopleand it was the direct and indirect consequences of this rule that provided the

material, moral and intellectual conditions for the development of a national movement in India. However, this was not a sudden event but the culmination of a process that had started in the middle of the 19th century. Thus, the formation of the INC should be seen as a process rather than the deliberate policy of the British to safeguard their own interests. Even if A.O.Hume or the safety-valve theory had played a major role in the creation of the INC, the conditions of the 1870s and 1880s India was such that the creation of an organisation like the INC was inevitable and it would have come about even without this push by the British.

emergence of nationalism in india

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