INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENTS ( 1885 -1905)

1. Commonly the period between 1885-1905 is known as the period of moderates or of moderate nationalism.

2. The moderate leaders of the Congress belonged to the educated middle class. They held the belief that the English were basically truthful and just.Banerjee, Naoroi, Mehta, SN banerjee, Tyabi, Dutta, Gokale were known as moderates

3. In its very first session the moderates asked for reform in the Indian Council. They also asked for the abolition of the post of Secretary of State for India and India Council.

4. The moderates laid great emphasis on the question of appointing Indians to high governmental posts.

5. In the beginning, the Congress paid no attention to agricultural matters, but in its fourth session they asked for a reduction and subsequent fixation of the land revenue.

6. In 1901 a demand for industrial expansion also began.

7. Under the leadership of William Digby, the Congress opened a branch in England in1888 and started publishing a magazine called ’India’.

8. In 1905, Gokhale had established the Servants of India Society. He had also rejected the title of knighthood and refused to accept a position in the Council of the Secretary of State for India.

9. In 1893 Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) arrived in hey city of Chicago in America with great difficulty, to attend the world Parliament of Religion. In the conference, he was given two minutes to speak on the very first day. It was in this year on November 16 that Annie Besant (1847-1933) arrived in India. The year 1893 was also important year in the life of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). This was the year when he went to South Africa in connection with the trial of a Merchant, Abdullah Seth.

10. Lokmanya Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal (who are known in Indian History as the revolutionary trio) filled in the Indian people the ideas of self-respect, self-confidence, patriotism and courage and inspired the work for India’s independence.The above three and Aurobind Ghosh wereknown as Extremists.(Moderate Extremist split in sural Session 1907 and reunited in 1916 Session due to efforts of Annie Besant.From 1916 Extremists got upper hand.

11. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) was popularly known as a ‘Lokamanya Tilak’. In reality he was the chief propagator of a new national consciousness in the country. Before Mahatma Gandhi no other leader matched his stature. He was born on 23 July 1856 at Ratnagiri in Maharastra. In 1881, he began his drive for new awakening by among the Indians publishing two newspapers i.e., the Maratha (English) and Kesari (Marathi). He participated in the Bombay session in 1889 for the first time and for the next thirty years he remained its main leader. By introducing the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi and Shivaji festivals he tried to bring the Indian society together and inspired patriotic feelings among the people. In 1906 he introduced two slogans ‘Swaraj is my birth right’ and ‘Our life and religion are useless without the attainment of Swaraj’. In 1908 and was sentenced to six years of imprisonment. The Britishers called him the ‘Father of Indian disaffection’ and the ‘biggest traitor’.

12. The second great leader in this category was Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928). He was also known as Sher-e-Punjab. He was born in village Dhoondke in Ferozepur district in Punjab on 28 January 1965. He encouraged the use of Hindi language in daily life. He was impressed by the ideas of Arya Samaj. He began his practice of Law in Hissar but soon he shifted to Lahore. He published a few newspapers like ‘The Punjabi’. Later he also published ‘The Pupil ‘in English. While demonstrating against the Simon Commission he was hit by a baton on the head and after a short while died on 17 November 1928. Lord Minto wrote that the Congress was very loyal but Lala Lajpat Rai was a very dangerous man.

13. The third member of the trio was Bipin Chandra Pal (1858-1932). He was born on 7 November 1858. He had come into contact with the Brahmo Samaj and had went to Central Europe and America as its spokesman. He started English weekly called ‘New India’. In 1907 he was tried for treason and was sent to jail.14. The period of Lord Curzon witnessed another terrible famine during 1899-1900. But he never paid any head to it and held a Royal Durbar in Delhi in 1903 in order to commemorate the coronation of Edward VII which was an expensive affair.