Extremist Phase

This article deals with ‘ Extremist Phase – UPSC.’ This is part of our series on ‘Modern History’ which is important pillar of GS-1 syllabus . For more articles , you can click here

Rise of Extremists

Failure of Moderate politics became quite apparent by end of 19th century & new trend that rose was that of extremists
Extremism developed in 3 main regions under three leaders

Bepin Chandra Pal	Bengal
Bal Gangadhar Tilak	Maharashtra
Lala Lajpat Rai	Punjab

Reasons for rise of Extremism

1 . Recognition of true nature of British Rule

Early nationalist leaders exposed the true nature of British rule in India. They conclusively proved by elaborate data that British rule & its policies were responsible for the economic ruin of India & deepening her poverty
- MG Ranade : Essays in Indian Economics(1898)
- Dadabhai Naoroji : Indian Poverty & un-British Rule in India(1901)
- RC Dutt : Economic History of India
With their economic critique & Drain Theory , they exposed real nature of British rule.
Thus extremist ideology was next & logical step to these developments in political thinking.

2. Dissatisfaction with Congress’s achievements

Younger elements within the Congress were dissatisfied with the achievements of Congress during first 15-20 years & also with cold & reactionary attitude of the government . They lost their faith in British sense of justice & were strongly critical of the peaceful & constitutional means
On his return from England in 1905, Lala Lajpat Rai said that British democracy was too busy with their own affairs & British press is unlikely to champion their cause. They have to make a blow for freedom themselves.

3. Curzonian Administration

Curzonian administration magnified this nationalist anger further .
Initiated number of unpopular legislations & administration measures which hurt educated Indians
- Indian Universities Act : placed Calcutta University under complete government control
- Indian Official Secrets Act, 1904 : placed restrictions on press
- Reform of Calcutta Corporation(1898) : Reduce the elected members by increasing official members because large number of nationalist leaders were getting birth from this institute
- Partition of Bengal

4. Deteriorating economic condition

Large number of famines in 1890s
Total toll of 90 lakh
Government did nothing & people not satisfied with government efforts

5. International Influence

1896 : Ethiopia defeated Italy
Russia defeated by Japan
Irish, Turkish movements

All this gave impression to nationalists that United India can take on British & that Europeans are not invincible

6. Partition of Bengal

Worst & most hated work of Curzon’s policy.
From 1903-1905 , Moderates were in commanding position . It was made public in 1903 that partition would be done & finally took place in 1905 & in meantime , Moderates were not able to do anything
Utter disregard of Curzon showed to public that Moderate’s policy of ‘petition, prayers & protests’ wasn’t going to work

Fighting Factions in different regions : Moderates vs Extremists

At start of 20th century , there was great deal of faction fighting at almost all levels

Bengal	Bitter journalistic rivalry between Bengalee edited by Moderate SN Banerjea & Amrita Bazaar Patrika by Radical leader Motilal Ghosh
Maharashtra	– Competition between Gokhale & Tilak for controlling Poona Sarvajanik Sabha . – Split in the Congress at Surat was the product of a fierce struggle between ‘the Tilakites of Poona’ and Moderates of Bombay, led by Pherozeshah Mehta.
Madras	Three factions fighting with each other
Punjab	Arya Samaj divided after death of Dayanand between Moderate College group & Radical Revivalist group

These factions in all parts fighting for supremacy was ultimately won by Extremists

Side Note – Historians of the ‘Cambridge school‘ have been trying in recent years to present the emergence of Extremist dissent as basically a set of factional quarrels for the control of the Congress. Certainly there was no lack of factionalism in Congress circles during the 1890s. Yet Cambridge scholars surely press it much too far. It is difficult to understand why dissidents should have been so eager to capture the Congress—not yet a real political party with power and patronage opportunities & not more than an annual platform with very inadequate funds—unless it was because they had certain alternative strategies and ideals to put forward. Above all, such scholarship ignores entirely the fairly systematic critique of Moderate politics which was emerging in the 1890s, most notably in the three principal bases of later Extremism—Bengal, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Goal of the Extremists

Their goal was SWARAJ but different people interpreted it differently

Tilak	Indian control over the administration but not a total severance of relations with British
Bipin Pal	Believed no self government was possible under British paramountcy & for him swaraj meant complete autonomy free from British control
Aurobindo Ghosh	Absolute political freedom
Most others	*Self rule within Parameters of British imperial structure*

Methods of Agitation

Passive resistance : opposition of colonial rule through violation of its unjust laws , boycott of British goods & institutions
Development of indigenous alternatives ie Swadeshi & national education

Revivalism & Extremists

They gave Revivalist discourse . They sought to invoke an imagined golden past & used symbols from a retrospectively constructed history to arouse nationalist passions. Historical figures who had demonstrated valour & prowess were now projected as national heroes . Tilak started Shivaji festivals in Maharashtra . Marathas , Rajputs & Sikhs stereotyped as martial races by Britishers were now placed in Aryan tradition & appropriated as national heroes
Some of the leaders like Tilak & Aurobindo Ghosh also believed that use of Hindu mythology & history was best mean to reach the masses & mobilise them in support
Vivekananda’s teaching effects – physical culture movement started with great enthusiasm with gymnasiums coming up in Bengal to reclaim physical prowess
Indian Political leaders also looked back to ancient Indo -Aryan traditions as an alternate to Anglo -Saxon political systems . Extremists tried to define Indian nation in terms of distinctly Indian cultural Idioms which led to religious revivalism invoking glorious past

More on Revivalism in next article. Click here to jump over to article.

Main Leaders During Extremist Phase

1 . Bal Gangadhar Tilak

1856-1920
Known as Lokmanya and father of Indian unrest
He began his political career as moderate but turned extremist by beginning of the 20th century

Pioneer in many ways:

Use of religious orthodoxy as a method of mass contact through organisation of Ganpati festival in 1893
First to develop patriotic cum historical cult through organisation of the Shivaji festival in 1897
Experimented with kind of non revenue campaign among the famine stricken peasants of Maharashtra in 1896-97

Vision on social reforms :

Although a radical in politics , he was conservative in social reforms
He said both were distinct & political freedom must come before social freedom
He opposed any initiative by British government as it was an alien government as well as by congress as it would estrange masses from it

Education & Press

He was prominent member of DECCAN EDUCATION SOCIETY
He helped to found new English school later known as Ferguson school
Editor of 2 newspapers :

Maharatta	In English
Kesari	In Marathi

Freedom struggle

Also founded Home Rule League in 1916 April
Gave slogan : Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it
He was imprisoned twice for his nationalist activities :

1897	For 18 months
1908	For 6 years to Mandalay

Prominent role in anti partition movement (1905-08). Made it an all India movement

2. Lala Lajpat Rai

1865-1928
Known as Punjab Kesari
Leader of the ‘college faction’ of Arya Samaj
Played role in anti partition movement 1905
Deported to Burma in 1907
Went to USA after his release & in 1914 founded INDIAN HOME RULE LEAGUE there
Editor of newspaper PUNJABEE, KOHINOOR & VANDE MATARAM
Wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji and Shrikrishna; stayed in America for some time; and was also elected to the Central Assembly.
Wrote Book named UNHAPPY INDIA, YOUNG INDIA
Died of lathi charge injuries in protests to Simon commission

3. Bipin Chandra Pal

1858-1932
Father of revolutionary thought in India
Began his journalist career with PARIDARSAK
Started NEW INDIA to propagate nationalism
He started his political career as a moderate but after partition of Bengal switched to radical methods
He and Aurobindo Ghosh were exponents of new nationalism – swaraj + boycott+ swadeshi + national education
After the end of anti partition movement he retired from active politics

4. Aurobindo Ghosh

1872-1950
Wrote New lamps for the old
Advocated the Doctrine of PASSIVE RESISTANCE in series of articles in 1907 in VANDE MATRAM of which he was editor
Part of swadeshi boycott movement
Principal of Bengal National College started in Calcutta as a part of scheme of national education
Arrested in 1908 for Kennedy murders and immediately after being judged innocent gave up politics and escaped to Pondicherry to take up religion.

Moderates versus Extremists

Moderates	Extremists /Militant Nationalists
Social base : Anglicised Upper Class of Urban Areas	Social base :Educated middle class and lower middle classes in towns
Ideological inspiration: Western liberal thought and European history	Ideological inspiration : Indian history ,cultural heritage and Hindu traditional symbols
They claimed social equality & share in British Government of India on grounds that they were British subjects	They demanded social & political equality as their birthright .
Believed in England’s providential mission in India	Rejected providential mission theory as illusion
Believed that political connections with Britain were in India’s social,political and cultural interests	Believed that political connections with Britain would perpetuate British exploitation of India
Professed loyalty to British crown	British crown was unworthy of claiming Indian loyalty
Movement should be limited to middle class intelligentsia ,masses not yet ready for participation in the political work	Immense faith in the capacity of masses to participate and to make sacrifices
Demanded constitutional reforms, limited self-government within the imperial framework and share for Indians in the services	Demanded Swaraj
Insisted on use of only constitutional methods	Did not hesitate to use non constitutional methods like boycott and the passive resistance
They were patriots but did not play the role of comprador class	They were patriots who made sacrifices for the sake of the country

Unlike the Moderates who drew upon the ideas of Gladstone, Disraeli and Burke to refine their political strategy, the Extremists found Bankim’s Anandamath, a historical novel that narrated the story of the rise of the Hindu Sannyasis visavis the vanquished Muslim rulers and Vivekananda’s interpretation of Vedanta philosophy. The poem “Bande Mataram” in Anandamath clearly set the tone of the Extremist philosophy in which the notion of ‘Mother’ seemed to be prominent. But by overlooking the non-Hindu tradition completely and accepting the Hindu tradition as Indian tradition, they however, nurtured a narrow view of history which is misleading given the cross-fertilisation of multiple traditions in Indian civilisation.

Assessment of Extremism

Extremist as a political philosophy wasn’t consistent philosophy . Advocates of extremism ranged from
- Active revolutionaries who werent even objected to non violent acts to those who opposed all violent methods
- Their definition of Swaraj wasn’t consistent either

However, all extremist leaders were one in realising the evils of foreign rule & in demanding some degree of independence from colonial stranglehold.

They broadened the social base of nationalist movement . Most of them represented the urban lower middle class & aimed at spreading the message of Congress to the people. They spoke , wrote & edited newspapers in vernacular languages & thus succeeded in conveying their message to larger audience

Socially speaking , their ideology proved to be a reactionary development. In contrast to Moderates , the Extremists became revivalist & obscurantists in matters of social reforms. Tilak’s opposition to Age of Consent Act & his association with Anti-Cow killing societies & his organisation of Ganesh & Shivaji festivals projected them as leader of Hindu orthodoxy. Although the revivalist dimension of Extremist politics was mainly directed against the foreign rulers , it developed an unhealthy inter-relationship between religion & politics & encouraged Muslim separatism

Side Note – Age of Consent issue , revealed how much the climate of educated opinion had changed since 1860, when sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of ten had been declared to be rape without much protest from anyone. The relatively minor reform raising this age from ten to twelve, in 1891 provoked massive opposition, particularly in Bengal and Maharashtra. Frankly conservative and obscurantist sentiments mingled here with the nationalist argument, put forward most notably by Tilak, that foreign rulers had no right to interfere with religious and social customs. The latter argument, it must be added, was slightly specious, since Hindu orthodox groups in the same period seldom hesitated to plead for legislation against cow-slaughter. Such legislation would surely also have been an interference with the religious and social customs of a big part of Indian society—the Muslims.