🏛️ Flügel History

Chapter 3: Rise of Modern Nationalism, Moderates vs. Extremists & Swadeshi ​

1. Foundation of the Indian National Congress (1885) ​

Formed in Bombay on December 28, 1885, at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College under the presidency of Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, attended by 72 delegates:

  • Allan Octavian Hume (A.O. Hume): Retired British civil servant who facilitated the formation.
  • Historiographical Debate:
    • Safety-Valve Theory (Lala Lajpat Rai, R.P. Dutt): Hume organized the Congress under Viceroy Dufferin’s guidance to forestall another violent uprising.
    • Lightning-Conductor Theory (Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bipan Chandra): Early Indian nationalists used Hume as a protective lightning conductor to avoid instant government suppression.

Ideological Currents in Early INC

2. Partition of Bengal (1905) & The Swadeshi Movement ​

On October 16, 1905, Viceroy Lord Curzon partitioned Bengal into Western Bengal and Eastern Bengal & Assam under the pretext of administrative convenience, but with the explicit political objective of dividing the Bengali nationalist intelligentsia along Hindu-Muslim communal lines.

Forms of Swadeshi Agitation ​

  • Boycott of Foreign Goods: Public bonfires of Manchester cloth and Liverpool salt.
  • National Education: Establishment of the National Council of Education (1906) and Bengal National College under Aurobindo Ghosh.
  • Samitis: Volunteer corps (e.g., Swadesh Bandhab Samiti of Ashwini Kumar Dutta) mobilized mass support.
  • Cultural Resurgence: Rabindranath Tagore composed Amar Sonar Bangla and led mass Raksha Bandhan rituals on the streets of Calcutta.

3. The Surat Split (1907) & Morley-Minto Reforms (1909) ​

  • Surat Split (December 1907): Clash between Moderates (led by Rash Behari Ghosh and Pherozeshah Mehta) and Extremists (Tilak, Lal, Pal) over resolutions on Swadeshi, Boycott, and National Education resulted in the expulsion of Extremists.
  • Indian Councils Act 1909 (Morley-Minto Reforms): Introduced Separate Electorates for Muslims, institutionalizing statutory communal representation in Indian politics.

Check Your Mastery ​

⚡ Concept Quick-CheckTest Your Conceptual Intuition
Which colonial constitutional enactment first introduced separate statutory communal electorates for Muslims in British India?