37 Indian National Movement 1905-1911 (Vandemataram and Swadeshi Movements)

D. Subramanyam Reddy

1. Introduction :

The spread of modern education, the emergence of various associations at national, provincial and district levels, the role of the press, improved transport and communication systems etc., accelerated the political consciousness among the people of India and helped in strengthening the National Movement that was taking place since the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. The changes introduced by the British in the administrative, judicial, economic and intellectual life of the country also prepared the ground for the rise of a new class of restless and dynamic leaders. The latter gave the needed leadership to the movement. The constitutional agitation through petitions which they began since 1885, of course, gradually yielded place to a new aggressive demand for political privileges from early twentieth century, more particularly from 1905. With the discontent and disillusionment among the people coupled with the partition of Bengal moved them for an unprecedented struggle for freedom from foreign yoke in the twentieth century.

2. Partition of Bengal :

On 19th July 1905 the British Government of India announced that the Bengal Presidency would be divided into two with effect from 16 October 1905. The outward argument in favour of this was administrative consideration, lightening the administrative burden upon Bengal. But, the real motive was to curb the growth of national feeling in the politically advanced Bengal by driving a wedge between the Bengali speaking Hindus and the Muslims and destroying the solidarity of 78 million Bengalis by dividing them into two blocks. It was a master plan of Viceroy Curzon to destroy the nascent nationalism of which Bengal had become the nerve centre. The partitioning of the homogeneous Bengali speaking area led to outburst of public indignation all over Bengal. It was opposed by the various sections of the society. The officials, the educated Muslims and the Muslim peasantry of Bengal condemned the partition of Bengal from the outset. Even the Indian National Congress opposed this division and passed resolutions against it at its meetings.

3. Swadeshi and Vandemataram Movement :

The partition was a turning point in the history of Bengal. The birth of intense national feeling here caused reverberations throughout India. A strong wave of protest movements was launched in Bengal to pressurize the Government to annul the partition. The pledge to boycott foreign goods was taken. The formal proclamation of the Swadeshi Movement was made on 7th August 1905 in a meeting held at the Calcutta Town Hall. The boycott resolution was passed to show protest against the partition and to bring economic pressure on the British public. The 16th October 1905 was observed as the day of mourning throughout Bengal. All business establishments were closed on that day. Young men paraded the streets, singing the Vandemataram song which became the theme song of the movement. In fact, Rabindranath Tagore’s Swadeshi songs gave expression to the peoples anguish and anger. On the same day two huge mass meetings—attended by more than 50,000 people—-

were addressed by Ananda Mohan Bose and Surendranath Benerjee. All these, naturally, caused the partition agitation to grow into the Swadeshi Movement which was carried on in different parts of the nation. It grew in strength under the leadership of different leaders. Balagangadhar Tilak took the movement to different parts of India, particularly in Poona and Bombay and his famous epigram “Swaraj is my birth right and I will have it” had revolutionized the movement. The leaders in Punjab included Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; while in Madras, Chidambaram Pillai made tours for the cause. Bipin Chandra Pal’s tour of Madras Presidency and Aurobindo Ghosh’s efforts gave impetus to the movement. The Calcutta session of the Congress held from 26 to 29 December 1908 under the Presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji adopted the Vandemataram song as the National song of India and the Swaraj or self-government as its goal. It was P. Anandacharlu who attended the session from Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh who introduced the Swadeshi resolution at this session.

In southern India, Madras was the centre from which ideas regarding Swadeshi spread to all the regions in the south. Samitis or associations were formed at many places to initiate and ignite national consciousness and spread of the ideals of Swadeshi. The Vandemataram movement received new spirit and strength in Andhra and Madras, particularly due to the tour of Bipin Chandra Pal in 1907. Many positive developments took place in Andhra mainly due to his visit. One such thing was the emergence of national schools and colleges at various places in Andhra. They too recognized the need to encourage the indigenous industry. Jin 1906, an Industrial Association was started by the leading citizens in Madras to propagate the ideal of Swadeshi and for the sale of Swadeshi articles and a Swadeshi League was also started. During this period, some students were sent to Japan by these associations to receive industrial training in order to develop indigenous industries in this region. The Swadeshi supporters preached day in and day out about the importance of Swadeshi, encouraged establishment of Swadeshi stores, organized public meetings, supported and promoted indigenous industry and boycott of foreign goods.

As the movement was gaining strength day by day Lord Minto, the successor of Curzon adopted severe measures against the rising tide of the anti-British activities. In Lahore and Rawalpindi the situation grew very tense during 1907-1908. Even the Editors and Printers were imprisoned in large number and the law known as the Colonization Bill was passed. Naturally, extremist activities increased in places like Punjab and Lahore. Lala Ljpat Rai and Ajit Singh were considered mainly responsible for this. Therefore, they were deported by the Government. There were protests against their arrest throughout the country. During 1907 and 1908 leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Aswinikumar Dutt and Ajit Singh were also deported and Tilak was given a six-year imprisonment. Of course, most of them were released soon.

Similarly, protests were organized against the Seditious Meetings Act of 1907 which restricted the right of holding public meetings so as to curtail the movement. This was resented and protested by people throughout the country.

There was also wide-spread hostility towards Europeans during this period. Giving of Vandemataram slogans, stone-throwing on the government institutions and property, and using of bad language when Europeans pass by were some of the things adopted by the Indians to express their anger and unhappiness about the British regime. This was happening more particularly in the south.

When the Swadeshi and Boycott movements began to be effective and took different forms at different places, decisions were taken not to import foreign goods, and bonfires of foreign cloth were organized on 22 September 1908. For example, Subbannachari, a clerk in the Burma Oil Company at Anantapur of Andhra burnt publicly his shirt, cap and braces, demonstrating his intense indignation against the British goods. Similarly, the national spirited washermen refused to wash the mill-made clothes. One such incident occurred near Chiguruvada, near Tirupati (in present Andhra Pradesh) when a washer man created history by refusing to wash the mill-made clothes of a Brahmin of the village and even threatening to throw them into oven.

Around 1908, attempt was made by some, in places like Andhra, in organizing terrorist activities and in the production and use of bombs. There were rumours that several individuals were engaged in secret production of bombs. Though some efforts were made by the Bengali revolutionaries, terrorism did not take roots in Andhra region of the Madras Presidency. Darsi Chenchaiah is the only Andhra who joined the Gadar party of Lala Hardayal but did not remain a member throughout.

By 1910, the Vandemataram and Swadeshi movement began to lose its momentum. The extremists in the Congress like Balagangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurbindo also began losing their hold over the movement. And, with the annulment of the partition of Bengal by the Government in 1911, the movement gradually disappeared for the time being until it took a new form under the title of the Home Rule Movement launched by Annie Besant.

4. Impact of Swadeshi and Vandemataram Movement :

Thus, the Vandemataram and Swadeshi movement with its multi-faceted progrmmes and activities was able to draw, for the first time, large sections of society into active participation in modern nationalist politics and still larger sections into the ambit of modern political ideas. As Surendranath Banerjee pointed out, the year 1905 was one of the most memorable years in the history of Bengal. It would be no exaggeration to say that it was an epoch-making year, leaving a profound and far-reaching influence on the public life of Bengal and the future of the country. The movement created greater national consciousness among the people. The Swadeshism made a deep dent in the society as it provided an opportunity for reviving the weaving industry. By a systematic boycott of the British fabrics and fostering a temper for Swadeshi, the national movement created tremendous demand for indigenous cloth. This was evident from London Times which contained a review of world trade of 1908. A great depression prevailed in the world which caused the closure of 540 mills in Manchester alone and 4,00,000 operative were out of work. Whereas in India, in the 1904, Bombay had to suffer a great deal; some mills were working only for a short period. However, since the birth of Swadeshi-boycott movement, the mills in and around Bombay had been working incessantly and in 1908 were unable to meet the demand. It was this movement that saved the Bombay mills in 1908 from disaster. Despite the depression throughout the whole manufacturing world, the Bombay mills were now safe in their position. This was mainly attributed to the Swadeshi–boycott movement in the country. The movement made deep inroads into the society. At many places the weavers tried to revive their traditional industry by acquiring latest technology in the field. In some places, people along with merchants boycotted foreign cloth and promoted Indian cloth. This occurred mainly due to the impact of Swadeshi campaign carried by the nationalists.

The social base of the Vandemataram movement was, however, confined to the urban educated middle class, more particularly to the professional classes such as lawyers, teachers etc., and the youth. It also attracted the artisan groups, especially the weaving community in the urban and rural areas and merchants and business classes in the urban centers. Apart from this, some landlords associated themselves with the national movement. The absence of women was conspicuous during this early stage of national movement. The movement was unable to make much headway in mobilizing the peasantry, especially its lower rungs since the goal of the movement did not emphasize the peasant demands and therefore the peasants did not actively join the struggle. Further, the awareness of the movement among the peasants was also limited. As regards the Muslim masses, only sporadic incidents of their participation could be noticed. The basic methods of propaganda adopted during this movement were conducting public meetings, writing slogans on walls, railway carriages and other public places, celebrating the birth anniversaries of great patriots of the time, establishing reading rooms, slogan shouting and singing of nat ionalist songs in meeting and public places and bonfires of foreign cloth, minting of Swadeshi coins etc.

5. Summary :

Thus, the Vandemataram-Swadeshi movement had a definite and constructive role in the freedom struggle. It would be wrong, however, to see the movement as a failure. The movement made a major contribution in taking the idea of nationalism in a truly creative fashion to many sections of people hitherto untouched by it. By doing so, it further eroded the hegemony of colonial ideas and institutions. Also, it shaped the minds of the people in favour of a long drawn struggle for independence and laid strong foundations for it.

Web links

• http://iasmania.com/indian-national-movements-1905-1916-swadeshi-movement-rise-of-extremismminto-morley-reforms/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadeshi_movement
• http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/swadeshi-movement-in-india/656
• http://holisticthought.com/indian-national-movement-1905-1916/
• http://www.facts-about-india.com/the-swadeshi-movement.php
• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Partition_of_Bengal_(1905)
• http://www.importantindia.com/12792/the-partition-of-bengal-and-swadeshi-movement