Lord Irwin (1925-1931):-
• Appointment of Simon ‘Commission in 1927. The Simon Commission came to India in 1928.
• In 1928, Nehru Report recommends principles for the new Constitution of India.
• In Lahore Session of 1929, Congress adopted the goal of complete Independence for India.
• Civil Disobedience Movement started in 1930.
• Gandhiji began Dandi March to manufacture illegal salt on March 12th, 1930.
• Gandhi-Irwin pact of 1931 and the suspension of Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Jawahar Lal Nehru hoists the tricolour of Indian Independence on the bank of river Ravi at Lahore on 1st January, 1930.
• All India Youth Congress, formed in 1928.
• Appointment of Harcourt Butler Indian States Commission in 1927.
• First Round Table Conference in 1930.
• Murder of Saunders, the ASP of Lahore.
Lord Willingdon (1931-1936):-
• Second round table in 1931.
• Third Round Table Conference in 1932.
• The Government of India Act, 1935 passed.
• Launch of individual Civil Disobedience Movement in 1933.
• Foundation of Congress Socialist Party, 1934.
• Burma separated from India, 1935.
• All India Kisan Sabha, 1936.
Lord Linlithgow (1936-1944):-
• First General Election (1936-1937)
• Subhas Chandra Bose elected as the President in 1938
• Resignation of Subhas Chandra 1939 from congress and formation of Forward Bloc.
• August offer, 1940.
• Cripps Mission, 1942.
• Quit India Movement, 1942.
Lord Wavell (1944-1947):-
• CR. formula, 1944.
• End of Second World War, 1945.
• Cabinet Mission, 1946 and acceptance of its proposals by Congress.
• Direct Action Day by the Muslim League O” the 16th August, 1946.
• British Prime Minister Attlee’s announced on 20th February 1947 that the power would be transferred to the Indians by June 1948.
• Wavell Plan and Shimla Conference in 1945.
Lord Mountbatten (1947-1948):-
• Last British Viceroy of India.
• First Governor General of India after Independence.
• Announced the June 3, 1947 plan.
• Indian Independence Act of 1947 for the partition of India.
• Partition of India and Pakistan’s coming into being on 14th August, 1947.
• Appointment of two boundary commissions under Sir Cyril Radcliffe.
C. Raiagopalachari (1 948-1950):-
• The last Governor General of free India.
• The only Indian Governor General remained in office from 21st June, 1948 to 25th January, 1950.
Important Facts:-
• No Sessions of the Congress were held in 1930, 1935, 1941 to 1945 and 1947.
• Lord Willingdon participated in the Congress Session of 1915 in Bombay.
• Savitri and the Life Divine were written by Arabindo Ghosh.
• Gita Rahasya was written by Tilak in Mandaley Jail in 1911.
• Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote Durgeshnandi in Bengali in 1864. His journal Bangadarshan is a unique contribution to Bengali Literature.
• First published work of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin in Persian.
• Biography of A.O. Hume was written by Wdderburn.
Indian National Movement:-
The Second half of the 19thcenlury witnessed the full growth of an Organized National Movement in India.
Important factors of growth of Indian Nationalism are:-
• Administrative, economic and political unification of the country.
• Influence of western education and thought.
• A renaissance in the society as a result of socio-religious reform movements.
• Development of rapid means of transport and communications.
• Emergence of a modern press and Impact or contemporary European movements.
• Practice of racial discrimination by the British in almost every sphere of life.
The history of the Indian Nationalist Movement can be studied under three phases:
(i) Moderate phase or early nationalist phase (1885-1905)
(ii) Extremist phase (1905-1919)
(m) Gandhian phase (1919-1947)
FORMATION OF INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (I.N.C.):-
• The Indian National Union was formed in 1884 by A.O. Hume an Englishman and a retired civil servant, in association with various national leaders who called for a conference in Pune in December 1885.
• The conference received the unanimous support of all Indian leaders, but the venue was shifted to Bombay for various reasons (esp. outbreak of cholera in Pune).
• Further, the leaders decided to rename Indian National Union as Indian National Congress.
• The first session of the Indian National Congress was held at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay under the president ship of W.C.Bannerji a veteran lawyer of Calcutta.
• It was attended by 72 delegates from all over India.
• From 1885 onwards the INC met every year and its cause spread rapidly among middle mass Indians.
• With the foundation of INC in 1885 the struggle for India’s independence was launched in 3 small, hesitant and mild but organized manners.
MODERATE PHASE (1885-1905):-
• The moderates used the methods of constitutional agitation for demanding reforms. Their aim was not to be aggressive for attaining independence lest the British should suppress this.
• They presented their demands to the British government through petitions, prayers, protests, meetings, speeches and resolutions.
• They targeted only educated masses for the political activities.
• Inspite of their many failures, moderates laid strong foundations for the National Movement to grow upon and that they deserve a high place among the makers of modern India.
• Moderate Leaders: – Dada Bhai Naroroji, A.O. Hume, Badruddin Tayebji, M.G. Ranade. W.C. Bannerji, Surendra Nath Bannerji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Anand Mohan Bose, Ras Bihari Ghosh.
EXTREMIST PHASE (1905-1919):-
Extremists advocated the adoption of Swaraj as the goal of the Congress to be achieved by more self-reliant and independent methods.
Important Extremist Leaders:- Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh.
• Complete Independence demand.
• Swadeshi and boycott methods.
• All India protest movement backed by Masses.
Causes of the Rise of Extremism:-
• Partition of Bengal (1905)
• The extremist advocated boycott of foreign goods, School/Colleges, Councils & Courts, Services, whereas promoted the use of Swadeshi goods.
• Social reform movements like Arya Samaj and Theosophical Society gave impetus to political radicalism. The political radicals derived inspiration from their traditional cultural values. Ramakrishna Paramhansa, his disciple Swami Vivekananda and Swami Dayananda, etc. also played a vital role in the birth of extremist philosophy.
• Aurobindo Ghosh published New lamps for old in 1893-94. it was the first systematic critique of the moderates.
• Tilak asserted. ‘Swaraj is my birth Right and i will have it’. He was the editor of ‘Maratha’ (Maharatta) in English and the ‘Kesari’ in Marathi.
Surat Split of 1907:-
• Surat session oi congress 1907 was held on the bank of river Tapi, under the presidentship of Ras Bihori Ghosh. In this session, congress was split into two groups which are – Moderates and Extremists.
• Moderates views differ with the extremist and they were not agreed with the Tilak’s views. At the Calcutta Session of Congress in 1906, the extremist leaders – Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh wanted Tilak to become the President of the Congress. But the moderates were in no mood to accept him.
• Ultimately a compromise was hurriedly made and four major resolutions were passed on Boycott, Swadeshi National Education and Self Government and they secured a smooth passage in the open session. But the policies of moderates and extremists were different. Thus, the moderates were determined to split. Therefore, the Congress split in the nationalist ranks at the Surat Session of 1907.
• After the split, feared with the popularity of Tilak British gave him imprisonment for six years and sent him to Mandalay in Burma.
• B.C. Pal and Laia Lajpat Rai left India and Aurobindo Ghosh took asylum in Pondicherry and makes an ashram known as Aurobindo Ashram.
Partition of Bengal (1905):-
• On the ground of efficient administration Bengal, on 20th July. 1905 Lord Curzon issued an order dividing the Province of Bengal into two parts Eastern Bengal and Asam.
• Curzon gave the official reason for partition and i.e. Bengal is a big province and its bifurcation will lead to be the administration and hence welfare but the real motive of Curzon was to stop the rising tide of Indian nationalism whose nerve centre was Bengal. So, Curzon follows the policy of Divide and Rule on the basis of Hindu and Muslim separation.
• Partition of Bengal came into effect on October 16, 1905 and it was called as ‘Partition Day’.
The Anti Partition Movement:-
• The Anti-Partition Movement was initiated on August 7, 1905.
• It began in Bengal by the moderate leaders like Surendra nath Banerjee and Krishna Kumar Mitra. It soon spread to other parts of India under the extremist leaders.
• Rabindranath Tagore composed the national song Amar Sonar Bangla, which was sung by huge crowds.
• Bande Matram became the national song of Bengal.
• Hindus and Muslims tied rakhi on one another’s wrists as a symbol of the unbreakable unity of the Bengalis.
• The Veteran leader Ananda Mohan Bose laid the foundation of a Federation Hall to mark the indestructible unity of Bengal.
The Swadeshi and Boycott:-
• Against the partition of Bengal, Swadeshi and Boycott was adopted as a protest movement.
• The important aspect of the Swadeshi Movement was the emphasis places a self-reliance or Atmashakti.
• It involved programmes like boycott of Government services, English goods, School/Colleges Council & Courts, English speech etc.
• The theory of Swadeshi, promoted to establishment textile mills, national banks, soap factories, tobacco factories etc.
• The movement was suppressed by the British through repressive measures like imprisonment and deportation of its loaders in 1908.
The Ghadar Movement-
• Ramnath Purl issued a circular-a-Azadi in America in favour of Swadeshi Movement.
• Next Pre-Ghadar revolutionary activities had been carried on by G.D. Kumar, Taraknath Das, Sohan Singh Bhakna and Lala Hardayai who reached USA and Canada in 1911.
• Finally, Lala Hardayai established a Hindi Association at Portland in 1913. The publication of a weekly newspaper The Ghadar was started from its headquarters at San Francisco.
• Thus, the Ghadar Party was a revolutionary group organised around the Newspaper ‘The Ghadar’.
• The plans of the Ghadar were encouraged by two events in 1914 -the Komagata Maru incident and the outbreak of the First World War.
Lucknow Pact (1916):-
• After the Surat split of 1907, again at the Lucknow Session in 1916, the extremists were, however, welcomed back into Congress by the Moderates due to the rapidly changing political situation in the country as well as the sincere efforts of Annie Besant (An Irish lady) to forge unity among the nationalists.
• Lucknow session was presided by Ambika Charan Malumdar and in this session, a famous Lucknow pact was signed between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. This Pact marked an important step forward in the Hindu – Muslim unity.
• The Pact, which resulted largely due to Tilak’s and Mohammad All Jinnah’s efforts. They put forward a joint scheme of political reforms based on separate electorates and demanded from British Government. a declaration of sell – government in India,
The Home Rule League Movement (1916-1917):-
• Establishment of two Home Rule Leagues; one by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in April 1916 at Poona and the other by Annie Besant at Adyar Ashram near Madras in September 1916.
• Under this movement, Tilak covered Karnataka, Central province and Berar while rest of India was covered by Annie Besant. ln this movement. Annie Besant was supported by Motilal Nehru, Surendra Nath Banerjee and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
• The idea of starting a Home Rule League originated with Annie Besant in as early as 1914 and it was influenced by an Irish revolution.
• The main objective was to attain home rule for India as self government within the British empire (on the lines of the autonomous colonies of Australia, New Zealand, etc.). For instance, Tilak, who had demand complete independence for India during the Anti Partition Movement had, however, made it very clear in 1916 when he declared, The Swaraj of today is within the Empire and not independent of it’.
GANDHIAN PHASE (1917-1 947):-
• On January 9, 1915, Gandhiji returned from South Africa where he was worked as a barrister but due to some racial discrimination he returned to India. Gandhiji’s Satyagraha was actually started in South Africa initially.
• The first participation of Gandhiji in congress session was in 1901, Calcutta session under the presidentship of Bal Krishna Gokhale. Gandhiji assumed Gokhale also as his political guru.
• Gokhale established Servants of India in 1905 and he wanted to admit Gandhiji as a member but other party members were not agree with Gandhiji’s opinion, as a result Gandhiji was not to be able a part of this society.
• Gandhiji came to India in the year 1915 but his active participation into Indian politics can be traced with the Champran Styagraha (1917),Kheda Styagraha (1918), Ahmedabad mill workers strike (1918) respectively.
• Gandhiji advocated the adoption of the policy of Satyagrha (literally persistence in truth) i.e. non-violent, non-cooperation towards the government.
• Gandhiji emerged as the most popular and acceptable figure in Indian politics because of his technique of mass mobilization.
Facts about Gandhji:-
Date and Place of birth: Oct. 2 1869 and Porbandar, Gujarat.
Father: Karamchand Gandhi
Mother: Putalibai
Political Guru: Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Literary Influences on Gandhi: The Kingdom of God is within You (Leo Tolstoy). Unto the last (John Ruskin’s) Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) and the Gite.
Literary Works: Hind Swaraj (1909), My Experiments with Truth (his autobiography
Written in Gujarati language)
As an Editor: Indian Opinion, Harijan. Young India (in English and Gujarati – named Naveevan)
Other Names: Mahatma (Saint) – by Rabindranath Tagore. Rashtrapita (the Father of the Nation) – by Subhash Chandra Bose, Nanga Faqir/Traitor Faqir – by Winston Churchill,
Note: U.N.O. declared Oct. 2 as “international Non-violence Day”.
Anti-Rowlatt Satyagraha:-
• In 1919, Sedition Committee headed by Justice Rowlatt, passed the Rowlatt Act on 18 March. 1919, whereby war time restrictions of civil rights were to be made permanent by:
i. System of special courts.
ii. Detention without trial for 2 years maximum.
iii. Greater police powers.
• This Act authorized the government to imprison any person without trial and conviction in a Court of Law.
• This Act also enabled the government to suspend the Right of Habeas Corpus which had been the foundation of civil liberties in Britain.
• To disobey this Act, Gandhiji founded the Satyagraha Sabha, whose members took a pledge to boycott and non-cooperate with the government.
• It was first countrywide agitation by Gandhiji and marked the foundation of Non-Cooperation Movement.
• During March – April 1919, the country witnessed a remarkable political awakening. There were hartals, strikes, processions and demonstrations.
• This all India strike was proposed to be peaceful but this was not happen, a lot of violence was seen in certain areas of the country mainly in Punjab. So, British government recruited General Dier in Amritsar.
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre:-
• A large crowd had gathered on 13 April 1919 (Baisakhi Day) at Amritsar in the
Jalliawalan Bagh, to protest against the arrest of their leaders, Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. satyapal.
• General Dyer, the military commander of Amritsar, ordered for the infamous massacre in which almost 2000 people were killed.
• To show his protest against the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore returned his return his title of Knighthood.
• In 1940, Sardur Udham Singh murdered Michel O’ Dwyer In England, who gave orders for Jalalliawalan Bagh massacre.
