Indian National

Movement 2

By – Dr.Mahipal Singh Rathore

©DrMahipalRathore

Minto Morley Reforms 1909

Delhi Durbar 1911

World War I and Indian Response

Home Rule League Movement

Lucknow Pact 1916

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Minto - Morley Reforms of 1909 Government of India Act of 1909

Indian Councils Act 1909

Lord Morley - Secretary of State for India (in London)

Lord Minto II - Viceroy of India (in Calcutta)

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Background –

• Rising extremism – not good for British rule

• Hence they wanted to give concession to Moderate demands while cracking down on extremism

• They also wanted to further the divide and rule policy via Separate electorate

• Curzon’s imperialist approach and policies had left the Indians resentful

• In 1906, a group of Muslim elites called the Shimla deputation, led by the Agha Khan, met Lord Minto & demanded separate electorates for the Muslims.

©DrMahipalRathore

The Important provisions of this Act were

1. The number of “additional members” of the Central Legislative Council was increased from 16 to 60. (Total = 60 + 9 exec. )

• Elected members were to be 27

• Among the remaining 33 nominated members :

28 were to be officials and rest

5 non officials

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2. The principle of election to the councils was legally recognized. But communal representation was for the first time introduced in the interests of Muslims. Separate electorates were provided for the Muslims

The electorate was decided on the basis of CLASS AND COMMUNITY.

For the provincial councils a provision of 3 categories was made

1. General – District Boards and municipalities

2. Special - Bombay Corporation and Bombay University

3. Chambers of commerce

For the central council, a fourth category - Muslims was added

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The legislative councils at the centre and the provinces were to have four categories of members as follows: (bracket shows Central council nos.)

1. Ex officio members: Governor General and members of the executive council. (8+1)

2. Nominated official members: Government officials who were nominated by the Governor-General. (28)

3. Nominated non-official members: nominated by the Governor-General but were not government officials. (5)

4. Elected members: elected by different categories of Indians. (27)

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27 elected members of CLC came from

• 13 – General electorate = non official members of provincial legislatures

• 6 – Zamindars of six provinces (class electorate)

• 6 – Muslims of six provinces (Communal electorate)

• 2 – One each from Bengal and Bombay Chamber of commerce

What is a separate electorate ??

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• The elected members were elected indirectly.

• The local bodies elected an electoral college who would elect members of the provincial legislative councils. These members would, in turn, elect the members of the Central legislative council.

• The elected members were from the local bodies, the chambers of commerce, landlords, universities, traders’ communities and Muslims.

• In the provincial councils, non-official members were in a majority. However, since some of the non-official members were nominated, in total, a non-elected majority was still ensured.

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3. The number of members in provincial legislative councils of provinces was raised too. (different for each)

4. The Councils were given right to discuss and pass resolutions on the Budget and on all matters of public interest, rights to ask supplementary questions and move resolutions on matters related to loans to the local bodies.

However, the Governor-General had the power to disallow discussion on the budget.

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5. An Indian member, Satyendra Sinha, was appointed for the first time to the Governor-General’s Executive Council.

6. In Bombay and Madras, the number of members of the Executive Councils was raised from 2 to 4. The practice of appointing Indians to these Councils began.

7. Two Indians were also appointed to the India Council, which assisted S.o.S for India [in England].

First Appointees - KC Gupta and Syed Hussain Bilgrami

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Estimation of 1909 act

• The Minto- Morley reforms never desired to set up a parliamentary form of government in India BUT the introduction of the electoral principle for legislative council laid the groundwork for a parliamentary system

• The separate electorate issue was a major problem as other communities like Sikh and Anglo Indians also started demanding the same

• The 1909 act offered no political solution to the Indian problem

• Non official (=Indian) majority was nullified by keeping few nominated members in the non official category (who would always side with the govt., ensuring control)

• The Act did increase Indian participation in the legislative councils especially at the provincial levels.

• The principle of separate electorates ultimately led to widening of communal problem

©DrMahipalRathore

Delhi Durbar 1911

• 12 December,1911

• In honour of King George V & Queen Mary

• Only Durbar where the British Monarch actually attended

• Lord Hardinge made announcements :

Annulement of Partition of Bengal (but new divisions based on language )

Shifting of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (done on 12/12/1912)

*Shimla was the summer capital since 1863

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Lord Hardinge II 1910-1916

Important events during his term

• Transfer of capital from Calcutta to Delhi (1911).

• Coronation durbar of King George V held in Delhi (1911)

• Annulment of Bengal Partition.

• Establishment of the Hindu Mahasabha (1915) by Madan Mohan Malaviya and others

• In 1916, Lord Hardinge laid the foundation of the Banaras Hindu University.

(Madan Mohan Malaviya was the Founder-Chancellor of this university)

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Lord Hardinge Bombing case

• 23 Dec 1912 – Viceroy was entering the new capital of Delhi in a procession from Chandni chowk to New Delhi

• A bomb was thrown on his carriage bt it missed the mark – viceroy escaped unhurt

• Sachindranath Sanyal and Ras Bihari Bose - escaped

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First World War & Nationalist Response

• In the First World War (1914-1919), Britain allied with France, Russia, USA, Italy and Japan against Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey.

• The nationalist response to British participation in the War was three-fold :

1. The Moderates supported the empire in the War as a matter of duty

2. The extremists, including Tilak (who was released in June 1914), supported the war efforts in the mistaken belief that Britain would repay India’s loyalty with gratitude in the form of self-government;

3. The revolutionaries decided to utilize the opportunity to wage a war and liberate the country

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• Indian supporters of British war efforts failed to see that the imperialist powers were fighting precisely to safeguard their own colonies and markets.

• Worldwide, the Allied powers, to rally the colonies to their side during the war, had promised them an era of democracy and self-determination after the war.

• During the war, both sides had launched vicious propaganda to malign & expose each other’s uncivilized colonial record.

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• But after the war soon it became clear from the Paris Peace Conference and other peace treaties that the imperialist powers had no intentions of loosening their hold over the colonies; in fact they went on to divide the colonies of vanquished powers among themselves.

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Indians in WW1

• 1.3 million Indian soldiers served under the British army in the great war

• France, Belgium, East Africa, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Palestine ,Egypt campaigns

• ~50,000 laid down their lives for the British Empire

• India gate, New Delhi - war memorial

Home Rule League Movement

• The Home Rule Movement was the Indian response to the First World War

• Was organized on the lines of the Irish Home Rule Leagues, which represented the emergence of a new trend of aggressive politics

• Annie Besant, the Irish theosophist, had decided of a movement for Home Rule on the lines of the Irish Home Rule Leagues

• Tilak was ready to assume leadership after his release in 1914, and reassured Government of his loyalty and to the Moderates that he, like the Irish Home Rulers, wanted a reform of the administration and not the overthrow of the British Government in India.

©DrMahipalRathore

The home rule league mainly aimed at

Getting self-government for India within the British Empire

Formation of linguistic based states

Education in the vernacular Languages

By Sept. 1915, Annie Besant had launched a campaign to demand self-government for India after the war, on the lines of white colonies (Australia, South Africa and Canada)

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Two Home Rule Leagues were established (not simultaneously) by -

1. B G Tilak at Poona in April 1916

2. Annie Besant at Madras in September 1916

• Tilak’s Movement concentrated on Maharashtra ,Karnataka, Central Provinces and Berar

• Annie Besant’s Movement covered the rest of India

Newspapers :

Maratha and Kesari - BG Tilak

New India and Commonweal - Annie Besant

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*Shyamji Krishna Verma,Bhikaji Cama set up an Indian Home rule Society in London in 1905

*Lala Lajpat Rai started the Indian Home Rule League of America in New York in 1917 (Publication – Young India)

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• The two Leagues cooperated with each other as well with the Congress and the Muslim League in putting their demand for home rule.

• The Home Rule Movement had brought a new life in the national movement (Revival of Swadeshi movement) with women joining in larger numbers.

• It worked round the year , unlike INC

*Who did not Join this movement ?

Anglo-Indians

Most of the Muslims (Jinnah was a core leader of the League though)

Non-Brahmins from South

They all felt Home Rule would mean rule of the Hindu majority, mainly the higher caste Hindus

©DrMahipalRathore

Government Measures against the Home rule movement

• The Government came down with severe repression, especially in Madras where the students were prohibited from attending political meetings.

• Tilak was barred from entering in Punjab & Delhi.

• In 1917, Annie Besant & her associates were arrested which invited nationwide protests (G.Subramaniya Aiyar renounced his knighthood)

• Government decided to placate the nationalists by declaring its intention to grant self-government to Indians, as contained in Montagu’s August 1917 declaration.

©DrMahipalRathore

• Montagu promised the gradual development of self-governing institutions in India. (‘’A responsible govt.’’)

• This August Declaration led to the end of the Home Rule Movement.

• Tilak’s and Besant’s efforts in the Moderate-Extremist reunion at Lucknow (1916) revived the Congress as an effective instrument of Indian nationalism.

©DrMahipalRathore

The Lucknow Pact of 1916

• INC factions united = Moderate + Extremist united

• INC President - Ambica Charan Mazumdar

• An understanding for joint action against the British was reached between the Congress and Muslim League and it was called the Lucknow Pact

• Marked an important step in the Hindu-Muslim unity.

• INC accepted separate electorates (1909) of Muslims for the first time

• Muslims – Angry due to annulment of partition + Denial of Aligarh University as umbrella university + Turkey repercussions in WW1

©DrMahipalRathore

THANK YOU

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