Response Papers.doc

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Seminar on The Lesser Known Aspects of the Indian National Movement

Response Papers

Arvind Srinivas

1555, 5th Year,

National Law School of India University Bangalore


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Article I

Chaman Lal, Revolutionary Legacy of Bhagat Singh1

Relevance Today

The author starts of by saying that Bhagat Sighs story is one which needs to be retold to inspire

people in the face of neo-imperialism by the US today. The relevance of Bhagat Singh's quotes and

actions in todays world are brought out in the first part of the article.

Bhagat Singh's Legacy

The author deals with the development of Bhagat Singh into the revolutionary that he was. He deals

with the work of Bhagat Singh for the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. However, according to the author,the most famous part of the legacy of Indias struggle against imperialism that Bhagat Singh has left

behind is his act of throwing non lethal bombs in the Parliament to make the deaf hear. The

Famous slogans of Inquilaab Zindabad and Down with Imperialism accompaning this act show

a change from the earlier Bande Mataram. This change was not merely linguistic in nature but

marked the rise of a higher consciousness of the Indian freedom struggle.

Belief in Socialism and Communism

Bhagat Singh believed that the key to uprooting slavery was to understand the system of

exploitation in the world over. He adopted the marxist version of liberation. Bhagat Singh worked

for the Hindustan Republican Association, which was later changed to the HSRA on his insistence,

the S standing for Socialist, marking a changed ideology and not merely a semantic one. The author

extols the writings of Bhagat Singh on these topics.

The Central Legislative Assembly Bombing

This incident find a prominent pace in the article.Lal deals with the propoganda that Bhagat Singh

carried out through the bombing. It needs an explosion to make the deaf hear". This was the

opening line of the pamphlets that were distributed by Bhagat Singh and B K Dutt in the central

assembly the had thrown harmless bombs in vacant places with the two main aims of exposing

British colonialism and British brutalities on the other.

Unfulfilled Movement

The Revolutionaries wanted to focus on organizing peasants, workers and the youth which would

1 C. Lal , Revolutionary Legacy of Bhagat Singh,Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 37 (Sep. 15 - 21,2007), pp. 3714.


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require an open struggle However due to their revolutionary activities, the members of the HSRA

found themselves in a tight spot. Combined with the Central Legislative bombing, the Saunders

murder case drove them underground. The Revolutionaries bravely continued their propaganda by

deed while in prison via their hunger strike and in the proceedings in court.

What the Revolutionaries Achieved

There were two main contributions that the Revolutionaries made, according to Chaman Lal. One

was that they exposed the ugly face of British colonialism before the masses of India. Secondly,

Bhagat Singh was deeply involved in his own ideological development and thus made a

breakthrough in revolutionary ideology in India. The author lauds the fact that even while going to

the gallows, Bhagat Singh was deeply immersed in a serious study of world revolutionary history

and was bent on spreading his message of anti-imperialism loud and clear. Bhagat Singh's story isset out as an example for people to follow in todays world and is set out as an inspiration to fight

the latent forces of colonialism that exist.

A Critique of the Article

Chaman Lal begins with the premise that neo imperialism can be fought by following Bhagat

Singh's story. Unfortunately, he doesnt follow up on this premise. What begins as an interesting

parallel ends u p being a routine description of Bhagat Singh's life. One wishes that the parallel had

been extended to every incident in Bhagat Singh's life as they are actually relevant to current

circumstances. For example the need for a socialist movement is as necessary today as it was at that

time. The British were driven out only to be replaced by their Indian counterparts. It would have

been better if the author would have developed this point. Of course, the author does a stellar job of

fitting the whole of Bhagat Singh's life into eight pages and as a description, the article is highly

informative. A final problem with the article is the almost worshipful tone that the author adopts

while describing Bhagat Singh and the last part of the article sounds too close to preaching the path

of revolution. What started as an article that was very promising in its premise ends up being an

informative, yet disappointing narration of events.

Article II

Atis Dasgupta. Centenary of Martyrdom of Four Militant Nationalists of Bengal 2

Focus of the Article

2 A. Dasgupta, Centenary of Martyrdom of Four Militant Nationalists of Bengal, Social Scientist, Vol. 38, No. 1/2(Jan. - Feb., 2010), pp. 77-87


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The focus of the article is on the events involving four early revolutionaries who operated in the

Bengal region. Prafulla Chaki, Khudiram Bose, Kanailal Dutta, and Satyendranath Bose laid down

their lives in 1908 in their struggle against British imperialism. Having acquired a distaste for the

wordy politics of the moderate leaders of the Indian National Congress, the struggle for swaraj

became a militant struggle and subsequently the British unleashed a reign of terror.

Charges Against the Revolutionaries

Khudiram, Kanailal, and Satyendranath went to the gallows bravely inside the prison of the colonial

rulers. Broadly accused fortreason orwaging waragainst the British Government and arrested for

the Muraripukur bomb case, Muzaffarpur assassination case, Medinipur conspiracy case, and the

Alipore bomb case, they also faced another charge which was of killing another inmate a member

of Kanialals party who acted as an approver in their trial.

Confessions of Two Kinds

A common tactic of the militants was to give confessions for the militant activities carried out in the

geographical region from where they were arrested. The British however soon learnt about this

tactic. Often there were disagreements among party leadership about whether to give confessions or

not and to what extent. But despite these disagreements they did not react to the path adopted by the

other. However, the case of Narendranath Gossain was different and he was assassinated for his

second confession to the British whereby he turned approver.

The Assassination of Narendranath

Narendranath Gossain, who was arrested with others subsequently joined forces with the British

authorities and became an approver. In his second confession to the police, he revealed a substantial

amount of organizational details of the militant secret societies. Pursuant to this he was lodged with

the European prisoners. Kanailal and Satyendranath planned the killing of Narendranath and with

Aurobindo Ghosh's support they acquired two pistols. Kanailal faked illness and while he was taken

to the prison hospital along with Satyendranath, they killed Narendranath. This incident had two

purposes. First, the purpose was to kill Narendranath before he divulged more information about the

organisation and its activities and secondly to send a chill through the British regime that a crime of

such measure could happen under their very nose. The acts of these revolutionaries gained them

widespread mass support to the extent where the British refused to hand over the ashes of the

executed revolutionaries, fearing that they would be sold and would lead to further mobilisation of

the masses.


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Importance of the Article

When we think about the revolutionary element of the Indian National Movement, the first people

who come to mind are Bhagat singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. What people tend to forget is that, as

famous as these incidents were, they were part of a much larger tradition of revolution. This article

discusses four such revolutionaries whose stories are largely forgotten and have been drowned in

the larger narrative that is the freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress. Even when

discussing the Bengal revolutionaries, the Chittagong group led by Surya Sen dominate the

discussion due to the scale of activity, advanced planning and most of all due to their depiction in

popular culture as revolutionaries of note. This article shows us that the early revolutionaries were

no less astute in their planning and no less courageous in their actions. To slip in weapons into a

British prison and then assassinate a highly protected turncoat obviously needs an unimaginable

degree of planning and courage. The impact that they had in terms of shaking the belief of theBritish in their invincibility was no less than the impact that the more popular revolutionaries had.

The article is one of the few attempts to get lesser known stories of the freedom struggle out into the

public domain and it reinforces the fact that every story and every contribution, however small,

deserves to be told and appreciated. It does not matter that the article is merely a description of

events with minimal analysis of aspects such as the ideology and beliefs of the revolutionaries being

discussed. The first step to understanding these aspects would be to know about the events

themselves and that purpose is well served by the article.

Article III

Irfan Habib, The Left and the National Movement3

Marx and Indian Liberation

The Left as understood in the National Movement is essentially the sum total of all those elements

at that time which owed allegiance to the socialist outlook. Marx according to Habib, inspite of

prioritizing issues relating to capitalism and class struggle took a keen interest in Indias Liberation

Movement. Both Marx and Engels criticized the British bourgeoisie approach in India. Habib also

clarifies that the Indian National Congress did not exactly have any connections with the working

class movement which was sweeping Europe and America.

Soviet Revolution and Communist International

3 I. Habib, The Left and the National Movement, Social Scientist, Vol. 26, No.5/6 (May June, 1998),pp.3-33.


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Habib comments on how until the Soviet revolution the national liberation movement did not have a

socialist component. The October revolution was the turning point. Over a period of time the

socialist movement began to be considered a distinct part of the National Movement. Despite this

Lenin recognised that essentially every nationalist movement in the enslaved countries had to be a

bourgeois democratic movement. He realised that a majority of the population was too poor or

backward to care or actually do something tangible. Habib also points out a strange situation which

existed in these countries. MN Roy travelled to Tashkent, answering the call for need to form

communist organisations.

Emergence of Socialist and Left Ideals in India

This emergence can be attributed to the early writing by Dadabhai Naoroji concentrating on the

poverty of Indians and subsequent mobilization of the masses by Gandhi. Habib points out themanner in which Gandhi carefully moved towards the mobilizing opinion against the land owners.

There were scattered protests against the land holding patterns all over the country. Even the

Congress had realised that their struggle needed to translate into a movement involving workers and

peasants.

Meerut, the Suppression of Communists and the Evolution of the Left

Communists were persecuted heavily by the Government in the Cawnpore and Peshawar

Conspiracy cases. The heaviest blow was dealt in the Meerut Conspiracy case which proved to be a

turning point in the career of the Left in India. The Left really got going only after the Meerut

accused were released from prison, which was in 1933. In a period of a mere fourteen years this

group of young men set up mass organisations of workers, peasants and students, on an impressive

scale. This set the intellectual agenda for the entire National Movement on a whole range of issues.

The Left achieved all this despite severe repression, including long years of incarceration.

The major part of the article deals with the evolution of the left into the National Front and then into

the Communist Party, which was the only part of the National Front to negotiate successfully with

the British to stop the persecution of the Communists. It also outlines the role that the Communists

played in dealing with the communal violence during partition.


The history of the Communist Movement in India is a story of incredible sacrifice, courage and

dedication. Facing constant persecution by the British and also opposition from the Indian elite, the


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Communists worked tirelessly for the masses. M.N. Roy and his comrades took up organisation at

the grassroots and even though in the larger picture the impact was middling at best, as is evidenced

by their limited popularity post Independence, they were the true mass oriented element of the

National Movement. As Bhagat Singh puts it the masses might not be for the Revolution but the

Revolution is for the masses.

Further the Communists were one of the few elements in the freedom movement who ascribed to a

concrete set of ideas. They were the first significant Party to oppose communalism and generally

reduced the ideological vacuum that the National Movement ultimately became. For this alone, no

discussion of the National Movement would be complete without a tribute, such as is paid by Habib

at the end of the paper, to the Left in the National Movement.

Article IV

Amit Kumar Gupta, Defying Death: Nationalist Revolutionism in India, 1897-19384

There are three phases of revolutionary activity discussed in this article which are as follows:

Activity in the First Phase (1897-1910)

With indirect help from Tilak, the assassination of Rand, the British Plague Commissioner, on June

22nd 1897 by the Chapekar brothers heralded the beginning of planned revolutionary activity in

India. The first phase ends with with the persecution of the Abhinav Bharat group in the Nasik

Conspiracy Case including life imprisonment for Ganesh Savarkar. The Revolutionaries retaliated

with the assassination of Sir Curzon Wyllie and the back and forth continued as the British hanged

Madan Lal Dhingra and Khudiram Bose. Aurobindo Ghosh seems to be the driving force in this

phase and activity came to a halt with him leaving for Pondicherry.

In the first phase the methods of the Revolutionaries resemble those of the European anarchists in

the use of political dacoities for funds, though there is no idelogical similarity between the two

groups. Though the Revolutionaries developed a vague relationship with British socialist, H.M.

Hyndman; the French socialists, Jean Jaures and Jean Longuet; the Russian social democrat,

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Amit Kumar Gupta, Defying Death: Nationalist Revolutionism in India, 1897-1938, Social Scientist, Vol. 25, No.9/10 (Sep. - Oct., 1997), pp. 3-27


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Michael Pavlovich, and the Russian anarchist, Nicholas Sofronski, Hindu mysticism was dominant

among them. This proved to be a hindrance as other communities could not relate to the Hindu

symbols being used. The impact they had was in inspiring later revolutionaries, such as Bhagat

Singh, in their fearless approach towards death

The Second Phase of Revolution (1911-1918)

Activity in the second phase had its origins outside the country. tTe Ghadar Movement, was created

by Sohan Singh Bhakna. in British Columbia and the Pacific Coast states of the United States of

America. Other movements included the Free Hindustan movement set up by Taraknath Das in

Vancouver, Canada. The revolutionaries abroad had maintained links with their home lan and

during WWI saw an opportunity to overthrow the British. Some similarity can be found here

between the Indians and the Irish although no proof of any connections between the two exists. TheGhadar Movement planned to procure arms from enemies of the British, such as Germany, transport

them to India and train an army to fight the British. Arms were procured but the transportation was

bungled and they never reached India. The masses also did not join the movement in large numbers

and the organisation, apart from that of some competent leaders like Rash Behari Ghosh, was weak

and ultimately failed. The Ghadar was explicitly secular and shunned the use of Hindu mysticism.

However the approach to death remained in the mould of Dhingra and Khudiram Bose.

The Third Phase (1919 - 1938)

The withdrawal of the Non Cooperation Movement in 1922 and prevailing social circumstances of

extreme poverty and oppression were the driving forces for the beginning of the third phase of

revolution. A third driving force was the upsurge of communism, socialism and the Russian

Revolution.

The revolutionary groups realized that the emancipation of the people, being dependent on the

building up of an egalitarian society, needed to be a prominent part of their propaganda. It was the

first concerted effort by these groups to create a ideological discourse around their activities. This

was especially true of the Indian Republican Army and the Hindustan Republican Association,

which later transformed into the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army. The ideological trend of the

H.R.A. progressed further in the socialistic direction and in due course took the shape of a

Marxism-oriented revolutionary political ideology under its successor organisation, the Hindustan

Socialist Republican Army.

The HSRA through Bhagt Singh and his comrades and the Indian Republican Army led by Surya


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Sen carried out significant revolutionary activity simultaneously. Bhagat Singh and B.K. Dutt

bombed the Central Legislative Assembly and for this Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were

hanged. Surya Sen led a group including many women revolutionaries, another characteristic of the

third phase, in a raid on the chittagong Armoury and on the railway and telegraph lines in Bengal.

Ultimately this group too was eliminated by the British after three years of fighting. The impact that

these revolutionaries had was tremendous. The author says that at the time of his death Bhagat

Singh was as popular as Gandhi. Surya Sen also achieved fame to a lesser degree.

After the exit of Bhagat Singh and his comrades and that of Surya Sen the nationalist revolution in

India reached a saturation point, wherefrom it could go further ahead only by becoming drastically

more innovative than all its past advances. This was not easy to do by remaining purely

nationalistic, and by practicing revolutionism wholly through the secret societies. Consequently, somany demonstrations of individual heroics, and acts of startling reprisals in Punjab, Bihar, Tripura

and other places, between 1932 and 1935, could not really produce any breakthrough.


The article looks at revolution in the national movement as happening in three distinct phases but as

being one continuing process on the whole. Generally the links drawn between the three phases is

tenuous, but the author displays the common threads running through the phases extremely well.

For example the attitude towards death taken up by the Revolutionaries across the phases remained

the same fearless one.

The second important contribution of the article is that it shows us the evolution of the revolution. It

shows the transition from the Hindu mysticism of the first phase to the ideologically mature

revolutionaries of the third phase. Further the author discusses the transition from the revolution

being admired from a distance in the first phase to the intense adoration that Bhagat Singh acquired

through his actions. Another aspect of this evolution is the ending of male dominance in

revolutionary activities especially in Bengal with the immense acts performed by Pritilata

Waddedar, Shanti Ghosh and numerous other women. One thing remained constant however and

that was the desire of the revolutionaries to embrace death so that the revolution itself would be

deathless.

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