UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION

PRELIMS 2019 SPECIAL

LECTURE 36

MCQs – STATIC – MODERN INDIA

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HOME RULE LEAGUE MOVEMENT

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✓Factors leading to the Movement

✓How were the leagues formed?

✓Programme under Homer Rule League

✓Government’s Reaction

✓Reasons for fade-out

✓Significance of the Movement

The Moderates were disillusioned with the Morley- Minto reforms.2

A section of the nationalists felt that popular pressure was required to attain concessions from the government.1

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FACTORS LEADING TO MOVEMENT

People were feeling the burden of wartime miseries caused by high taxation and a rise in prices, and were readyto participate in any aggressive movement of protest.

3

The war, being fought among the major imperialist powers of the day and backed by naked propaganda againsteach other, exposed the myth of white superiority.

4

Tilak was ready to assume leadership after his release in June 1914, and had made conciliatory gestures—to the government reassuring it of his loyalty and to the Moderates that he wanted, like the Irish Home Rulers, areform of the administration and not an overthrow of the government.

5

FORMATION OF LEAGUES

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Attempts were made in 1914 for Moderate-Extremist rapprochement, but it could not reap any substantialresults.

2

It was well realised that sanction of the Congress (‘moderate’ dominated) as well as full cooperation of theextremists was essential for the movement to succeed.

1

By early 1915, Annie Besant had launched a campaign to demand self-government for India after the war on thelines of white colonies.

3

She campaigned through her newspapers, “NEW INDIA” and “COMMONWEAL”, and through public meetings andconferences.

4

At the annual session of the Congress in 1915 (BOMBAY/ S.P. SINHA), the efforts of Tilak and Besant met withsome success. It was decided that the Extremists be admitted to the Congress.

5

FORMATION OF LEAGUES

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Although Besant failed to get the Congress to approve her scheme of Home Rule Leagues, the Congress didcommit itself to a programme of educative propaganda and to a revival of local-level Congress committees.

1

TILAK’S LEAGUE BESANT’S LEAGUE

▪ Tilak set up his Home Rule League in April1916 and it was restricted to Maharashtra(excluding Bombay city), Karnataka, CentralProvinces and Berar.

▪ It had six branches and the demandsincluded:✓ Swaraj✓ Formation of linguistic states✓ Education in the vernacular

▪ Annie Besant set up her league in September 1916 in Madras and covered the rest of India (including Bombay city).

▪ It had 200 branches, was loosely organisedas compared to Tilak’s League and had George Arundale as the organisingsecretary.

▪ Besides Arundale, the main work was done by B.W. Wadia and C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar.

PROGRAMMES UNDER LEAGUES

It carried a much wider appeal than the earlier mobilisations had and also attracted the hitherto ‘politicallybackward’ regions of Gujarat and Sindh.

2

The League campaign aimed to convey to the common man the message of home rule as self-government.1

STRATEGIES

Political education

Libraries with books on national

politics

Holding conferences

Classes on politics

Propaganda

Collecting funds

Social work

Participating in local

government activities

PROGRAMMES UNDER LEAGUES

Many of the Moderate Congressmen who were disillusioned with Congress inactivity, and some members ofGokhale’s Servants of India Society also joined the agitation.

2

The Home Rule agitation was later joined by Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, Chittaranjan Das,Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Lala Lajpat Rai.

1

However, Anglo-Indians, most of the Muslims and non-brahmins from the South did not join as they felt HomeRule would mean rule of the Hindu majority, and that too mainly by the high caste.

3

GOVERNMENT’S REACTION

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A case was instituted against Tilak which was, however, rescinded by the high court. Tilak was barred fromentering the Punjab and Delhi.

2

The government came down with severe repression, especially in Madras where the students were prohibitedfrom attending political meetings.

1

In June 1917, Annie Besant and her associates, B.P. Wadia and George Arundale, were arrested. This invitednationwide protest.

3

In a dramatic gesture, Sir S. Subramaniya Aiyar renounced his knighthood while Tilak advocated a programme ofpassive resistance.

4

IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT

SUPPRESSION

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The repression only served to harden the attitude of the agitators and strengthen their resolve to resist thegovernment.

Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, commented that “Shiva ...cut his wife into fifty-two pieces only todiscover that he had fifty-two wives. This is what happens to the Government of India when it interns MrsBesant.” Annie Besant was released in September 1917.

REASONS FOR FADE OUT

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Communal riots were witnessed during 1917-18.2

There was a lack of effective organization.1

Moderates who had joined the Congress after Annie Besant’s arrest were pacified by talk of reforms (contained inMontagu’s statement of August 1917 which held self-government as the long-term goal of the British rule inIndia) and Besant’s release.

3

Talk of passive resistance by the Extremists kept the Moderates away from activity from September 1918onwards.

4

REASONS FOR FADE OUT

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The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms which became known in July 1918 further divided the nationalist ranks.5

Tilak had to go abroad (September 1918) in connection with a case while Annie Besant vacillated over herresponse to the reforms and the techniques of passive resistance. With Besant unable to give a positive lead andTilak away in England, the movement was left leaderless.

6

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MOVEMENT

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It created an organizational link between the town and the country (villages), which was to prove crucial in lateryears when the national movement entered its mass phase in a true sense.

2

The movement shifted the emphasis from the educated elite to the masses and added a new dimension and asense of urgency to the Indian freedom struggle.

1

It created a generation of ardent nationalists and prepared the masses for politics of the Gandhian style, whereinthe freedom movement entered a truly mass phase.

3

The August 1917 declaration of Montagu and the Montford reforms were influenced by the Home Rule agitation.4

The Home Rule Leagues and the associated activities had some positive effects andcontributed to the fresh direction that the freedom struggle was to take in the coming years.

Q. Consider the following statements regarding the Home Rule Movement:

1) It was led jointly by Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak.

2) It was acknowledged and actively supported by the Indian National Congress.

3) Formation of linguistic states and education in vernacular were a few of its demands

Which of the above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) All are correct

Answer : c

QUESTION 1

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Q. Arrange the following events in the correct chronological order (from earliest to latest):

1) Announcement of Mont-Ford reforms by the British.

2) Lokmanya Tilak sets up his home rule league

3) Annie Besant sets up her home rule league

4) Annie Besant presides the Congress Session

Select the correct code:

a) 3-2-4-1

b) 2-3-4-1

c) 1-2-3-4

d) 1-3-2-4

Answer : b

QUESTION 2

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Q. Journals and newspapers by the nationalist leaders played a crucial role in the freedom

struggle of India. In this context which of the following is/are correctly matched?

Select the correct code:

a) 1 and 3 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) All are correctly matched

Answer : c

QUESTION 3

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1 – New India Mahatma Gandhi

2 – Commonweal Annie Besant

3 – Kesari Balgangadhar Tilak

Q. Home Rule Movement was an important landmark event in the history of Indian freedom

struggle. In this context which of the following can be regarded as the significance of home rule

movement.

1. It prepared the people for a mass struggle.

2. It succeeded in attracting some ‘moderate’ leaders to join the home rule agitation.

3. Readmission of extremists into Congress.

Select the correct code:

a) 1 and 3 only

b) 3 only

c) All of the above

d) None of the above

Answer : c

QUESTION 4

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Q. The ‘Home Rule Movement’ succeeded in creating a generation of ardent nationalists, yet

the movement faded out by 1919. Which of the following is/are not the cause/s of this?

1. Complete absence of the support by the ‘Moderates’.

2. Montagu’s August statement (1917).

3. Lack of an effective organization.

Select the correct code:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 3only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) All of the above

Answer : a

QUESTION 5

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