Spectrum Test: The Era of Militant Nationalism (1905-1909) - UPSC MCQ

Direct political action was the feature of this Military School. The basic tenets of this school of thought were: 

• hatred for foreign rule; since no hope could be derived from it, Indians should work out their own salvation; 

• swaraj to be the goal of national movement; 

• direct political action required; 

• belief in the capacity of the masses to challenge the authority 

• sacrifice is required and a true Nationalist to be always ready for it

• By the dawn of the twentieth century, a band of nationalist thinkers had emerged who advocated a more militant approach to political work. 

• These included Raj Narain Bose, Ashwini Kumar Datta, Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal in Bengal; Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Maharashtra, and Lala Lajpat Rai in Punjab. Tilak emerged as the most outstanding representative of this school of thought.

• The leader of the anti-partition Movement in Delhi was Syed Haider Raja. 

• On October 16, 1905, the partition formally came into force, was observed as a day of mourning throughout Bengal. 

• People fasted, bathed in the Ganga, and walked barefoot in processions singing Bande Mataram (which almost spontaneously became the movement's theme song). 

• Amar Sonar Bangla', the national anthem of present-day Bangladesh, was composed by Rabindranath Tagore and was sung by huge crowds marching in the streets. 

• People tied rakhis on each other's hands as a symbol of unity of the two halves of Bengal. Later in the day, Surendranath Banerjea and Ananda Mohan Bose addressed huge gatherings (perhaps the largest till then under the nationalist banner). 

• Within a few hours of the meeting, Rs 50,000 was raised for the movement. Soon, the movement spread to other parts of the country-in Poona and Bombay under Tilak, in Punjab under Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, in Delhi under Syed Haider Kaza, and in Madras under Chidambaram Pillai.

• The militant nationalists led by Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh wanted the movement to be taken outside Bengal to other parts of the country beyond a boycott of foreign goods to become a full-fledged political mass struggle to attain swaraj. 

• But the Moderates, dominating the Congress at that time, were not willing to go that far. However, a big step forward was taken at the Congress session held at Calcutta (1906) under Dadabhai Naoroji, where it was declared that the goal of the Indian National Congress was "self-government or swaraj like the United Kingdom or the colonies" of Australia or Canada. 

• The Moderate-Extremist dispute over the movement's pace and techniques of struggle reached a deadlock at the Surat session of the Indian National Congress (1907) where the party split with serious consequences for the Swadeshi Movement.

Indian National Congress annual session in 1905: Gopal Krishna Gokhale

• Bengal National College, inspired by Tagore's Shantiniketan, was set up with Aurobindo Ghosh. 

• Soon national schools and colleges sprang up in various parts of the country. 

• On August 15, 1906, the National Council of Education was set up to organize a literary, scientific and technical system on national lines and under national control. A Bengal Institute of Technology was set up.

 All of them

Explanation: The Morley-Minto Reforms, also known as the Indian Councils Act of 1909, introduced several changes to the legislative councils in British India. These changes provided the legislature with the power to:

1. Ask questions: The members of the legislative councils were now allowed to ask questions on various matters related to public interest, although they could not ask questions regarding certain sensitive matters like public safety, defense, or foreign affairs.

2. Pass resolutions: The members could now move resolutions on various matters relating to the administration, the public interest, and welfare of the people. This allowed the legislators to express their opinions and make recommendations for the government to consider.

3. Vote separate items of the budget: The members were given the power to vote on separate items of the budget, which allowed them to scrutinize the government's financial proposals and exert some influence over public spending.

These reforms expanded the powers of the legislative councils in British India and marked a significant step towards greater participation of Indians in the governance of their country.et.

Extent of mass participation - students, women, certain sections of zamindari, labour, some lower-middle and middle classes in towns and cities participated for the first time while the Muslims generally kept away.