In the previous posts, we have read about the Government of India act, 1858, and India’s Council Act, 1861. Though the act of 1858 and 1861 was progressive in nature. But they also became the cause of frustration for the educated middle class. So, this class appeared on the political platform of India. From here organized nationalism feeling started spreading all over India.
Organized Nationalism
The educated middle class was frustrated by some provisions of the act of 1858 and the act of 1861. So, they thought that it would be better to join the mainstream political platform of India. So, this was the beginning of Organized Nationalism in India. Therefore, it saw the emergence of a political organization like,
- East India Association, 1866: Dada Bhai Naraoji started this organization in London. The objective of this organization was to inform the British Parliament and people about the necessities and requirements of the Indian people.
- Indian Association, 1876: Satendra Nath Banerjee and Anand Mohan Bose started this organization in Bengal. This was to raise the voice against the misrule of the British Government.
In this way, from 1860-80 British Empire faced two challenges as shown in the below figure,
To handle both challenges Lord Lytton deputed as the Viceroy of India in 1876.
Lord Lytton(1876-1880)
Organized Nationalism v/s Vernacular Press Act, 1878
Satendra Nath Banerjee called Press as the Bolt from the Blue. William Bentinck used Press to share the initiatives of the Government with the people.
But during the period of Lord Lytton, the circumstances were different. The people of the end of the 19th century of India were much more aware of their exploitation and were not able to bear with it. This period also saw the birth of Organized Nationalism in India.
So, to resolve this problem Lord Lytton came out with the Vernacular Press Act, 1878. Under it, Lytton put the ban on newspapers in the local language.
Because in the early 19th-century Library Movement was started in India. So, by imposing a complete ban on the vernacular language newspaper Lytton wanted to stop the library movement, which was doing work to awake the masses against exploitation.
Amrit Bazar Patrika, a Bengali newspaper turned towards English to protect itself from this act. Press, in reality, is a safety valve of government because of different reasons. Press is generally termed as Chimney in a House. Lord Lytton tried to put the store slab on this Chimney, which was disliked by the intellectual class of the country.
Imperial Civil Services Issue
The entry of Indians into Civil Services was becoming a challenge for the British Government in India. Because Indians were getting awaken by the exploitative policies of British rule. To overcome this challenge Lord Lytton took two steps,
- He started statutory Civil Services, which was subordinate services, in which direct recruitment of the upper class was allowed by the government. It failed to get a response from Indians. So, Lytton took the next step.
- He reduced the age of ICS aspirants from 21 to 19. This irritated the educated middle class. So, Satendra Nath Banerjee took up the issue and organized first all India propaganda.
Arms Act
Under the Arms act of 1878, Lytton declared that the Indians will require a license to keep the arms. While Europeans will be exempted from it. In this way, exploiters were given support from the government, while the issues of exploitation were neglected.
Organization of Delhi Durbar
After the Revolt of 1857, the Mughal Dynasty completely came to an end. The ruling class surrendered to the British Government. In this situation, to give official acceptance to Queen Victoria, as a ruler of India, Lytton organized Delhi Durbar.
The organization of Delhi Durbar did not bother the masses of India. But at the same time, India was facing a deadly famine. People were asking the government to do something to help them to get over this famine. But Lytton refused to help by saying that the government is facing a financial crisis.
The Strachey Commission was appointed to check the condition of the famine. The Commission also recommended immediate state help to the people. But Lytton did not listen to the recommendations. In spite of all, he spent funds on the organization of Delhi Durbar. He spent a huge amount of money on the pomp and show of Delhi Durbar. This was in no case digestible for the masses.
Reduction of Import Duty to Minimum
Industrial Revolution took place in India after the 1850s. So, the industrialist required protection and promotion from the government. Instead of this Lytton reduced import duty to the minimum level. This obviously flooded the Indian market with foreign goods. So, this irritated the emerging industrialists’ section of India. The last blunder of Lytton was the Afghan War.
Second Afghan War
During the end of the 19th century, Russia was interfering in Central Asian politics. So, as a precautionary step, Lytton wanted to turn Afghanistan into a buffer state. he failed to convince Afghanis peacefully. This led to the Second Anglo-Afghan War. So, this war proved disastrous for Lytton and the British Government.
Lord Lytton came to India to handle the challenges. But he accidentally created more challenges for the Britisher Rule in India. His policies implanted the seeds of organized nationalism in India. Though he failed to handle the situation in India. But some of his proposals were very far-seeing like,
- He wanted to keep India on Gold Standard. So, he introduced the Modern Currency System.
- He aspired for the creation of the North-Eastern Frontier Province.
- He also wanted to create a Chamber of Princes in India.
The spark of Organized Nationalism turned into a fire in the later years. In this scenario, a very liberal viceroy deputed to India. It was Lord Ripon. We shall read about Lord Ripon’s period in the next coming post.
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