In the last post, we have read about the India Council Act 1909. This act widened the scope of communalism in India. This act came with a feature of a separate electorate, which divided Indian society on the basis of religion. Though this was a well-planned move of Britishers. But, our people unknowingly became the victim of this act.
So, the defense of India act of 1908 took strict action against the extremist leaders. So, many leaders escaped India. Therefore the people or masses became helpless. Whereas the government was taking brutal steps to suppress the masses.
In this situation, Revolutionary Nationalism gave the next phase of Freedom Struggle. In this post, we shall discuss the Revolutionary Nationalism phase-I.
Revolutionary Nationalism
Preface
The youth of India was disappointed as the leaders escaped from India. So, instead of being helpless, they started secret organizations like Anusheelan Samiti, Yugantar, etc. The prominent leaders were Ras Bihari Bose, Madan Lal Dhingra, Chapekar Brothers, etc.
They got inspiration from contemporary world dynamics. Such as, in 1896, Ethiopia defeated Italy. In 1905 Japan defeated Russia. They also got inspiration from the Irish Republican Army and Nihilist movement in Russia.
From all these contemporary world events, their understanding was all the people who do not oppose the wrong dynamics of their government have to suffer. So, the youth denied all the religious constraints and united to fight against the suppressive or exploitative government.
In the real sense, they were the nationalist, who created pressure on the government during the period when all the nationalist activities in the country were sidelined due to the brutal suppression by the government. These nationalists were simply extraordinary people who do not even worried about their lives.
Therefore, their contribution to the freedom struggle of India is incomparable. One must not use a term like the revolutionary terrorist for them.
Features
During 1907, India was suffering from illiteracy and poverty. So, it was not possible to convince people to form organizations to fight against the most brutal imperialistic power of that time. Therefore revolutionary nationalists emphasized individualism.
The assassination of maligned officials was an important feature of the revolutionary nationalism phase-I. Because it became the medium to awake the government. I remember one of the dialogues of the movie The Legend of Bhagat Singh (Though he was a member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Phase-II of Revolutionary Nationalism),
Beharon ko sunane ke liyee Dhamake ki jarurat hoti hai. (when Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutta threw the bomb in the legislative assembly)
So, as in phase-I, revolutionary nationalists attempted to assassinate Kingsford, a notorious judge of Muzzafarpur.
Revolutionaries of this phase emphasized self-sacrifice to awaken the masses. The revolutionaries of this phase were actually fighting for the dignity and respect of the masses of the nation. Important events of this phase were,
Evaluation
Any imperialistic Government can not bow down before the culture of Gun. So, this group had no extensive achievements from the government. But then also, they have a very important place in our freedom struggle of India. Because they maintained the stream of freedom struggle after the Surat Split 1907.
The youth of this phase saved the dignity and respect of India and Indians. They were too successful in creating pressure on the British government. So, this was brief about the revolutionary nationalism in India. In the next coming post, we shall discuss Ghadar Movement.
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