The biggest contribution of the Extremists was the Swadeshi Movement. The leaders of the Extremist lobby were against the Bengal Partition on the basis of Religion. So, they started the Swadeshi Movement as the proposal of Bengal Partition came into 1903.
So, in this post, we shall read about the contribution of every section of the society in the Swadeshi Movement.
Swadeshi Movement
First All India Movement
Swadeshi Movement can be considered as the first all India movement. Because in 1903 there was all India organization like Indian National Congress. The people got the inspiration from the Ilbert Bill Controversy ie Unity is Strength.
Therefore, although the issue was the partition of Bengal. But Swadeshi Movement saw the presence at all India levels. Example,
Motivation: Self Reliance
The most important feature of the Swadeshi Movement was self-reliance or Atma-Shakti. In the Ramacharita Manas, Goswami Tulsidas said,
Paradhin Sapanehun Sukh Nahin!
According to Tulsidas, a dependent person cannot enjoy even in his dreams. So, India during the 20th century was completely dependent on Britain for every basic necessity.
So, this was one of the important reasons for the slavery of India. In this situation, the Swadeshi Movement emphasized self-reliance. Therefore, under it three important targets were,
- Education
- Villages
- Industries
Education
Education is the soul of the family, society, and nation. So, to the 20th-century education was at the hand of the British government. This government was propagating the philosophy of the civilizing mission. So, this was the hurdle in the growth of nationalism in India.
So, in this scenario, the important steps of the movement were,
- Established the National Educational Council in 1906 to propagate education on nationalist lines.
- Primary education in Vernacular languages.
- Promotion of technological education. For this established Bengal Institute of Technology, 1906. Meritorious students of this college were sent to Japan for higher education.
It was a very good move of the Swadeshi Movement. This strengthened the national freedom struggle because it started giving birth to the class in the society which was inclined towards nationalism. Bhagat Singh, Sukh Dev, Bhagwati Prasad Vohra, Jatin Das, etc had a total impact on this phase of the Indian Freedom Struggle.
Villages
India is an agricultural country, where villages are the base of the economy, society, and nation. During this time, the very base of society was suffering from the harsh taxation system imposed on them. They were also suffering from some social evils like poverty, the caste system, and child marriage, etc.
But Swadeshi Movement declared a fight against these evils with the help of self-help groups. The most famous group was Swadesh Bandhav Samiti formed by Ashwini Kumar Dutt. So, all these kinds of Samities moved to the people and tried to awaken them for self-dependence and against the social evils.
Industries
India in 1905 was dependent on British products for all its requirements. So, the Swadeshi Movement emphasized the establishment of small-scale units to fulfill day to day requirements. Therefore this led to the establishment of a number of small industrial units in Bengal.
But within a short span of time, most of the units were closed with few exceptions like Bengal Chemical Factory by P.C. Ray. It happened due to the fact that Indian goods were not able to compete with the British goods plus certain communities in India were not good entrepreneurs.
Though the establishment of industries did not create any strong impact on this British Market. But first time in British Raj Indians understood the importance of the economy. As the moderates have shown the economic exploitation of India to the masses. So, the extremists took the steps to hurt the British economy in a different manner by boycotting British goods.
Promotion of ideology of Indian Culture
Culture creates a Bond of Unity and in 1905, there was nothing like Indian Culture. This was the hurdle in the freedom struggle. So, in this scenario, the Swadeshi Movement decided to strengthen the concept of Indian Culture. Therefore, they established the Indian Society of Oriental Arts in 1907.
The objective of this society was to promote the concept of Indian Culture. The first award winner of this organization was Nand Lal Bose because he gave the concept of Bharat Mata. So, this led to the increased mass participation of middle-class women and children.
Swadeshi Movement was a very big development in the freedom struggle of India. But as it was just a beginning so it has certain limitations,
- Repression by the government.
- Internal Struggle.
- Failed to attract Muslim majority especially farmers.
- Extremists did not understand the limitation of the mass movement. So, any mass movement cannot be extended to the limitless time.
But if we see it in a holistic manner, it was a good achievement of extremists. They succeeded in creating tension for the government. But this achievement did not last long because of the Surat Split of 1907!!!!
We shall discuss Surat Split of 1907 in the next coming post.
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