Extremists group was majorly dominated by young nationalists who had a aggressive approach against the british empire. The extremist leaders like tilak, bipin chandra pal and lala lajpat rai were extremely critical of the ideology and methodology of the moderate leadership
Leaders
- Bal gangadhara tilak, bipin chandra pal, lala lajpat rai and aurobindo ghose etc.
Reasons for the rise of extremists
1.Economic exploitation by britishers for example high taxation,drain of wealth etc.
2.Rise of militant groups ex. -bankim chandra in bengal and vishnu shastri chiplunkar in maharashtra. Lokmanya tilak was the prolific representative of the nationalist school. Bankim chandra’s literary work ‘anandmath’ became the source of inspiration for the extremist.
3. Growth of self confidence
4. Failure of moderates to bring any major constructive change while working with britishers
5.Reactionary policies of lord curzon like
- He increased the official control over the indian universities in the name of educational reforms
- His indian official secret act aimed protecting the oppressive officials from public criticism
- Partition of bengal
Ideology & steps taken by extremists
- They did not have an exaggerated admiration for the british connection, with india nor did they accept british raj as providential
- They advised the revival of ancient ideas and institutions & looked more to the past history of india than to the west
- Ending and not mending of the british rule was their major objective
Methods/steps/work done by them
- Public meetings and processions emerged as major methods of mass mobilisation and this led to increase the reach of extremists to the greater number of peoples
- Increasing the literacy and educational related infrastructure-n 1905 at the venue of the benaras session of the indian national congress the movement for national education and an idea of establishing the banaras hindu university emerged. Pandit madan mohan malaviya placed the concept of founding a hindu university and the move was supported by lokmanya tilak. At this time the ‘nagari pracharini sabha’ organized a meeting and it was addressed by tilak. In his speech he pleaded for adoption of the devnagari script to propagate education all over india
- Focus on swarajaya i.e., self-rule-lokmanya tilak gave famous slogan “swarajya is my birthright and i shall have it” . Tilak wanted to spread the message of self-rule to the people. In may 1915 he gave speech in belgaon in which he said that swarajya is the natural right of the people and in order to win it the formation of home rule league is absolutely essential
- Use of swadeshi or indian goods- the idea to use indian goods focused on self-reliance and non-dependence upon britishers .
- Lokmanya tilak wrote editorials in ‘kesari’ on swadeshi, boycott and appealed to the people to participate in the movement. Tilak also invited liberal leaders like gokhale
- Non payment of taxes and revenue- this was also one of the methods used by them to show passive resistance towards britishers.
Contributions of extremists
- They were the first who relied their faith on masses and their capacity to wage struggle eg. Tilak's celebration of shivaji festival was meant to arouse masses and this led to development of nationalism among masses
- They formed secret organisations to recruit passionate youths eg. Abhinav bharat, anushilan samiti etc., which led in proper utilisation of energy of youth in freedom struggle they involved the educated middle class and lower middle class in their fight which were untouched previously
- Sense of pride: since the ideology of extremists appealed to past glory of indian culture and civilisation, they tried to instil a sense of pride among indians by boycott of foreign goods, organising indian festivals etc.
Difference between moderates and extremists
|
Moderates |
Extremists |
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Social base: zamindars and upper middle class |
Educated middle and lower middle class |
|
Ideological inspiration: western liberal thought and european history |
Indian history, cultural heritage and hindu traditional symbols |
|
Believed in england’s providential mission in india |
Rejected providential mission theory as an illusion |
|
Believed political connections with the britain to be india’s social, political and cultural interests |
Believed that political connection with the britain would perpetuate british exploitation of india |
|
Professed loyalty to the british crown |
British crown was unworthy |
|
The movement should be limited to middle class intelligential; masses not yet ready for participation in political work |
Had immense faith in the capacity of the masses to participate and to make sacrifice |
|
Demands constitutional reforms and share for indian services |
Demand swaraj as the panacea for indian ills |
|
Insisted on the use of constitutional methods only |
Did not hesitate to use extra-constitutional methods like boycott and passive resistance to achieve their objectives |
Extremists leaders
1.Bal gangadhar tilak
- Keshav gangadhar tilak was born on 23 july 1856 in ratnagiri
- He was also known as lokamanya tilak
- In 1916, he set up home rule league at poona and given slogan- "swaraj is my birth-right and i will have it”
- He found the deccan education society and was the co-founder of fergusson college
- He found the deccan education society and was the co-founder of fergusson college
2.Lala lajpat rai
- He was popularly known as punjab kesari & 'lion of punjab'.
- He played an important role in the swadeshi movement. His famous slogan- ‘go back simon’
- Born on 28 january 1865 in dhudike, india
- He was influenced by swami dayananda saraswati and joined the arya samaj in lahore.
- He fought against untouchability.
- He was opposed to the partition of bengal.
- He founded the home rule league of america in 1917 in new york
- He founded the servants of people society in 1921
3.Bipin chandra pal
- Pal was born on november 7, 1858 in at sylhet (now in bangladesh)
- He was the editor of the ‘democrat’, the ‘independent’ and many other journals and newspapers
- He was a member of the brahmo samaj and believed in the equality of men and women.
- He was a member of the brahmo samaj and believed in the equality of men and women.
4.Aurobindo ghosh
- Aurobindo ghose was born in calcutta on 15th august 1872
- Editor of an english newspaper called bande mataram (in 1905).
- He was imprisoned in 1908 in alipore bomb case