Political Associations

Political associations in Bengal

1.Bangabhasha Prakasika Sabha

• Founded in 1836 by associates of Raja Rammohan Roy

• Members- Gouri Sankar Bhattacharya, Durgaprasad Tarkapanchanan Prasanna Kr. Thakur, Kalinath Chowdhury, Dwarakanath Tagore and others

• The sabha's president was Gouri Sankar Bhattacharya, and the secretary was Durgaprasad Tarkapanchanan

  Aim

• Promotion of vernacular literature of Bengal

• Development of education etc.

2.Landlords Society (Zamindari Association)

• Founded in Calcutta on 12 November 1837

• Members- Prasanna Kumar Tagore, Ramkamal Sen, Dwarkanath Tagore and Radhakant Deb etc.

• The member of this association used the method of constitutional agitation to solve their problems. They sought to preserve the economic interest of the landlords

• The Zamindari Association was merged with the Bengal British India Society and they together formed the British India Association.

3.Bengal British India Society

• Founded on 20 April 1843 in England

• Members- William Adam, George Thompson, Dwarkanath Tagore, Chandra Mohan Chatterjee, and Parmananda Maitra etc.

• George Thomas was the Secretary of the British Indian Society

   Aim

• The society was aimed to collect and disseminate the information relating to the actual conditions of the people in India under the British rule

• It aimed to follow peaceful way to secure welfare of the people.

• The Landholder’s society and Bengal British India Society could not achieve much success

4.British Indian association

• Founded on 29th October, 1851 by merging Landholder society and Bengal British India Society

• Raja Radhakant Dev and Debendranath Tagore was its President and secretary respectively

• It propagated its ideology among the masses through the newspaper “Hindu Patriot” which had a very critical political tone. Its editor was Harish Chandra Mukherjee.

Aim-The Association was established to oppose the Europeans in India who agitated against the four bills drafted by Bethune, the Law member of the Government in 1849 in order to extend the jurisdiction of the East India Company‘s criminal courts over the British born subjects.

  Demands-

• establishment of a separate legislature

• separation of judiciary from executive

• reduction salary of the officials

• abolition of salt duty

The Association also demanded additional grant for education. The charter Act of 1853 provided for the addition of six members to the Governor General’s council as demanded by the association

  Limitations

• The Association was the representative body of the zamindars only. It was never been a popular organization of all India people. The Association also failed to meet aspirations of the rapidly growing middle class.

5.Indian association -

• Founded at a public meeting at Calcutta on 26th July, 1876 by Anand Mohan Ghosh and Surendra Nath Banerjee. Their method was the constitutional agitation and secure signature of the people is sent petitions to the British Authority.

• The Indian National Association was originally established as Bharat Sabha

  Aim & objectives

• The creation of a strong public opinion of political matter.

• The promotion of Hindu Muslim unity.

• The participation of the masses in public movement.

 They agitated against

• The civil service rules in which the upper age limit for the civil service examination was reduced from 21 to 19 year by the British government

• Vernacular Press Act and Arms Act, 1878 -Lord Lytton, the governor introduced the vernacular press Act which brought many restrictions upon the press. It tried to limit the freedom of the press and the subject

• The Ilbert Bill Agitation 1883- The Association supported the Ilbert Bill and protested against the imprisonment of S.N. Banerjee. Consequently, S.N. Banerjee was released on 4 July 1883

•  In 1883, Ilbert, the law member of the viceroy’s council, tried to abolish inequality in judicial matters. It sought to bring Englishman under the jurisdiction of Indian Magistrate. The Europeans in India opposed this move by all means. The Government yielded to the pressure and bill was modified.       

6.Indian national conference

• Founded in 1883

• Despite the remarkable achievements of the Indian Association, it was called a provincial association. Therefore, the Association determined to call the All – India National Conference

• NOTE- Surendra Nath Banerjee supported A.O. Hume to form the Indian National Congress

7.Indian league

• Founded in 1875

• Founder- Sisir Kumar Ghosh (published the Amrita Bazar Patrika + He was among the first students to pass Calcutta University's first entrance examination in 1857)

Political associations in Bombay

1.Bombay association

• The Bombay Association was the first political organization in Bombay Presidency founded by Jagannath Shankarsheth on 26 August 1852.

• Various members were Sir Jamshedji Jejeebhoy, Jagannath Shankarsheth, Naoroji Fursungi, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad, Dadabhai Naoroji, Naoroji Furdunji and Vinayak Shankarshet.

• In 1869, Dr. R.G. Bhandarkar, M.G. Ranade and some other prominent public personalities of Bombay joined the Association

• Sir Jamshedji Jejibhai was the first president of the organization.

  Demands

• reform of the Indian Civil Service reforms in the East India Company of the Legal system, and of the Executive Government

• extension of public work to encourage production

• reform in the Indian educational system

• holding of examinations of the Civil Services simultaneously in England and India and urged the Government to raise the age limit of Indians to participate in such competitive examinations.

• However, it is worth remembering that the leaders of the Association had full faith in the British Government particularly in the Parliament

2.Poona sarvajanik sabha

• Founded on April 2, 1870, in Poona

   Aim

• The aim of the Sabha was to represent the wants and wishes of the inhabitants of the Deccan

• The members of the Sabha worked to secure wider participation for the Maharashtrian people in the administration of the Bombay Presidency

   Members

• The Sardars, Jahagirdars, Sawkars and the educated members in society were the members of the Sabha

• Mahadev Govind Ranade, a renowned lawyer and scholar from the Bombay Presidency, was also a committed social reformer. He was instrumental in the formation of the Sarvajanik Sabha

• Other members include- Sarvajanik Kaka, Ganesh Vasudev Joshi, S H Chiplunkar , M M Kunte, Vishnu M Bhide, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Gopal Hari Deshmukh  etc.

• In 1895, the Sabha was split due to the political differences among its leaders. The extremist leaders took over the Sabha

3.Bombay presidency association

• The Bombay Presidency was established as a result of the reactionary policies of Lytton and Ilbert Bill.

• Founded in jan. 1885

• Leaders- Phirozeshah Mehta, K.T. Telang and Badruddin Tyabji

• In September 1885, the Bombay Presidency Association, the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, the Mahajana Sabha of Madras and the Indian Association of Calcutta sent a joint deputation to England to present India’s case before the British electorate

• The Association advocated for Indian interests and hosted the first meeting of the Indian National Congress in Bombay in late 1885.

• The Bombay Presidency Association. From the beginning, the association had friendly relations with the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha

Political associations in Madras

1.Madras mahajan sabha

• Founded in May 1884 by Ranigiah Naydu, P. Anand Charlu and other members

  Demands

• Reforms in legislative councils

• separation of executive from judiciary

• positive charges in the condition of the farmer

• simultaneous civil service examinations in England and India

•  the abolition of the Council of India in London

• tax cuts, and cuts in civil and military spending

• The members of Madras Mahajan Sabha were actively involved in the foundation of Indian National Congress

  Facts about madras mahajan sabha

• In 1885, P. Rangaiah Naidu was elected President of the Sabha.

• The Mahajana Sabha convened for the first time between December 29, 1884, and January 2, 1885. In its early days, the Sabha pursued a moderate policy

• On April 22, 1930, the Sabha organized the Salt Satyagraha movement in Madras' George Town

2.Madras Native Association

• A Branch of the British Indian Association was set up in Madras under the name of Madras Native Association

• Founded in 1852 by publicist Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty

• It was the first organization in the Madras Presidency to advocate for Indian rights. This organization did not last long, and it was eventually disbanded

Other-

1.East Indian association

• Founded in London in 1867

• Founder- Dadabhai Nawrojee

• Lord Lyveden became the first president of the organization.

• This Association incorporated within its ambit the National Indian Association in 1949 and became the Britain, India, and Pakistan Association.