Rise of Nationalism and the Moderate Phase of the Congress (1885–1905)

Why nationalism arose

Indian nationalism was a product of both colonial exploitation and the new conditions created by colonial rule. Main factors:

• Economic exploitation: the drain of wealth, ruin of artisans, high land revenue and frequent famines made all classes feel that British rule hurt India.
• Political, administrative and economic unification: railways, the telegraph, a common legal system and a single administration made India one unit.
• Western education and the English language: a new educated middle class read about liberty, democracy and nationalism (Mill, Rousseau, Mazzini) and could communicate across regions.
• The press and literature: newspapers such as *The Hindu*, *Amrita Bazar Patrika*, *Kesari*, *Bengalee* and *Indian Mirror*, and nationalist literature like Bankim's *Anandamath*, spread political awareness.
• Rediscovery of India's past by Orientalists and Indian scholars, which gave pride.
• Reform movements, which created self-confidence.
• Racial arrogance of the British, and reactionary policies of Lord Lytton (1876–80): the Vernacular Press Act (1878), the Arms Act (1878), lowering the maximum age for the ICS exam from 21 to 19 (1876), and holding the lavish Delhi Durbar (1877) during a famine.
• The Ilbert Bill controversy (1883) under Lord Ripon: the Bill would have allowed Indian judges to try Europeans; fierce European opposition forced a compromise, showing Indians that justice depended on race.

Associations before the Congress

The Indian Association led an all-India agitation against the lowering of the ICS age limit and held the Indian National Conference (1883, 1885), a forerunner of the Congress.

Founding of the Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College on 28 December 1885, with 72 delegates, presided over by W.C. Bonnerjee. A.O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, helped organise it.

Historians debate why it was founded:

• Safety-valve theory: Hume and Viceroy Dufferin wanted a safe outlet for Indian discontent to prevent another 1857. This view was popularised by Lala Lajpat Rai in *Young India* and by some others.
• Lightning conductor view (Bipan Chandra): Indian leaders used Hume as a lightning conductor; a Briton at the head made the organisation less suspicious to the government. The Congress grew out of the work of Indian associations, not out of a British plan.

The Moderates (1885–1905)

The early Congress leaders are called Moderates: Dadabhai Naoroji ("Grand Old Man of India"), Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjee ("Indian Burke", "Rashtraguru"), G.K. Gokhale (Gandhi's political guru), M.G. Ranade, R.C. Dutt, Dinshaw Wacha, W.C. Bonnerjee, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Badruddin Tyabji.

Beliefs: they believed in the basic justness of the British and in British liberalism; they thought India's interests could be served within the empire through gradual, constitutional reform. Their methods were the "3 Ps": prayer, petition and protest – resolutions, memoranda, speeches and newspapers – and lobbying in Britain (the British Committee of the INC, 1889 and the journal *India*). Dadabhai Naoroji became the first Indian elected to the British House of Commons (1892), from Finsbury Central.

Demands:

• Economic: reduce land revenue, end the drain, protect Indian industry, reduce military expenditure and home charges, develop irrigation.
• Constitutional: expand and reform the legislative councils with elected Indian members, and later self-government like the colonies.
• Administrative: simultaneous ICS examinations in India and England, Indianisation of services, separation of judiciary from executive, extension of trial by jury.
• Civil rights: freedom of speech, press and association; opposition to the arms law.

Achievements:

• Built a national political platform and trained a generation in political work.
• The economic critique of colonialism (the drain theory) exposed the exploitative nature of British rule – their most lasting contribution.
• Secured the Indian Councils Act, 1892, which increased the number of members in councils and allowed indirect election (nomination on recommendation of bodies) and discussion of the budget.
• Popularised the ideas of democracy and civil liberties.

Limitations:

• Narrow social base: mostly urban, educated, upper-caste professionals; no mass mobilisation.
• Faith in British justice proved misplaced; achievements were small.
• Did not demand full independence.

The British attitude

At first the government was friendly to the Congress, but soon became hostile. Dufferin called it a "microscopic minority". Lord Curzon (1899–1905) said in 1900 that the Congress was "tottering to its fall" and that one of his great ambitions was to assist it to a peaceful demise. His measures – the Calcutta Corporation Act (1899), the Indian Universities Act (1904) and finally the Partition of Bengal (1905) – angered educated Indians and pushed the movement into a more radical phase.

Role of the press in the Moderate era

Newspapers were the main weapon of the Moderates. Surendranath Banerjee's *The Bengalee*, G. Subramania Iyer's *The Hindu* (1878) and *Swadesamitran*, Sisir Kumar Ghosh's *Amrita Bazar Patrika* (which switched overnight from Bengali to English in 1878 to escape the Vernacular Press Act), Tilak's *Kesari* (Marathi) and *Mahratta* (English), and Gokhale's *Sudharak* criticised government policy, published Congress debates and carried them to small towns. Surendranath Banerjee became the first Indian journalist jailed for contempt of court in 1883. The government responded with sedition cases: Section 124A of the IPC (added in 1870) was used against Tilak in 1897 and 1908.

Gokhale and the Servants of India Society

Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866–1915) represents the best of the Moderate tradition. As a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, he made detailed speeches on the budget, demanded free and compulsory primary education (his Bill of 1911 was rejected), and criticised military spending. He founded the Servants of India Society (1905) to train dedicated national workers who would live simply and serve the country. Gandhi called him his political guru, and his blend of patience, research and public service shaped later constitutional politics.

Why the Moderates lost ground

By 1905 younger nationalists felt that twenty years of petitions had achieved little. Famines and plague in the 1890s, harsh plague measures in Pune, the arrest of Tilak (1897), and Curzon's contempt for Indian opinion convinced many that self-reliance and mass action were needed. This set the stage for the Extremist challenge.

Mains practice question

Q. "The Moderates' greatest contribution was the economic critique of colonialism." Evaluate. (250 words)

Framework: factors behind nationalism; founding of the Congress and theories; Moderate beliefs, methods and demands; drain theory and economic nationalism; achievements and limits; how their work prepared later mass movements.

Quick self-test

1. Who presided over the first Congress session? *(W.C. Bonnerjee)*
2. Who was the first Muslim Congress president? *(Badruddin Tyabji, 1887)*
3. Which Viceroy passed the Vernacular Press Act? *(Lytton, 1878)*
4. Who gave the "safety-valve" description wide currency? *(Lala Lajpat Rai)*