The National Movement: 1885 to 1919

The birth of the Congress

• The Indian National Congress was founded in December 1885 at Bombay. A.O. Hume helped found it, and W.C. Bonnerjee was its first president.
• Moderates (1885–1905): Dadabhai Naoroji ("drain of wealth" theory), Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Pherozeshah Mehta. Their methods were petitions, prayers and protests within the law.
• Extremists: Lal–Bal–Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal). Tilak said: "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it."

Key events in order

Why this period matters

It shows the growth of the movement from petitions to mass protest, and the colonial strategy of "divide and rule" – separate electorates and the partition of Bengal. Mains questions often ask you to compare the moderates and the extremists. Credit both: the moderates exposed the economic exploitation, and the extremists built mass participation.

Background: why an all-India organisation in 1885?

By the 1880s, a new English-educated middle class – lawyers, journalists, teachers – had emerged. Grievances were growing: racial discrimination (the Ilbert Bill controversy, 1883), the lowering of the ICS age limit, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and the Arms Act (1878) under Lytton. Regional bodies already existed (Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, Indian Association, Madras Mahajan Sabha). A.O. Hume helped bring them together, and the Indian National Congress met at Bombay in December 1885 under W.C. Bonnerjee.

The Moderate phase (1885–1905)

Leaders: Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea.

Method: "prayer, petition and protest"; faith in British justice; constitutional means.

Demands: expansion of legislative councils; Indianisation of services; separation of the judiciary from the executive; lower land revenue and military spending.

Achievement: the economic critique of colonialism (the drain theory – Naoroji's Poverty and Un-British Rule in India; R.C. Dutt's Economic History of India). This was their greatest legacy. They also secured the Indian Councils Act 1892.

Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement

Curzon partitioned Bengal (announced in 1905; effective 16 October 1905), officially for administrative convenience. In reality it was meant to divide Bengali nationalists and Hindus from Muslims. The response was the Swadeshi and Boycott movement: bonfires of foreign cloth, national schools (the Bengal National College), swadeshi enterprises (Bengal Chemicals by P.C. Ray), Tagore's "Amar Sonar Bangla" and rakhi bandhan as a symbol of unity. Samitis (Swadesh Bandhab Samiti) mobilised people.

The Extremist (assertive) phase

Lal–Bal–Pal (Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal) and Aurobindo Ghosh demanded Swaraj, with mass mobilisation through the Ganapati and Shivaji festivals (Tilak), passive resistance and boycott. The Surat Split (1907) divided Moderates and Extremists. The government repressed the Extremists – Tilak was sentenced to six years in Mandalay.

Government responses – carrot and stick

Revolutionary nationalism – first wave

• Maharashtra: the Chapekar brothers (the Rand assassination, 1897); Abhinav Bharat (V.D. Savarkar).
• Bengal: Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar; the Alipore bomb case (1908 – Aurobindo was acquitted); Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki.
• Abroad: India House in London (Shyamji Krishna Varma); the Ghadar Party (1913, San Francisco – Lala Har Dayal); the Komagata Maru incident (1914).

Case study: the Swadeshi movement as an economic strategy

Swadeshi was not just political. It created Indian industries and banks, national education, and pride in Indian goods. The links run from Swadeshi to Gandhi's khadi, and later to "Make in India" and "Vocal for Local". It shows how a mass movement can combine economic self-reliance and political protest.

Common misconceptions

• "The Moderates achieved nothing." – Their economic critique exposed the exploitative nature of colonial rule and became the intellectual foundation of the national movement.
• "The Muslim League was founded in 1885." – It was founded in 1906.
• "Dyarchy was introduced at the Centre in 1919." – Dyarchy was in the provinces. The 1935 Act proposed it at the Centre.

How UPSC asks it

Prelims picks sessions and presidents, acts and reforms, newspapers and their editors, revolutionaries. Mains themes include the role of the Moderates, the impact of the Swadeshi movement, and the significance of the Lucknow Pact.

Mains answer framework

Q-type: "Evaluate the contribution of the Moderates to the freedom struggle."

• Intro: the early Congress context and its leaders.
• Positive: political education, the economic critique, a secular all-India platform, the demand for representative institutions.
• Limits: narrow social base, faith in the British, no mass mobilisation.
• Conclusion: they "laid the foundation" on which the Extremists and Gandhi built.

Moderates and extremists compared

Important events timeline

Mains practice question

Q. Evaluate the contribution of the moderates to the national movement. Outline: built a national platform; economic critique of colonial rule (drain of wealth); demand for representative institutions; limited mass base; laid the intellectual foundation that later movements built on.

Check your understanding

1. Why was the partition of Bengal resented? It was seen as an attempt to divide Bengali-speaking people along religious lines and weaken the centre of nationalist activity.
2. What did the Lucknow Pact (1916) achieve? Cooperation between the Congress and the Muslim League, and the reunion of moderates and extremists in the Congress.
3. Why was the Rowlatt Act opposed? It allowed detention without trial, which Indians called "no vakil, no appeal, no daleel".