Tag: civics

The nationalist writers and agitators blamed the British rule for the poverty of the people. They made all efforts to develop self-respect and self-confidence among the people. Assertive Nationalist leaders like Aurobindo Ghose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal asked the nationalists to rely on the abilities.

Swami Vivekananda said "The only hope of India is from the masses. The upper classes are physically and morally dead". Thus, there was the realisation that only the masses could make the immense sacrifices needed to win freedom.

Indians helped the British to develop their colonies in other parts of the world. But everywhere, especially in South Africa, Indians were subjected to racial discrimination. They were  denied the right to vote and could not enter the hotels, clubs, buses or railway coaches reserved for he whites.

From 1905 to 1918, there emerged a new and a younger group of leaders within the Congress who did not agree with the methods and ideology of the Early Nationalist leaders. This group of leaders came  to be known as Assertive Nationalists. Three prominent leaders of this group were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal.

A school of Nationalism had existed in the country from almost the beginning of the national movement. This school was represented by leaders like Rajnarain Bose and Ashwin Kumar Dutta in Bengal.

The main focus of the Assertive Nationalists was to get a large share for Indians in the administration of their country and to end British's economic exploitation of India. They adopted the policy of non-cooperation and resistance to unjust act of the British government. They gave new slogans to the national movement like 'non-cooperation, passive resistance, mass agitation and self reliance'.

The efforts made by the moderate leaders through their writings, agitations and petitions to the British government, exposed the true character of the British rule in India. It was felt that the British rule was responsible for the economic ruin of India and her growing poverty. Some of the political events from 1892 to 1905 like the reduction the number of Indian members in the Calcutta Corporation, the restrictions on the press etc, made Indians realise that instead of giving them more rights, the British were taking away even their few existing rights. All this convinced the Indians that India could not make progress unless British imperialism was replaced by a government run by them. Thus, the Assertive Nationalist ideology found favour with the masses.

The main focus of the Assertive Nationalists was to get a large share for Indians in the administration of their country and to end Britain's economic exploitation of India. They believed that this objective could not be realised without pressure tactics and some sort of direct action. The methods adopted by them can be grouped into four categories. They are:

• Swadeshi
• Boycott
• National Education
• Passive Resistance

Tilak and other Assertive Nationalists had the following four-fold programme for effective political action for the attainment of Swaraj:

• Boycott
• Swadeshi
• National Education
• Resistance: passive, as well as active

The main focus of the Assertive Nationalism was to get a large share for Indians in the administration of their country and to end Britain's economic exploitation of India. They believed that these objectives could not be realised without pressure tactics and some sort of direct action.