Tag: early nationalists

from 1885 to 1905, the Congress was led by a group of leaders known as the Early Nationalists. They were staunch believers in open minded and moderate politics. So they called the moderates.

Indian Council Act of 1892 laid the foundation of parliamentary system in India. It increased the number of additional (non-official) members in the Central and provincial legislative councils, but maintained official majority in them. It also gave them the power of discussing budget and addressing questions to the executive.

Their constitutional demands were:

1. Abolition of the India Council Act.
2. Expansion of the legislative council and Legislative Assemblies, both Central and Provincial.
3. Increase in the membership of Indians by including some members elected by local bodies like chambers of commerce, universities, etc. in these councils and by giving greater powers to them. They demanded Indian control over the public purse and raised the slogan "No taxation without representation".
4. By the beginning of the 20th century, they demanded for Swaraj (self-rule) within the British Empire similar to the self-governing colonies in Canada and Australia.
5. Adequate representation of Indians in the executive council of the Viceroy and those of the governors.

Hindu College was founded in 1899 by Krishan Dassji Gurwale in the backdrop of the nationalist struggle against the British Raj. Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was appointed teacher in English literature and history at the new Hindu College in 1826. He was a radical thinker and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning and science among the young men of Bengal.

Surendranath Banerjee was born in Calcutta (Kolkata), in the province of Bengal to a Bengali Brahmins family. He was deeply influenced in liberal, progressive thinking by his father Durga Charan Banerjee, a doctor. Banerjee was educated at the Parental Academic Institution and at the Hindu College. After graduating from the University of Calcutta, he traveled to England in 1868, along with Romesh Chunder Dutt and Behari Lal Gupta, to compete in the Indian Civil Service examinations. He cleared the competitive examination in 1869, but was barred owing to a dispute over his exact age. After clearing the matter in the courts, Banerjee cleared the exam again in 1871 and was posted as assistant magistrate in Sylhet.Banerjee was soon dismissed for making a serious judicial error. He went to England to appeal his discharge, but was unsuccessful because, he felt, of racial discrimination.

Dadabhai Naroji the Grand Old Man of India, was of the opinion that the British were basically just and good. He wanted to place the true state of affairs in India before the people of England.