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FREEDOM MOVEMENT
THE POWER OF THE PEN
Eternal India
encyclopedia
Chronology
1822
Mirat-ul-Akbar
Ram Mohan Roy
1912
A1 Hilal
Abul Kalam Azad
1822
Bombay Samachar
Fardoonjee Mazban
1913
Bombay Chronicle
Pherozshah Mehta
1853
Hindoo Patriot
Harischandra Mukherji
1918
Young India & Naujivan
Gandhi
1878
Kesari
Tilak
1919
Pratap
AryaSamai
1878
Maharatta
Tilak
1923
Hindustan Times
Akali
1881
The Hindu
G. Subramanya Iyer
1933
Harijan
Gandhi
1905
Bande Mataram
Aurobindo Ghosh
1942
Dawn
Muslim League
Bengal Gazette 1780
J A Hicky (Founder)
Object :
A weekly political commercial
paper open to all parties but influenced
by none.
Weekly Madras Courier
1785
Bombay Herald
1789
Bombay Samachar
1822
Hindoo
Patriot
1853
(Editor : Haris Chandra Mukherji)
Object:
A fair and manly advocacy of the
interests of the country and an impartial
exposition of the social and political evils
with which she is now afflicted.
A free press and the dominion of strang-
ers are things which are incompatible and
which cannot long exist together; for what is
the first duty of a free press? It is to deliver the
country from a foreign yoke and to sacrifice to
this one great object every measure and con-
sideration.
- Munro
12 April
1822.
Free press is the best protection
against sedition and revolution.
-
Elphinstone.
“To make a desolation and call it peace, to
hush free speech and curb free action and to call
it law and order, to demand submission and
servility and to call it loyalty is easy but is it worth
while ? Will such things not breed their own crops
of evil?... ”
“Lord Zetland is not for peace. That is the
impression the statement in the House of Lords is
bound to leave on the mind of the Indian public.
If he represents the attitude of H.M.'s Govern-
ment correctly they are singularly unmindful of
the realities of the Indian situation and contemp-
tuous of Indian opinion as it has unmistakably mani-
fested itself. ”
The Hindu,
April 17, 1919
National consciousness and awareness of India's degraded
condition became evident in the formation of political associations
like the Bombay Association (1852), the British Indian Association
in Calcutta (1851) and the Madras Native Association. These as-
sociations exerted pressure on the British government through pe-
titions and by mobilizing political opinion in Britain. . The East
Indian Association (Britain) was formed to promote Indian inter-
ests.
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (1870), Indian Association (1876),
Madras Mahajana Sabha (1884), Bombay Presidency Association
(1885) were formed by more radical elements. They voiced the
discontent against various Acts like the Arms Act and the Ver-
nacular Press Act (1878), removal of import duties on British
textiles, use of Indian resources in Colonial wars and the govern-
ments surrender to the racial arrogance of Europeans over the
Ilbert Bill.
The most significant development and powerful force that
sustained Nationalism during this period was the Indian-owned
press. By the end of the 19th century about 500 Indian newspapers
and journals were published all over India. While the English
papers provided political education for their English-speaking
readers, the Indian-language papers or vernacular press benefited
the Indian readers.
The earliest newspapers were weeklies brought out by Eng-
lishmen in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras during the second half of
the 18th century. Then the Indian weeklies followed, the most
notable amongst them was the ‘
Sambad Kaumudi’
of Calcutta for
which Raja Ram Mohan Roy wrote regularly.
The first dailies to appear were financed by members of the
British business community in order to promote their commercial
interests. Then came the Indian-owned English dailies including
the
Amrit Bazar Patrika
of Calcutta,
The Hindu
of Madras,
The
Leader
of Allahabad,
The Tribune
of Lahore,
Kesari
and a larger
number of Indian language dailies.
The Indian owned press examined every move of the British
government. The press became a major vehicle for expressing
India's national aspirations. The influence of the Indian-language
papers far exceeded that of their Indian-owned English counter-
parts because of their wider readership. The papers of Bengal and
Maharashtra were more forthright and daring in their comments
than the English papers. The British Government began to regard
the Indian language press as a thorough nuisance. In 1878, the
government brought out the Vernacular Press Act which sought to
curb the freedom of the Vernacular Press. This Act made it clear
that nationalism had become a living force in India.
In the meantime, nationalists like Bankim Chandra Chatterji
contributed to the cause of Nationalism through his writings.
Bankim Chandra's Bengali novels like
'Anandmath
’ which con-
tained the patriotic hymn ‘
Bande Mataram'
glorified the past.
Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) emerged as the foremost
leader of the country. He propounded the economic drain theory by
which he devoted himself to the task of convincing the British that
it ruined India systematically draining it of its great wealth. Like-
wise, Mahadev Govind Ranade's ‘
Poona Sarvajanik Sabha
’ (1870)
also was a moving spirit.
Surendranath Banerjee (1848-1926) founded the Indian As-
sociation in 1876. He voiced his concern against the Vernacular
Press Act and the Government's decision of 1876 lowering the age
limit for entrance to the I.C.S to 19 years.
The Aligarh movement was started by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
which aimed at popularising the use of Urdu amongst the Muslims
and to soften Muslim resistance to Western education. He set up
the Muslim Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh.