Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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FREEDOM MOVEMENT

serious differences between the two; a resolu-

tion urging the annulment of the partition was

moved. The resolution stated,

"Whereas the

people

......

have no say in matters of admini-

stration

the Congress is of the view that the

boycott movement... against the partition of

Bengal was and is still justified".

Supporting

the resolution, Bipin Chandra Pal hinted that

boycott means

‘total non-co-operation with

the government’.

Similarly resolutions on

swadeshi, national education and self-govern-

ment were passed. The important achieve-

ments of the Calcutta Congress, was the ac-

ceptance of the two terms

'Swaraj'

and 'self-

government' as the political objective. One

important effect had been that the undisputed

authority of the moderates in the field of

politics was on the wane.

The tempo of the national movement

rose with the deportation of Lajpat Rai and

Ajit Singh of Punjab and the prosecution of

the

Sandhya

and

Bande Mataram

for publish-

ing seditious articles. The radical wing of

Tilak and Aurobindo decided on a showdown

when the venue of the Congress was shifted

from Poona to Surat and Tilak's claim to the

presidency was rejected for that of Rashbehari

Ghose.

SURAT SPLIT

At the Surat session in 1907, the Con-

gress broke up in chaos. The nationalists

had been split into two warring camps.

The split was due to many causes.

There were fundamental differences be-

tween the moderates and extremists over

the loyalty to the English, ultimate goal,

method, approach and strategy. Further the

resolutions passed at the Calcutta Congress

were more the offspring of a compromise

rather than unity.

The Calcutta Congress fixed the next

venue at Nagpur but later it was shifted to

Surat - a stronghold of moderates. Dissat-

isfied with the resolutions of the Calcutta

session the moderates tried to undo the

same at Surat much against the wishes of

extremists. Difficulties also arose over the

election of the President; while extremists

proposed the' name of Lajpat Rai; the mod-

erates wanted Rashbehari Ghose as the

President.

The Surat session of Dec. 26 1907

ended amidst chaos over the pruning of some

of the resolutions and the Dec. 27 session was

adjourned when Tilak asked for a place on the

platform to address the delegates.

The moderates later met on 28th Dec.

1907

and took steps to change the constitution

of the Congress in a way which deterred the

extremists. For the next 7 years, the Congress

was the meeting place of the moderates. The

moderates blamed the extremists for the Surat

split. However it cannot be denied that the

Surat split not only weakened the Indian Na-

tional Congress but it virtually destroyed its

effectiveness till the Lucknow session of 1916.

During the Lucknow session in 1916, both

the Congress and the Muslim League held

their annual sessions at Lucknow. It was in

that atmosphere of give and take that the

Lucknow pact was signed by the two. As per

the provisions of the pact, the provinces were

to be free from the control of the Central

government in matters of finance and admini-

stration.

1909 - MINTO-MORLEY REFORMS

The British bureaucrats in India particu-

larly during the tenure of Lord Curzon and

Minto were utterly hostile to Congressmen

who spoke of the need for introducing greater

representative institutions. However, the

militant nationalists and the revolutionaries

forced the Government to think of concili-

atory steps. The Government encouraged

Muslim separatism and tried to separate

moderates from the extremists by constitutional

reforms. Minto, Curzon’s successor as Vice-

roy, had decided to play the game of ‘Divide

and Rule.’ Certain reforms were introduced in

1909, which came to be called the Minto-

Morley Reforms. These reforms provided for

the participation of qualified Indians in Gov-

ernment in deciding public issues.

According to the reforms an Indian was

to be appointed a member of the Governor-

General's Executive Council and of each of

the Provincial Executive Councils.

Satyendra Prasanna Sinha (later the first

Sinha of Raipur) had the honour to be the first

Indian, appointed Law Member of the Gover-

nor-General's Council. Lord Morley clearly

laid down that the Governor-Generals Coun-

cil

"in its legislative as well as its executive

character should continue to be so constituted

as to ensure its constant and uninterrupted

power to fulfill the constitutional obligations

that it owes and must always owe to his Maj-

esty's government and to the Imperial Parlia-

ment".

The Act raised the number of the

members of the Executive Councils of Bom-

bay and Madras to 4. In 1909 an Executive

Council was introduced in Bengal and in 1912

the newly formed province of Bihar and Orissa

had one. The Act gave the authority to the

government to constitute an Executive Coun-

cil for a Lieutenant Governor's province also.

The Act increased the size of the legisla-

tive councils. The additional members of the

Govemor-General's Council were increased

up to a maximum of 60, those of Madras,

Bombay, Bengal, UP, Bihar and Orissa to a

maximum of 50 and those of the Punjab,

Burma and Assam to 30. The Governor-Gen-

eral had the power to nominate three non-

officials to the Governor- General's Council to.

represent certain specified communities and

he had also at his disposal 12 other seats to be

filled by nomination. The remaining 27 seats

were to be filled by non-official elected

members, some of whom represented certain

special constituencies such as landowners in

seven provinces, the Muhameddans in 5 prov-

inces and two chambers of commerce in Cal-

cutta and Bombay. The Act did not provide for

an official majority in the provincial legis-

lative councils. The majority of the members

were to be non-officials. Some of the non-of-

ficials were to be nominated by the Governor.

There were three main types of elector-

ates for the Central Legislature : (1) general,

consisting of non-official members of the pro-

vincial legislative councils; (2) class, such as

Muslims and landholders ; and (3) special,

like the universities and chambers of com-

merce. Muslim landlords and European capi-

talists got reserved seats.

The functions of the legislative councils

were increased. Elaborate rules, were made for

the discussion of the budget in the Imperial

Legislative Council. Every member was given

the right to move any resolution relating to any

alteration in taxation, any new loan or any

additional grant to local governments