Modern History Class 10

Home Rule Movement

Gandhi in Africa
Home Rule League Movement
• Prominent leaders—Balgangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant,
G.S. Khaparde, Sir S. Subramania Iyer, Joseph Baptista
and Mohammad Ali Jinnah among others
 They decided that it was necessary to have a national
alliance that would work throughout the year (unlike
the Congress which had annual sessions) with the main
objective of demanding self-government or home rule
for all of India within the British commonwealth.
 This alliance was to be the All India Home Rule League
along the lines of the Irish Home Rule League.
• Having failed at the 1914 session of the Congress to reach a
Moderate-Extremist rapprochement, Tilak and Besant
decided to revive political activity on their own
• Annie Besant campaigned through her newspapers, New
India and Commonwealth, and through public meetings
and conferences.
• At the annual session of the Congress in 1915, It was
decided that the Extremists be admitted to the Congress.
• But Besant failed to get the Congress to approve her
scheme of Home Rule Leagues
• In the end, two Home Rule Leagues were launched—one
by Balgangadhar Tilak and the other by Annie Besant.
Tilak’s League
• Tilak set up his Indian Home Rule League in April 1916.
• Poona was the headquarters of his league.
• His league was restricted to Maharashtra (excluding
Bombay city), Karnataka, Central Provinces and Berar.
• Held his first meeting at Belgaum.
 It had six branches and the demands included swarajya,
formation of linguistic states and education in the
vernacular.
 Besant’s League
• Annie Besant set up her All-India Home Rule League in
September 1916 in Madras and covered the rest of
India (including Bombay city).
• It had 200 branches, was loosely organised as compared
to Tilak’s league and had George Arundale as the
organising secretary.
• Besides Arundale, the main work was done by B.W.
Wadia and C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar.
The Home Rule League Programme
• The League campaign aimed to convey to the common
man the message of home rule as self-government.
• The Russian Revolution of 1917 proved to be an added
advantage for the Home Rule campaign.
 The Home Rule agitation was later joined by Motilal
Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai,
Chittaranjan Das, K.M. Munshi, B. Chakravarti,
Saifuddin Kitchlew, Madan Mohan Malaviya,
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Lala
Lajpat Rai.
 Some of these leaders became heads of local branches
of Annie Besant’s League.
 Mohammad Ali Jinnah led the Bombay division.
• Many of the Moderate Congressmen who were disillusioned
with Congress inactivity, and some members of Gokhale’s
Servants of India Society also joined the agitation.
• However, Anglo-Indians, most of the Muslims and non-
brahmins from the South did not join as they felt Home Rule
would mean rule of the Hindu majority, and that too mainly
by the high caste.
Government Attitude
• The government came down with severe repression,
especially in Madras where the students were prohibited
from attending political meetings.
• A case was instituted against Tilak which was, however,
rescinded by the high court.
• Tilak was barred from entering the Punjab and Delhi.
• In June 1917, Annie Besant and her associates, B.P. Wadia
and George Arundale, were arrested.
• This invited nationwide protest.
• Sir S. Subramaniya Aiyar renounced his knighthood.
Why the Agitation Faded Out?
 There was a lack of effective organisation.
 Communal riots were witnessed during 1917-18.
 The Moderates who had joined the Congress after Annie
Besant’s arrest were pacified by talk of reforms contained in
Montagu’s statement of August 1917.
 Talk of passive resistance by the Extremists kept the
Moderates away from activity from September 1918 onwards.
 The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms which became known in
July 1918 further divided the nationalist ranks
 Annie Besant vacillated over her response to the
reforms and the techniques of passive resistance.
 Tilak had to go abroad (September 1918) in connection
with a libel case against Valentine Chirol whose book,
Indian Unrest, had featured Tilak as responsible for the
agitational politics that had developed in India.
 In 1920, Gandhi became the president of the All India
Home Rule League, and changed the organisation’s
name to Swarajya Sabha.
 Within a year the league joined the Indian National
Congress.
Positives
• The movement shifted the emphasis from the educated elite to
the masses and permanently deflected the movement from
the course mapped by the Moderates.
• It created an organisational link between the town and the
country.
• It prepared the masses for politics of the Gandhian style.
• The August 1917 declaration of Montagu and the Montford
reforms were influenced by the Home Rule agitation.
• It carried a much wider appeal than the earlier mobilisations
had and also attracted the hitherto ‘politically backward’
regions of Gujarat and Sindh.
In 1920, which of the following changed its name to
"Swarajya Sabha"?
(a) All India Home Rule League
(b) Hindu Mahasabha
(c) South Indian Liberal Federation
(d) The Servants of India Society
Consider the following statements: The most effective contribution
made by Dadabhai Naoroji to the cause of Indian National Movement
was that he
1. Exposed the economic exploitation of India by the British.
2. Interpreted the ancient Indian texts and restored the self-
confidence of Indians.
3. Stressed the need for eradication of all the social evils before
anything else.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Lucknow Session of the Indian National Congress (1916)
• Presided over by a Moderate, Ambika Charan Majumdar.
• Readmitted the Extremists led by Tilak to the Congress
fold.
Lucknow Pact between Congress and Muslim League
 Congress accepted the Muslim League’s position on
separate electorates which would continue till any one
community demanded joint electorates.
 The Muslims were also granted a fixed proportion of seats
in the legislatures at all-India and provincial levels.
 League agreed to present joint constitutional demands
with the Congress to the government.
The joint demands were—
 Government should declare that it would confer self-
government on Indians at an early date.
 The representative assemblies at the central as well as
provincial level should be further expanded with an elected
majority and more powers given to them.
 The term of the legislative council should be five years.
 The salaries of the Secretary of State for India should be
paid by the British treasury.
 Half the members of the viceroy’s and provincial
governors’ executive councils should be Indians.
Reasons for the shift in the League’s position
There were many :
• Britain’s refusal to help Turkey (ruled by the Khalifa
who claimed religio-political leadership of all Muslims)
in its wars angered the Muslims.
• Annulment of partition of Bengal in 1911 had
annoyed those sections of the Muslims who had
supported the partition.
• The refusal of the British government in India to set
up a university at Aligarh with powers to affiliate
colleges all over India also alienated some Muslims.
• Maulana Azad’s Al Hilal and Mohammad Ali’s
Comrade faced suppression while the leaders such as
Ali brothers, Maulana Azad and Hasrat Mohani faced
internment.
 Montagu’s Statement of August 1917
• The statement was also known as the August
Declaration of 1917.
• The statement said: “The government policy is of an
increasing participation of Indians in every branch
of administration and gradual development of self-
governing institutions with a view to the
progressive realisation of responsible government
in India as an integral part of the British Empire.”
Significance of the statement
• From now onwards, the demand by nationalists for self-
government or home rule could not be termed as
seditious since attainment of self-government for Indians
now became a government policy, unlike Morley’s
statement in 1909 that the reforms were not intended to
give self-government to India.
• Also, in the use of the term ‘responsible government’ was
implied the condition that the rulers were to be
answerable to the elected representatives, and not only
to the imperial government in London.
Government of India Act of 1919 / Montagu Chelmsford
Reforms
• Separated the central and provincial subjects.
• A bicameral arrangement was introduced at central level.
 The lower house or Central Legislative Assembly -5
years
 the upper house or Council of State – 3 years
 In the viceroy’s executive council, three were to be
Indians.(other than the commander-in-chief)
• The Secretary of State for India was henceforth to be paid
out of the British exchequer.
• Direct elections were introduced.
• It extended the principle of communal representation by
providing separate electorates for Sikhs, Indian Christians,
Anglo-Indians and Europeans.
• Introduction of Diarchy at Provincial level
• Divided the provincial subjects into two parts—
transferred and reserved.
 transferred subjects were to be administered by
ministers nominated from legislative council
 reserved subjects were to be administered by the
governor through his executive council
• The ministers were to be responsible to the legislature
• Executive councillors were not to be responsible to the
legislature.
• In case of failure of constitutional machinery in the
province the governor could take over the
administration of transferred subjects also.
• The secretary of state for India and the governor-
general could interfere in respect of reserved subjects.
• Provided for the establishment of a public service
commission
• It provided for the appointment of a statutory
commission to inquire into and report on its working
after ten years.
With reference to the book “Desher Katha” written by Sakharam Ganesh
Deuskar during the freedom struggle, consider the following statements :

(1) It warned against the Colonial State’s hypnotic conquest of the mind.
(2) It inspired the performance of swadeshi street plays and folk songs.
(3) The use of ‘desh’ by Deuskar was in the specific context of the region
of Bengal.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
He wrote biographies of Mazzini, Garibaldi, Shivaji
and Shrikrishna ; stayed in America for some time;
and was also elected to the Central Assembly. He
was:
(a) Aurobindo Ghosh
(b) Bipin Chandra Pal
(c) Lala Lajpat Rai
(d) Motilal Nehru
Born in 1845 in Bombay, this particular leader came under
Dadabhai Naoroji’s influence while studying law in London
during the 1860s. He was one of the founders of the
Bombay Presidency Association as also the Indian
National Congress. He along with G.K. Gokhale, and
D.A. Khare organized the first-ever walk-out in Indian
legislative history to oppose a Bombay legislative Council
Bill.

Which of the following leaders is described in the passage

given above?
(a) Dinshaw Wacha
(b) R.M. Sayani
(c) Bhau Daji Lad
(d) Pherozeshah Mehta
Tarabai Shinde, a woman educated at home at
Poona, published a book, criticising that in a new
colonial society men enjoyed all the rights,
opportunities and benefits of change, while women
were blamed for all the evils and were still bound by
the old strictures of pativrata (duty to husband).

Which of the following is the title of that book?

(a) The History of Doing
(b) Ratanbai
(c) Stripurushtulna
(d) Deep Nirban
In 1883 he had started a newspaper called the Voice
of India. In 1887 he gave evidence before the Public
Service Commission. In 1902 he was elected as a
Member of the Liberal Party in the House of
Commons, representing Central Finsbury. He was a
firm believer in parliamentary democracy and he
thought that he should espouse the cause of Indian
freedom on the floor of the Commons. Who is 'He' in
the above context?

a. Bhikaji Cama
b. Dadabhai Naoroji
c. Lala Hardayal
d. V.D. Savarkar
Which of the following events led to the increased
participation of Indian women in Gandhi’s South
African movement?
(a) The Phoenix Farm education campaign
(b) The denial of voting rights to Indians
(c) The Supreme Court’s invalidation of non-Christian
marriages
(d) The Transvaal Immigration Act