QUES . Discuss the factors responsible for the formation of the Indian National Congress. What were the British policies towards early nationalists?
HINTS:
The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 by a British civil servant, Allan Octavian Hume, along with a group of Indian nationalists, as a platform for Indians to voice their grievances and demand greater participation in the administration of their own country.
Factors responsible for the formation of Indian National Congress
The formation of the Congress was a response to the growing discontent among educated Indians with British colonial rule and their lack of representation in government.
However there is a theory that Hume formed the Congress with the idea that it would prove to be a ‘safety valve’ for releasing the growing discontent of the Indians. To this end, he convinced Lord Dufferin not to obstruct the formation of the Congress.
The extremist leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai believed in the ‘safety valve’ theory. Even the Marxist historian’s ‘conspiracy theory’ was an offspring of the ‘safety valve’ notion. For example, R.P. Dutt opined that the Indian National Congress was born out of a conspiracy to abort a popular uprising in India and the bourgeois leaders were a party to it.
British policies towards early nationalists
The British Indian Government was hostile to the Congress from the beginning despite the latter’s moderate methods and emphasis on loyalty to the British Crown. The official attitude stiffened further after 1887 when the government failed to persuade the Congress to confine itself to social issues when the Congress was becoming increasingly critical of the colonial rule. Now, the government resorted to open condemnation of the Congress, calling the nationalists “seditious brahmins”, “disloyal babus”, etc. Dufferin called the Congress “a factory of sedition”.
Later, the government adopted a ‘divide and rule’ policy towards the Congress. The officials encouraged reactionary elements like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Raja Shiv Prasad Singh of Benaras to organise the United Indian Patriotic Association to counter Congress propaganda. The government also tried to divide the nationalists on the basis of religion, and, through a policy of ‘carrot and stick’, pitted the Moderates against the Extremists. But the government failed to check the rising tide of nationalism.
Overall, the Indian National Congress was formed as a response to the growing discontent among educated Indians with British colonial rule, and British policies towards early nationalists were primarily one of repression and suppression.
Must read: Factors responsible for the emergence of Gandhiji as an eminent nationalist leader
External link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Indian_National_Congress
