Why the Home Rule agitation proved to be short-lived?

The Home Rule Movement was the Indian response to the First World War in a less charged but a more effective way than the response of Indians living abroad which took the form of the romantic Ghadr adventure.

Prominent leaders—Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant, G.S. Khaparde, Sir S. Subramania Iyer, Joseph Baptista, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah among others—got together and 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.

In the end, however, two Home Rule Leagues were launched—one by Bal Gangadhar Tilak (April 1916) and the other by Annie Besant (September 1916) , both with the aim of beginning a new trend of aggressive politics.

However, the Home Rule agitation proved to be short-lived. By 1919, it had petered out.

The reasons for the decline were as follows:

(i) There was a lack of effective organisation.

(ii) Communal riots were witnessed during 1917–18.

(iii) 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 which held self-government as the long-term goal of the British rule in India) and Besant’s release.

(iv) Talk of passive resistance by the Extremists kept the Moderates away from activity from September 1918 onwards.

(v) The Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, which became known in July 1918, further divided the nationalist ranks. Annie Besant herself was in two minds about the use of the league after the announcement of the reforms. Annie Besant vacillated over her response to the reforms and the techniques of passive resistance.

(vi) 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. With Besant unable to give a positive lead and Tilak away in England, the movement was left leaderless.

(vii) Gandhi’s fresh approach to the struggle for freedom was slowly but surely catching the imagination of the people, and the mass movement that was gathering momentum pushed the home rule movement onto the side lines till it petered out.

In 1920, Gandhi accepted the presidentship of the All India Home Rule League and changed the organisation’s name to Swarajya Sabha. Within a year, however, the league joined the Indian National Congress.

Must read: Swadeshi Movement : a turning point in modern Indian history

External link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Home_Rule_movement

Related Posts

Poona Pact of 1932 : Features and Significance

The Poona Pact of 1932 was an agreement between B.R. Ambedkar and M.K. Gandhi on the political representation of the Depressed Classes now known as Scheduled Castes…

Self-Respect Movement and ‘Periyar’ E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker

Self-Respect Movement was an emancipatory movement unlike any other, whose aim was to empower individuals and communities to challenge and overthrow the hierarchical structures that oppressed them….

Non-Cooperation Movement : Programmes , Participation and Significance

Mahatma Gandhi announced his plan to begin Non-Cooperation with the government as a sequel to the Rowlatt Act, Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Khilafat Movement. It was…

Since the decade of the 1920s, the national movement acquired various ideological strands

QUES . Since the decade of the 1920s the national movement acquired various ideological strands and thereby expanded its social base. Discuss. UPSC MAINS 2020 GS PAPER…

What were the events that led to the Quit India Movement?

QUES . What were the events that led to the Quit India Movement? Point out its results. 150 words. 10 marks. UPSC MAINS 2024 GS PAPER I…

How Government of India Act, 1935 helped in drafting the Constitution for Independent India?

QUES . It would have been difficult for the Constituent Assembly to complete its historic task of drafting the Constitution for Independent India in just three years,…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content is protected !!