Swadeshi movement

About

·       The Swadeshi movement was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. 

·       After Partition of Bengal Swadeshi movement was formally started from Town Hall Calcutta on 7 August 1905 to curb foreign goods by relying on domestic production. 

·       Boycott movement was also launched along with the Swadeshi movement. The movements included using goods produced in India and burning British-made goods.

·       Swadeshi was a focus of Mahatma Gandhi, who described it as the soul of swaraj (self-rule).

Timeline

·       In 1900, Bengal was the major province in British India. The Indian national movement began in Bengal and thus, Britishers decided to part Bengal. 

·       When Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, announced the partition of Bengal in July 1905, Indian National Congress, initiated Swadeshi movement in Bengal. Swadeshi movement was launched as a protest movement which also gave a lead to the Boycott movement in the country.

·       In 1909, the movement had spread across the country and people had started anti-partition and anti-colonial movements. In Andhra Pradesh, the Swadeshi movement was also known as Vandemataram movement

·       In 1910, there were many secret associations that had been set up and there were many revolutionary movements, which were synonymous to Swadeshi movement

·       Later movements by Mahatma Gandhi from 1915, such as Satyagraha movement, Non-Cooperation movement etc. were based on Swadeshi movement.

Key people in the Swadeshi movement

·       Bal Gangadhar Tilak

·       Bipin Chandra Pal

·       Lala Lajpat Rai

·       Aurobindo Ghosh

·       VO Chidambaram Pillai

·       Babu Genu

Nature

·       Boycott of Foreign Goods i.e. sugar or salt, publicly burning of foreign cloth

·       Mass Participation - Women, Students and the large section of urban and rural population actively participated for the 1^st time in politics.

·       National Movement – Spread in other parts of the country i.e. in Poona and Bombay under Tilak, in Punjab under Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, in Delhi under Syed Haider Raza, in Madras under Chidambaram Pillai.

·       After 1905, the Extremists took to the movement from merely boycott to passive resistance e.g. boycott of English colonies by Vendors, educational institutions by Teachers and Courts by Lawyers etc.

Outcome of the movement

·       Because of swadeshi movement, there was a significant decline in the foreign imports during 1905-1908.

·       Movement resulted in growth of extreme nationalism amongst youth, they choose violence and wanted to bring an instant end to British dominance.

·       National educational Institutions like Bengal National Collage (Arvind Ghosh as Principal) National Council of Education for literary, scienti‑c and technical education, Bengal Institute of Technology etc were opened

·       Movement led to establishments of swadeshi textile mills, soap and match factories, tanneries, banks, insurance companies, shops, etc.

·       Patriotic Songs of Rabindranath Tagore, Rajnikant Sen, Mukunda Das, Syed Abu Mohammad popularized the national spirit ‘Vande-Mataram’ became the theme song of the Swadeshi Movement Togore’s Amar Sonar Bangla written on this occasion was later adopted by Bangladesh as its national anthem.

·       Under the leadership of militant nationalists “Self - Government” or “Swaraj” became the goal of Swadeshi movement that Congress formally declared at Calcutta Session (1906) under presidentship of Dadabhai Naoroji.

End of the movement

·       By 1908, the Swadeshi Movement was almost over in an open phase due to government’s violent repression.

·       Control on Press through the “Newspaper Act” which enabled their seizure.

·       The movement failed to create an effective organisation. It was rendered leaderless as most of the leaders were either arrested or deported by the time.

·       Maintaining the high intensity of such a mass movement was a difficult task in absence of effective leaders.

·       The internal conflicts and difference in ideologies among the leaders did more harm to the movement than good.

·       The movement failed to reach the peasantry and was confined to the upper and middle classes only.