Study this in the app →

English · हिन्दी · తెలుగు · தமிழ் · മലയാളം · मराठी · ಕನ್ನಡ

Quick recap: The Extremists, Swadeshi and Home Rule on one page

The Extremists, Swadeshi and Home Rule · Quick recap · Fact-checked on · how we check

Written with AI from the sources listed at the bottom of this page, then fact-checked by a separate AI.

Both parts of the chapter condensed for quick revision: why extremism grew, the Extremist leaders, Curzon and the partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi movement and its methods, the Surat split and the repression, the Muslim League and the Morley-Minto Reforms, the Delhi Durbar of 1911, the Lucknow Pact, the Home Rule Leagues and the Montagu declaration.

This chapter follows the national movement from the late 1890s to 1917, from the rise of the Extremists to Britain's promise of responsible government. Part 1 explained why a more assertive nationalism grew, how the Partition of Bengal set off the Swadeshi movement and which methods that movement used. Part 2 followed the split in the Congress at Surat, the repression and the reforms that came after it, the birth of organised Muslim politics, and the reunion and Home Rule agitation of 1916–1917.

The chapter at a glance, 1897–1917
YearEventRemember
1897Rand shot in Poona; Tilak jailedPlague measures; Chapekar brothers
1905Partition of Bengal (in force 16 October)Boycott resolution, 7 August, Calcutta Town Hall
1906Calcutta Congress; Muslim League foundedNaoroji: Swaraj the goal; League at Dacca, 30 December
1907Surat splitPresident Rash Behari Ghosh
1908Tilak sentencedSix years, Mandalay
1909Indian Councils Act (Morley-Minto)Separate electorates for Muslims
1911Delhi DurbarPartition annulled; capital to Delhi
1916Lucknow Pact; Home Rule LeaguesCongress reunited; Tilak (Belgaum), Besant (Madras)
1917Montagu declaration, 20 AugustProgressive realisation of responsible government

Extremism grew from disappointment with twenty years of petitions, the famines of 1896–97 and 1899–1900, plague and the harsh plague measures in Poona, where W. C. Rand was shot in 1897, Tilak's jailing for sedition in 1897, and the examples of Adowa (1896) and Japan (1905). Curzon's Calcutta Corporation Act (1899) and Indian Universities Act (1904) deepened the anger. The Extremists, led by Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghose, wanted Swaraj, free of British control and won by self-reliance and mass effort, and they drew people together through Tilak's Ganapati (1893) and Shivaji (1896) festivals.

The partition, announced in July 1905 and in force from 16 October 1905, created Eastern Bengal and Assam with its capital at Dacca, and Risley's note of 1904 reveals its political motive. The boycott resolution at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905 launched the Swadeshi movement. Its methods were boycott and bonfires of foreign cloth, picketing, social boycott, Indian enterprise, national education (the National Council of Education, 1906), samitis such as Ashwini Kumar Dutt's at Barisal, and patriotic songs and art. It spread to Poona, Punjab, Delhi and Tuticorin, where V. O. Chidambaram Pillai founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (1906). The Congress backed it at Benares (1905, under Gokhale), and at Calcutta (1906) Dadabhai Naoroji declared Swaraj its goal. The movement reached peasants and Muslims only weakly and faded by 1908, but its methods lasted.

The quarrel between the two wings broke the Congress at Surat in December 1907, when the Moderates put up Rash Behari Ghosh as president and the session collapsed in uproar. The Moderates kept the Congress, while the government won them over and crushed the Extremists: the Seditious Meetings Act (1907), the deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh (1907), the press and explosives laws of 1908, Tilak's six-year sentence served at Mandalay (1908) and the Indian Press Act (1910).

Muslim politics took organised form. The Simla deputation under the Aga Khan (1 October 1906) asked Minto for separate seats, and the All-India Muslim League was founded at Dacca on 30 December 1906. The Indian Councils Act of 1909, the Morley-Minto Reforms, enlarged the councils, allowed budget discussion and resolutions, kept an official majority at the centre and gave Muslims separate electorates; S. P. Sinha became the first Indian in the Viceroy's Executive Council. At the Delhi Durbar of 12 December 1911 the partition was annulled, Bihar and Orissa became a separate province, and the capital moved from Calcutta to Delhi.

Between 1911 and 1916 the League moved towards self-government (1913) and Jinnah joined it, Tilak returned from Mandalay (1914), and at Lucknow in December 1916 the Congress reunited and signed the Lucknow Pact with the League, accepting separate electorates. Tilak's Home Rule League (April 1916, Belgaum) and Annie Besant's (September 1916, Madras) spread the demand for self-rule. Besant's internment in June 1917 widened their support, and on 20 August 1917 Edwin Montagu promised the progressive realisation of responsible government, which led to the Act of 1919. The thread through the chapter is a movement that split, was repressed and reformed around, and then rebuilt itself on a wider base.

Exam traps

Recap

Practice questions

Q1. The resolution to boycott British goods, which formally launched the Swadeshi movement, was passed at:

  1. the Benares session of the Congress, 1905
  2. the Calcutta Town Hall, 7 August 1905
  3. the Calcutta session of the Congress, 1906
  4. a meeting at Dacca, 16 October 1905
Show answer

Answer: B. the Calcutta Town Hall, 7 August 1905

(b) is correct: the boycott resolution was passed at the Calcutta Town Hall on 7 August 1905. (a) is wrong because Benares (December 1905) only backed the movement already under way. (c) is wrong because Calcutta 1906 came later and declared Swaraj the goal. (d) is wrong because 16 October 1905 was the day the partition took effect, observed as a day of mourning.

Q2. Consider the following statements:
1. Curzon's Indian Universities Act of 1904 increased official control over universities.
2. The new province created in 1905 was Eastern Bengal and Assam, with its capital at Dacca.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: C. Both 1 and 2

(c) is correct: both statements are true. (a) is wrong because statement 2 is also true. (b) is wrong because statement 1 is also true. (d) is wrong because both statements are true.

Q3. Who founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906?

  1. Ashwini Kumar Dutt
  2. Syed Haider Raza
  3. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai
  4. Ajit Singh
Show answer

Answer: C. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai

(c) is correct: V. O. Chidambaram Pillai founded it at Tuticorin. (a) is wrong because Dutt led the Swadesh Bandhab Samiti at Barisal. (b) is wrong because Raza was active in Delhi. (d) is wrong because Ajit Singh led agitation in Punjab.

Q4. At which session did the Indian National Congress first declare Swaraj to be its goal?

  1. Benares, 1905, under Gokhale
  2. Calcutta, 1906, under Dadabhai Naoroji
  3. Surat, 1907, under Rash Behari Ghosh
  4. Lucknow, 1916, under Ambika Charan Mazumdar
Show answer

Answer: B. Calcutta, 1906, under Dadabhai Naoroji

(b) is correct: at Calcutta in 1906 Naoroji declared Swaraj the goal. (a) is wrong because Benares condemned the partition and backed swadeshi but made no such declaration. (c) is wrong because Surat broke up without business. (d) is wrong because Lucknow came ten years later and is known for reunion and the pact.

Q5. Consider the following statements about the Morley-Minto Reforms:
1. They introduced separate electorates for Muslims.
2. They gave the Imperial Legislative Council an elected majority.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: A. 1 only

(a) is correct: the Act of 1909 introduced separate electorates, but the central council kept an official majority. (b) is wrong because statement 2 is false. (c) is wrong because only statement 1 is true. (d) is wrong because statement 1 is true.

Q6. Match List I (event) with List II (place):
List I
A. Founding of the All-India Muslim League
B. Founding of Tilak's Home Rule League
C. Founding of Annie Besant's Home Rule League
List II
1. Madras
2. Dacca
3. Belgaum
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  1. A-2, B-3, C-1
  2. A-2, B-1, C-3
  3. A-3, B-2, C-1
  4. A-1, B-3, C-2
Show answer

Answer: A. A-2, B-3, C-1

(a) is correct: the League at Dacca (1906), Tilak's league at Belgaum (April 1916) and Besant's at Madras (September 1916). (b) is wrong because it swaps Belgaum and Madras. (c) is wrong because it swaps Dacca and Belgaum. (d) is wrong because it swaps Dacca and Madras.

Q7. Consider the following statements about the Lucknow Pact of 1916:
1. Under it the Congress accepted separate electorates for Muslims.
2. It was signed at the same session at which the Extremists rejoined the Congress.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. 1 only
  2. 2 only
  3. Both 1 and 2
  4. Neither 1 nor 2
Show answer

Answer: C. Both 1 and 2

(c) is correct: at Lucknow in December 1916 the Congress both reunited with the Extremists and made the pact with the League, accepting separate electorates. (a) is wrong because statement 2 is also true. (b) is wrong because statement 1 is also true. (d) is wrong because both statements are true.

Q8. The declaration of 20 August 1917 promised:

  1. complete independence within ten years
  2. the progressive realisation of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire
  3. the abolition of separate electorates
  4. the reunion of Bengal
Show answer

Answer: B. the progressive realisation of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire

(b) is correct: Montagu's statement spoke of the progressive realisation of responsible government within the Empire. (a) is wrong because no independence was promised. (c) is wrong because separate electorates were kept and later extended in 1919. (d) is wrong because Bengal had already been reunited in 1911.

← Part 2All parts

Study this in the Upscore app to keep notes, save it for revision, track your practice scores and follow a plan to the exam date. It's free.

Study this in the app →

Sources