History Indian Democracy and British Raj
India’s struggle for independence by Bipan Citandra
Indian National Congress
Founded
* Founded in December 1885 by 72 political workers. * First organised expression of Indian nationalism on an all-India scale
A powerful and long lasting myth ‘the safety valve’ had arisen around this question.
The myth is that The Indian National Congress: * Started by A.O.Hume and other under the official direction, guidance and advice of no less a person that Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy * Was to provide a safe, mild, peaceful, and constitutional outlet or safety Valve * For the rising dissatisfaction among the people
That was leading towards a popular and violent resolution * Core was that violent revolution was on the cards at the time
Was avoided by the foundation of the Congress
* Liberals accept it * Writers accept it * Radicals use it to prove that Congress has always been comprising imperialism. * Extreme right use it to show that the Congress has been anti-national from the beginning
All agree that the manner of its birth affected the basic character and future work of the Congress in a crucial manner
Young India by Extremist leader Lala Lajpat Raj * Used ‘safety valve’ theory to attack the Moderates in the Congress * Suggested Congress ‘was a product of Lord Dufferin’s brain’ * Argued that ‘the Congress was started more with the object of saving the British Empire from danger than with that of winning political liberty for India. The interests of the British Empire were primary and those of India only secondary’. * Added ‘no one can say that the Congress has not been true to that ideal’
India Today by R.Palme Dutt * Myth of the safety valve = an important element in the liberal and radical section of the political system * Wrote that Congress as bought into existence through direct Governmental initiative and guidance and through ‘a plan secretly pre-arranged with the Viceroy’ * Wrote
Indian National Congress
Founded
* Founded in December 1885 by 72 political workers. * First organised expression of Indian nationalism on an all-India scale
A powerful and long lasting myth ‘the safety valve’ had arisen around this question.
The myth is that The Indian National Congress: * Started by A.O.Hume and other under the official direction, guidance and advice of no less a person that Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy * Was to provide a safe, mild, peaceful, and constitutional outlet or safety Valve * For the rising dissatisfaction among the people
That was leading towards a popular and violent resolution * Core was that violent revolution was on the cards at the time
Was avoided by the foundation of the Congress
* Liberals accept it * Writers accept it * Radicals use it to prove that Congress has always been comprising imperialism. * Extreme right use it to show that the Congress has been anti-national from the beginning
All agree that the manner of its birth affected the basic character and future work of the Congress in a crucial manner
Young India by Extremist leader Lala Lajpat Raj * Used ‘safety valve’ theory to attack the Moderates in the Congress * Suggested Congress ‘was a product of Lord Dufferin’s brain’ * Argued that ‘the Congress was started more with the object of saving the British Empire from danger than with that of winning political liberty for India. The interests of the British Empire were primary and those of India only secondary’. * Added ‘no one can say that the Congress has not been true to that ideal’
India Today by R.Palme Dutt * Myth of the safety valve = an important element in the liberal and radical section of the political system * Wrote that Congress as bought into existence through direct Governmental initiative and guidance and through ‘a plan secretly pre-arranged with the Viceroy’ * Wrote