Tell about Swadeshi Movement ?

Before the launch of the Swadeshi movement, the main form of protest techniques adopted by the moderate nationalist leaders were petitions, speeches, memoranda, public meetings and press campaigns.

It was a fact that administering Bengal with a population of 70 million was undeniably becoming hard to handle, however the actual objective behind such partition was political as the British were worried that if the Bengali Hindus and Muslims join hands they would wage war against the British rule

However the main moderate leaders like Surendranath Banerjea, Krishna Kumar Mitra and others realised that the usual moderate methods of protest were not working and something larger in scope, with different strategy, was required.

While the Indian independence movement was gradually gaining strength, the British sought to weaken Bengal that was regarded as the nerve centre of Indian nationalism.

On 7th August 1905, a Boycott Resolution was passed in the Calcutta town hall where it was decided to boycott the use of Manchester cloth and Liverpool salt.

The proposals of partition of Bengal became public in 1903 while the decision of dividing Bengal was declared by Curzon on July 19, 1905.

Trying to woo the Muslims, Curzon, the viceroy at that time, argued that Dacca could become the capital of the New Muslim Viceroys and kings. Thus, it was clear that the Government was up to its old policy of propping up Muslim communalists to counter the Congress and the national movement.

In Barisal district, this message of boycott of foreign made goods was adopted by the masses and value of the British cloth sold there decreased sharply.

During the period, the leadership was provided by men like Surendranath Benerjea, K.K. Mitra and Prithwishchandra Ray. The methods adopted were petitions to the Government, public meetings, adopted were petitions to the Government, public meetings, memoranda, and propaganda through pamphlets and newspapers such as Hitabadi, Sanjibani and Bengalee.

It was in these meetings that the pledge to boycott foreign goods was first taken. On August 7, 1905, with the passage of Boycott Resolution in a massive meeting held in the Calcutta Town hall, the formal proclamation of Swadeshi Movement was made. After this, the leaders dispersed to other parts of Bengal to propagate the message of boycott of Manchester cloth and Liverpool salt.

The Swadeshi Movement, now known as 'Make in India' campaign was officially proclaimed on August 7, 1905 at the Calcutta Town Hall, in Bengal. Boycott movement was also launched along with the Swadeshi movement.

The division of the Bengal Presidency, took place on October 16, that year into largely Hindu western areas of Bengal that presently constitute the Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha Bihar and Jharkhand; and the largely Muslim eastern areas of East Bengal and Assam.

October 16, 1905, the day the partition formally came into force, was observed as a day of mourning throughout Bengal. People fasted, bathed in the Ganga and walked barefoot in processions singing Bande Mataram (which almost spontaneously became the theme song of the movement).

Such division of Bengal meant that the British not only thrived in dividing Bengal on the basis of religion by separating the Bengali Hindus and Muslims but also succeeded in restraining the Bengali influence in India’s freedom struggle by reducing the Bengalis into a minority in the Hindu western areas of Bengal with around 37 million Oriya and Hindi speaking people compared to 17 million Bengalis.

The movements included using goods produced in India and burning British-made goods.. Bal Gandadhar Tilak encouraged Swadeshi and Boycott movement after the British government decided the partition of Bengal.

After the proposal of partition became public, spontaneous protests at different parts of Bengal started occurring.

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

The real strategy of the British behind the partition was crystal clear to the leaders of Indian nationalism who censured and expressed strong disapproval against such step.

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.

The Moderate-led movement had failed to yield results.

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

50,000 pamphlets condemning such partition were circulated and moderate techniques of protest were undertaken including giving petitions, holding public meetings and press conferences.

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

The Government had resorted to suppressive measures, which included atrocities on students— many of whom were given corporal punishment; ban on public singing of Bande Mataram; restriction on public meetings; prosecution and long imprisonment of swadeshi workers; clashes between the police and the people in many towns; arrests and deportation of leaders; and suppression of freedom of the press.

Both the elites as well as the large middle-class from the Hindu Bengali community, who saw the partition as a “divide and rule” policy of the British, condemned it.