The Revolutionary Freedom Movement in India and its relevance

 

Adopted from the Freedom Portal www.netajisubhasbose.org

Much has been said against the methods adopted by the revolutionaries like the political murders, dacoities and the violence in general. It has also been speculated that the violence was generally unfavourable to the Indian populace and therefore the attempts of the revolutionaries had largely failed. However it would be naïve to write off the contribution of the revolutionaries and also to dismiss their modus operandi. The one sided narrative that had been developed since independence by the Government and the political classes and a category of historians that India had won independence largely by non violent means, needs a serious scrutiny. 

​It is true that the revolutionaries had adopted two distinct courses which were often unpalatable to ordinary peace loving folks. One was political murders and the second was dacoity. However the objective behind the political murders was not terrorism, but to raise the consciousness of a morbid Nation through self sacrifice, by showing to the Government and people what Indian youth were capable of doing. The revolutionaries knew that by murdering few Government officials the British would not be forced to move out of India. However their primary purpose was to convey a message, that Indian youth was prepared for the extreme sacrifice, that they were fearless and that they were ready to fight a battle of attrition. This fact got on the nerve of the British police and Government officials and that was why their responses were brutal and oppressive beyond imagination. They had already lost the psychological war. They knew that they were up against a determined will power and they had tried every means to crush it. But they simply couldn't. That was the success of the revolutionaries. Also the ordinary folks were with them as far as political murders went. While it is true that some ignorant folks, esp. outside Bengal (like that of Khudiram or Bagha Jatin's tryst with the local folks) had tried to get the revolutionaries for petty monetary rewards, by far most of the ordinary folks including villagers often looked the other way when murders were committed in front of them. They simply dispersed and often could not even be coerced to become witnesses. The tacit sympathy was very evident in the funeral procession of Kanailal Datta who had assassinated Naren Gosai and was hanged for it. Thousands had joined, defying any Government dictum. Women showered flowers from the balconies and there was spontaneous display of anger and emotion everywhere. Public sympathy was one of the reasons that despite the wide espionage network of the Britosh police, the revolutionaries were often able to hide for months and years safely. Iconic status were accorded to the revolutionaries like Bagha Jatin, Rashbehari Bose, Bipin Behari Ganguly, Jadugopal Mukherjee and others. Political murders found sympathy among the leaders like Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and others who had advocated Indian youth to become vigorous, amke bombs and wield weapons. It is said that Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy pledged one of his laboratories for bomb making. Even Surendranath Bannerjee, the moderate leader had announced a reward for killing of Bamfylde Fuller, the notorious Lt Governor of Assam & East Bengal.

​However the political dacoities were another story. The revolutionary activities needed source of funds and after the revelations by Naren Gosai, the rich who were supporting the revolutionary activities had withdrawn for fear of reprisal from Government. The revolutionary activities needed a lot of fund for the execution of the schemes and for the upkeeping of the revolutionaries and their family members. The dacoities were the only source of funds. The revolutionaries had a strict code of ethics. They would not use the funds obtained by dacoities for their personal gains. They considered such dacoities as selfless acts done for the sake of the Nation when the rich would not pay them voluntarily. Often they would pledge that the funds obtained by dacoity would be returned once the Nation got her freedom. Such dacoities would need cunning and resourcefulness and would be done in a military way. The code of ethics prevented them from harming women or children or leaving behind the injured colleagues. Villagers would often chase them and they had to try not to harm them. These were certainly unpopular activities as people would call them as "Swadeshi Dakats" meaning Swadeshi bandits, and would not support such actions. Rabindranath Tagore, with his general aversion to violence, was against such activities as his novels like Ghare Baire show. Polical dacoities had been in vogue for a long time as stories of Robin Hood proves. Supporters of such actions would cite examples of Shivaji who had resorted to looting the wealth of the Bijapuri Sultan and the Mughals for building his own army. While it is true that there were some moral degradation resulting in even personal gains and greed among the revolutionaries, in general the code of conduct was very strict and there were always thorough searches to ensure that nobody was gaining anything personally. Miscreants would often get strict punishments

​The political murders, esp. that of Indian officials, had removed many obstacles and had emboldened the youth to carry out such activities on a larger scale. Even the failure of grand schemes like the revolution of 1915 and the Indo German conspiracy, and a large number of arrests and executions, did not deter the revolutionaries. Untimely demise of Bagha Jatin had a dampening spirit but soon others like Atul Krishna Ghosh took over in Bengal. Often the British officer targets were saved and the casualty was high among the Indian collaborators of the British Government. The revolutionaries explained it to be the result of a divine dispensation. While the British officials were doing duty to their own Nation and national interest, the Indian collaborators were traitors and hence karma caught up rapidly with them.

​On the whole the revolutionary movement between 1905 and 1920 seems to be a failure in terms of getting rid of the British Government. But viewed with a larger perspective, the activities were a foundation for the destruction of the British Imperialism. Through the selfless sacrifices of countless revolutionary youth, the Government's moral and ethical foundation had been considerably weakened and it would only need a few hard blows in the days to come, to ensure its complete collapse. All the activities had helped shaped the journey of the ultimate goal - mutiny in the Army ranks and an armed attack on the British Government leading to its ultimate collapse, as was achieved by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. Strangely, that Army had a link back to the revolutionary days of 1914. Its architect was none other than Rashbehari Bose.