Rise of Nationalism and the Moderates (1885–1905)

Prerequisites: The Revolt of 1857 · Socio-Religious Reform Movements

The Hook: An Indian in the House of Commons

The Core Concept

Why nationalism arose in the late 19th century

Political associations before the Congress

The founding of the Indian National Congress

• 28 December 1885, at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay; 72 delegates; president W.C. Bonnerjee; organised with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired civil servant. Lord Dufferin was Viceroy.
• “Safety valve” theory: Hume founded the Congress to provide a harmless outlet for growing discontent and so protect British rule.
• “Lightning conductor” view (historian Bipan Chandra): Indian leaders accepted Hume’s help so that a new organisation would not be suppressed at birth — Hume was the lightning conductor; the Indian leaders’ aim was a national political platform.
• Most historians now hold that the Congress grew out of a long Indian political process (the associations above) rather than a single official design.

Early sessions to remember

The Moderates: who, how and what

Leaders: Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Surendranath Banerjea, W.C. Bonnerjee, G.K. Gokhale, M.G. Ranade, R.C. Dutt, Badruddin Tyabji, D.E. Wacha, Madan Mohan Malaviya.

Method — “constitutional agitation”: petitions, prayers, resolutions, memoranda, speeches and the press; working within the law; educating Indian and British opinion. A British Committee of the INC was set up in London (1889), with the journal India.

The drain theory: Dadabhai Naoroji argued that a large part of India’s wealth flowed to Britain without equivalent return — through salaries, pensions, interest on debt, the “Home Charges” and profits — and that this was the root cause of Indian poverty. His Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901) set out the argument; R.C. Dutt’s Economic History of India and the writings of M.G. Ranade developed the nationalist economic critique.

Indian Councils Act, 1892: the main constitutional result of Moderate pressure.

• Increased the number of non-official members in the central and provincial legislative councils.
• Introduced an indirect, limited element of election: some members were nominated on the recommendation of bodies such as universities, district boards, municipalities and chambers of commerce.
• Members could discuss the budget but not vote on it, and could ask questions but not supplementary questions.

graph TD
    A[Causes: unification, education, press, economic critique, Lytton] --> B[Associations 1838-1885]
    B --> C[INC founded 1885]
    C --> D[Moderate phase 1885-1905]
    D --> E[Drain theory and economic critique]
    D --> F[Constitutional demands]
    F --> G[Indian Councils Act 1892]
    D --> H[Disillusionment by 1905]
    H --> I[Extremist phase]

Assessment of the Moderates

Memory Anchors

Associations in order — “Land, British, East, Poona, Indian, Madras, Bombay”: 1838 → 1851 → 1866 → 1870 → 1876 → 1884 → 1885.

First presidents — “Bonnerjee, Naoroji, Tyabji, Yule” = 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888 — “the first four: a Bengali, a Parsi, a Muslim, a Briton”.

Moderate methods — “3 Ps”: Prayer, Petition, Protest (the critics’ label “political mendicancy” came from the Extremists).

One-line Mains hook: “The Moderates may have asked too politely, but they asked the right questions — the drain theory remained the backbone of the nationalist economic critique.”

For Prelims

For Mains

• Dimensions: political (national platform, constitutionalism); economic (drain theory, critique of colonial finance); administrative (Indianisation, separation of powers); ideological (liberalism, secular nationalism); social base (urban professional class).
• Keywords: constitutional agitation, drain of wealth, Home Charges, political education, safety valve, lightning conductor, liberal nationalism.
• Value-addition: Naoroji’s drain theory as the first systematic critique of colonial economics; Bipan Chandra’s “lightning conductor” reading of the founding of the INC; the Indian Councils Act 1892 as the first, limited step towards representative government.

Common Traps

Practice

Prelims

Mains

Quick Revision

Key Takeaways

Related Topics

• The Extremists and the Swadeshi Movement (1905–1911)
• Early Nationalism — quick revision
• Early Nationalism — practice questions
• The Gandhian Era
• Constitutional Framework