revolutionaries - amazon web services...q1905: shyamji krishna varma had started in londonan indian...

Modern History : Module XIV:Revolutionaries

Revolutionaries


Militant Movement / Revolutionary Terrorist Movementq The 1st time the term 'revolutionary terrorism' is used in the book on p

142, Chandra, who wrote 2 chapters on the Revolutionary Movement, clearly said it is "a term we use without any pejorative meaning & for want of a different term".

q In his later writings, Chandra stopped using word terrorism as it had acquired a negative meaning in recent years. For example, in his introduction to Bhagat Singh's Why I am an Atheist, published in 2006, Chandra does not use terrorism and says, "Singh was not only one of India's greatest freedom fighters & revolutionary socialists, but also one of its early Marxist thinkers and ideologues."(Quoted from The Writings of Bipan Chandra: The Making of Modern India, From Marx to Gandhi, Orient Blackswan, 2012, p. 465).


Militant Movement or Revolutionary Terrorist Movementq "He had also wanted to make the change in India's Struggle for

Independence & had said so publicly. However, due to ill health & failing eyesight he could not revise the book as he had planned. The coauthorshad planned that the volume in its revised version will use the formulation that Bipan Chandra himself made in his later writings."

q “He was the person who 1st found & published in 1970 as a pamphlet athis own expense Bhagat Singh’s now famous essay, ‘Why I am an Atheist’.

q His last public lecture was the Inaugural Lecture for the Bhagat SinghChair at JNU in April 2011, in which he said that Bhagat Singh, if he hadlived, would have been the Lenin of India, & his last (unfinished) book wasa biography of Bhagat Singh.”


PhasesThe Movement can be categorized into 2 phases:q Pre-World War:

Ø In the initial period, the movement was centered around religious symbols due to which it lacked mass appeal

Ø These movements were directed towards various British Institutions but lacked proper planning

q Post World War:Ø The Movement was influenced from the Russian revolution &

became more organised & gained steamØ At this time, HSRA emerged. Most prominent leader of HSRA was

Bhagat Singh.


Revolutionary Movementq Emerged in 1st decade of 20th century in Bengal (Kolkata) &

Maharashtra (Pune)

q Anushilan Samiti, Sandhya, Yuganthar were the groups formed inBengal & Mithra Mela, Abhinav Bharat were formed in Maharashtra


Phase 1: Pre World WarReasons:q Started as a byproduct of the growth of militant nationalism.q The early movement of protest by the moderates failed to yield

results.

q Disappointment with the extremists.q Extremist leaders, although they called upon the youth to make

sacrifices, failed to create an effective organization or find new forms of political work to tap these revolutionary energies.

q Revolutionaries were inspired by the Irish Republican Army & Japan’s victory over Russia in 1904.

q But most of all, it was a repressive policy of the government.


Methodsq Based on individual heroic acts.q Organising assassinations of unpopular officials & of traitors,

targeting railways tracks, posts, telegraph offices & conducting swadeshi dacoities to raise funds for revolutionary activities

q Organising military conspiracies with expectation of help from the enemies of Britain.

q Secret societies q They formed throughout country.q They organized people on religious lines & tried to inspire the

young minds through the stories & deeds of gods & goddesses.q They even had women members of whom many were

messengers.


Revolutionary Movementq Emerged in 1st decade of 20th century.q Revolutionary activities in different parts of India & abroad:Bengal:Ø By the 1870s, Calcutta’s student community was honeycombed with secret

societies.Ø 1902: Anushilan Samiti was the 1st revolutionary group organised in Calcutta.Ø Established by Promotha Mitter (including Barindra Ghosh, Jatindranath

Bannerjee it became one of the most organised revolutionary associations.

q Also in Midnapore (under Jnanendranath Basu)

q It had 2 prominent if somewhat independent arms in East & West Bengal identified as Dhaka Anushilan Samiti centered in Dhaka & the Jugantar group (centered at Calcutta) respectively.


q Activities were limited to giving physical & moral training to the members.

q 1906: an inner circle within Anushilan (Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Bhupendranath Dutta) started the weekly Yugantar & conducted a few abortive ‘actions’.

q Yugantar wrote on the police brutalities against participants of the Barisal Conference:q “The remedy lies with the people. The 30 crore people

inhabiting India must raise their 60 crore hands to stop this curse of oppression. Force must be stopped by force.”

q The newspapers & journals advocating revolutionary activity included Sandhya & Yugantar in Bengal.

Continued…


q Rashbehari Bose & Sachin Sanyal had organised a secret society covering far-flung areas of Punjab, Delhi & United Provinces while some others like Hemachandra Kanungo went abroad for military & political training.

q 1907: An abortive attempt was made by the Yugantar group on the life of a British official, Sir Fuller (the 1st Lt. Governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal & Assam).

q 1907: An attempt was made to derail the train on which the Lt. governor, Sir Andrew Fraser, was travelling.

q 1908: Barrah dacoity was organised by Dacca Anushilan under Pulin Das to raise funds for revolutionary activities.

Continued…


Alipore Conspiracy Caseq Also called the Maniktala bomb conspiracy was the trial of a

number of revolutionaries in Calcutta under charges of "Waging war against the Government" of the British Raj between May 1908 & May 1909.

q The trial followed in the wake of the attempt on the life of Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingsford in Muzaffarpur by Khudiram Bose & Prafulla Chaki in 1908.

q Two ladies, instead, got killed.

q Prafulla Chaki shot himself dead while Bose was tried & hanged.


q The whole gang was arrested including the Ghosh brothers, who were tried in this case.

q Chittaranjan Das defended Aurobindo.

q Aurobindo was acquitted but Barindra Ghosh & Ullaskar Dutt were given the death penalty which was later commuted to life in prison.

q During the trial, Narendra Gosain, who had turned approver, was shot dead in jail by Satyendranath Bose & Kanailal Dutta.

Continued…


Maharashtra

q 1879: The 1st revolutionary activities here was the organization of the Ramosi Peasant Force by Vasudev Balwant Phadke.

q Aimed to rid the country of the British by instigating an armed revolt by disrupting communication lines.


Maharashtraq During the 1890s, Tilak propagated a spirit of revolutionary

nationalism, including use of violence through Ganapati & Shivajifestivals & his journals Kesari & Maharatta.

q His disciples— the Chapekar brothers, Damodar & Balkrishna —murdered the Plague Commissioner of Poona, Rand, & one Lt. Ayerst in 1897.


q Savarkar & his brother organised Mitra Mela, a secret society, in 1899 which merged with Abhinav Bharat in 1904.

q Nasik Conspiracy Case: In 1909, Anant Kanhare & Ganesh Savarkar shot dead Collector Jackson of Nasik with the revolver sent by V.D. Savarkar.

Continued…


Match List-I with List-II and select the correct answer:List-I. List-IIA) Abhinav Bharat Society 1. Sri Aurobindo GhoshB) Anushillan Samiti 2. Lala HardayalC) Gadar Party 3. C.R. DasD) Swaraj Party 4. V.D. Savarkar

Codes:(a) A-4;B-1;C-3;D-2(b) A-1;B-4;C-3;D-2(c) A-1;B-4;C-2;D-3(d) A-4;B-1;C-2;D-3

1996


Madrasq Vanchinathan Iyer (Vanchi) : killed Ashe( District Collector of

Tirunelveli), as he had fired on people who were protesting the arrest of extremist leader V O Chidambaram Pillai

q Vanchi was a closed associate of V VS Aiyer who led PondicheryBranch of VD Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat Society.

q Both were members of Bharatha Matha Association


‘Abhinava Bharat’ a secret society of revolutionaries was organised by:

A)Khudiram Bose

B)V.D. Savarkar

C)Prafulla Chaki

D)Bhagat Singh

1999


Punjab, Delhi & UPq Rashbehari Bose & Sachin Sanyal had organised a secret society

covering far-flung areas of Punjab, Delhi & U P.

q The Punjab extremism was fueled by issues such as frequent famines coupled with rise in land revenue & irrigation tax, practice of ‘begar’ by zamindars.

q Among those active here were Lala Lajpat Rai & Ajit Singh, who organised the extremist Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan in Lahorewith its journal, Bharat Mata.


q Extremism in the Punjab died down quickly after the Government struck in May 1907 with a ban on political meetings & the deportation of Lajpat Rai & Ajit Singh.

q After this, Ajit Singh & a few other associates Bhai Parmanand, Lala Hardayal developed into full-scale revolutionaries.


Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy q Involving Rashbehari Bose along with Sachin Sanyal, the

conspiracy culminated on the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912 when a home-made bomb was thrown on the Viceroy Hardinge when the ceremonial procession moved through Chandni Chowk . Viceroy escaped with his injuries, along with Lady Hardinge.

q In the aftermath of the event, efforts were made to destroy the Bengali & Punjabi revolutionary underground, which came under intense pressure for sometime.

q Rash Behari successfully evaded capture for nearly 3 years, becoming actively involved in the Ghadar conspiracy before it was uncovered, & fleeing to Japan in 1916.


Abroadq The need for shelter, the possibility of bringing out revolutionary

literature that would be immune from the Press Acts & the quest for arms took Indian revolutionaries abroad.

q 1905: Shyamji Krishna Varma had started in London an Indian Home Rule Society— ’India House’ — as a center for Indian students, a scholarship scheme to bring radical youth from India.

q The revolutionaries such as Savarkar & Hardayal became the members of India House.


q Madanlal Dhingra of this circle assassinated, the India office bureaucrat Curzon-Wyllie in 1909.

q Soon London became too dangerous for the revolutionaries, particularly after Savarkar had been extradited in 1910 &transported for life in the Nasik conspiracy case.

q New centers emerged on the continent- Paris & Geneva — from where Madam Bhikaji Cama, a Parsi revolutionary who had developed contacts with French socialists & who brought out Bande Mataram, & Ajit Singh operated.

q After 1909 when Anglo-German relations deteriorated, VirendraChattopadhyaya chose Berlin as his base.

Continued…


q It was an Indian nationalist publication from Paris begun in September 1909 by the Paris Indian Society.

q Founded by Madam Bhikaji Cama, the paper along with the later publication of Talvar was aimed at inciting nationalist unrest in India & sought to sway the loyalty of the Sepoy of the British Indian Army.

q It was founded in response to the British ban on Bankim Chatterjee's nationalist poem of Vandemataram

q It continued the message of the journal Bande Mataram edited by Sri Aurobindo & published from Calcutta, & The Indian Sociologist that had earlier been published from London by Shyamji Krishna Varma.

Bande Mataram


Q. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer:List-I (Persons) List-II (Journals)A. Shyamji Krishna Varma 1. Bande MataramB. Madam Bhikaji Cama 2. Indian SociologistC. Annie Besant 3. The TalwarD. Aurobindo Ghosh 4. Commonweal

Codes:A B C D

(a) 2 3 4 1(b) 3 2 1 4(c) 2 3 1 4(d) 3 2 4 1

1999


Discuss the growth of revolutionary terrorism with special reference to its ramification in Maharashtra, Bengal and Punjab till the first decade of the 20th century.

1991


Revolutionary Activity During World War 1

q The Revolutionary activity was carried out through the GhadrParty in North America, Berlin Committee in Europe & some scattered mutinies by Indian soldiers, such as the one in Singapore.

q In India, for the revolutionaries who are striving for immediate complete independence, the War seemed a heaven-sent opportunity, draining India of troops (the number of white soldiers went down at one point to only 15k), & raising the possibility of financial & military help from Germany & Turkey—the enemies of Britain.


q The revolutionary activity in this period was concentrated in Punjab & Bengal.

q The Bengal plans were part of a far-flung conspiracy organized by Rashbehari Bose & Sachin Sanyal in cooperation with returned Ghadrites in Punjab.

q Most Bengal groups were organized under Jatin Mukherji (BaghaJatin) & planned disruption of railway lines, seizure of Fort William & landing of German arms.

q These plans were ruined due to poor coordination & Bagha died near Balasore in 1915.

Continued…


q There was a temporary respite in revolutionary activity after the War because:

Ø the release of prisoners held under the Defense of India Rules cooled down passions a bit;

Ø there was an atmosphere of conciliation after Montagu's statement & the talk of constitutional reforms;

Ø the coming of Gandhi on the scene with the programme of nonviolent non-cooperation promised new hope.


Revolutionary Activities During 1920s

Why attraction for revolutionary activity after Non-Cooperation Movement?

q The revolutionaries had faced severe repression during the First World War.

q But in early 1920, many were released by the Government under a general amnesty to create a harmonious environment for the Montford Reforms to work.


q Soon, Gandhi launched the Non-Cooperation Movement.

q Under the persuasion of Gandhi & C.R. Das, many revolutionary groups either agreed to join the non-cooperation or suspended their activities to give the Non-Cooperation Movement a chance.

q But the sudden withdrawal of the movement left many of them disillusioned; they began to question the basic strategy of nationalist leadership & its emphasis on non-violence and began to look for alternatives.

Continued…


● But since these younger nationalists were not attracted to the parliamentary work of the Swarajists or to the patient, un dramatic, constructive work of the No-changers, they were drawn to the idea that violent methods alone would free India.

● Thus, revolutionary activity was revived.

Continued…


Leadersq Nearly all major leaders of revolutionary policies had been

enthusiastic participants in the Non-Cooperation MovementØ Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Ø Surya Sen, Ø Bhagat Singh, Ø Sukhdev, Ø Chandrashekhar Azad, Ø Shiv Verma, Ø Bhagwaticharan Vohra, Ø Jaidev Kapur & Ø Jatin Das.


Major Influencesq Upsurge of working class trade unionism after the War;

the revolutionaries wanted to harness the revolutionary potential of the new emergent class for nationalist revolution.

q Russian Revolution & the success of the young Soviet state in consolidating itself.

q Newly sprouting communist groups with their emphasis on Marxism, socialism & the proletariat.


q Journals publishing memoirs and articles extolling the self-sacrifice of revolutionaries, such as Atmasakti, Sarathi & Bijoli

q Novels & books such as Bandi Jiwan by Sachin Sanyal & Pather Dabi by Sharatchandra Chatterjee (a Government ban only enhanced its popularity).

Continued…


Revolutionary Activity in Punjab-UP-Biharq The revolutionary activity in this region was dominated by the

Hindustan Republican Association/Army or HRA.

q The HRA was founded in October 1924 in Kanpur by RamprasadBismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee & Sachin Sanyal.

q It was aimed to organize an armed revolution to overthrow the colonial government.


q And establish in its place a ‘Federal Republic of United States of India’ whose basic principle would be adult franchise.

q Later renamed ‘Hindustan Socialist Republican Association or HSRA’

Continued…


Kakori Train Robbery,1925q The most important “action” of the HRA was the Kakori train

robbery.q The men held up the 8-Down train at Kakori, an obscure village

near Lucknow, & looted its official railway cash.q Government crackdown after the Kakori robbery led to arrests of

many.

q Of whom 17 were jailed, 4 transported for life & 4— Bismil, Ashfaqullah, Roshan Singh & Rajendra Lahiri — were hanged.

q Hence, Kakori proved to be a setback.


Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

q Determined to overcome the Kakori setback, the younger revolutionaries, inspired by socialist ideas, set out to reorganize Hindustan Republic Association at a historic meeting in the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi (September 1928).

q H.R.A. was changed into H.S.R.A (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association)

q The participants included Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Bhagwaticharan Vohra from Punjab & Bejoy Kumar Sinha, Shiv Verma & Jaidev Kapur from UP.


q HSRA decided to work under a collective leadership & adopted socialism as its official goal.

q Bhagat Singh involved himself in this movement who was influenced by ideology of Marxist & Lenin.

q They wanted to abolish Zamindari System & used slogans like Inquilab Zindabad & Rang de Basanti.

q They targeted not only British but also Indian capitalists, zamindars, kings & communal forces.

q They were influenced by communist ideologies which had wide appeal among the educated youth.

Continued…


Saunders’ Murder (Lahore, December 1928)q Just when the HSRA revolutionaries had begun to move

away from individual heroic action & violence, the, death of Sher-i-Punjab Lala Lajpat Rai led them once again to take to individual assassination.

q Bhagat Singh, Azad & Rajguru shot dead Saunders, the police official responsible for the lathi charge in Lahore.


Bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly,1929)q The HSRA leadership now decided to let the people know about its

changed objectives & the need for a revolution by the masses.

q Bhagat Singh & Batukeshwar Dutt were asked to throw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1929 against the passage of the Public Safety Bill & Trade Disputes

q Bill aimed at curtailing civil liberties of citizens in general & workers in particular.


q The bombs had been deliberately made harmless & were aimed at making ‘the deaf hear’.

q The objective was to get arrested & to use the trial court as a forum for propaganda so that people would become familiar with their movement & ideology.

q Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru were tried in the Lahore conspiracy case.

q In jail, these revolutionaries protested against the horrible conditions through a fast, & demanded honorable & decent treatment as political prisoners.

q Jatin Das became the 1st martyr on the 64th day of his fast.

Continued…


q Azad was involved in a bid to blow up Viceroy Irwin’s train near Delhi in December 1929.

q Azad was killed in a police encounter in a park in Allahabad in February 1931.

q March 23, 1931: Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru were hanged.

Continued…


Bengal

q After Das’s death (1925), the Bengal Congress broke up into 2 factions:

Ø One led by J.M. Sengupta (Anushilan group joined forces with him)

Ø the other led by Subhash Bose (Yugantar group backed him)


q Actions of the reorganized groups included an assassination attempt on the notorious Calcutta Police Commissioner, Charles Tegart (another man named Day got killed) by Gopinath Saha in 1924. Gopinath Saha was hanged.

q Government, armed with a new ordinance, came down heavily on revolutionaries.

q Many including Subhash Bose were arrested.

Continued…


Surya Senq He had participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement & had

become a teacher in the National school in Chittagong.

q He was imprisoned from 1926 to 1928 for revolutionary activity & afterwards continued working in the Congress.

q Was the secretary of the Chittagong District Congress Committee.


q He used to say "Humanism is a special virtue of a revolutionary".

q He was a lover of poetry & an admirer of Tagore & Qazi NazrulIslam.

q He soon gathered around himself a large band of revolutionary youth including Anant Singh, Ganesh Ghosh & Lokenath Baul.

Continued…


Chittagong Armoury Raid (April 1930)q Sen decided to organise an armed rebellion along with his

associates to show that it was possible to challenge the armed might of the mighty British.

q They had planned to occupy 2 main armories in Chittagong to seize & supply arms to the revolutionaries.

q A group of 6 revolutionaries, led by Ganesh Ghosh, captured the Police Armory, shouting slogans such as Inquilab Zindabad, Down with Imperialism & Gandhi's Raj has been established.


q Another group of 10, led by Lokenath Baul, took over the Auxiliary Force Armory along with its Lewis guns & 303 army rifles. Unfortunately they could not locate the ammunition.

q They also aimed to destroy telephone & telegraph lines & to dislocate railway link of Chittagong with the rest of Bengal.

q The raid involved 65 activists under the banner of Indian Republican Army Chittagong Branch.

Continued…


q The raid was quite successful;

q Sen hoisted the national flag, took salute & proclaimed a provisional revolutionary government.

q Later, they dispersed into neighboring villages & raided government targets.

q Sen was arrested in February 1933 & hanged in January 1934.

Continued…


Q. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer:List 1 List 2(A) Chittagong Armoury Raid (1) Kalpana Dutt(B) Abhinav Bharat (2) Guru Ram Singh(C) Anushilan Samiti (3) VD Savarkar(D) Kuka Movement (4) Aurobindo GhoshCodes :A B C D(a) 1 3 4 2(b) 1 3 2 4(c) 3 1 2 4(d) 3 1 4 2

2000


Aspects of New Phase of Revolutionary Movement in Bengal

q There was a large-scale participation of young women especially under Surya Sen.

q These women provided shelter, carried messages & fought with guns in hand.

q There was an emphasis on group action aimed at organs of the colonial state, instead of individual action.

q The objective was to set an example before the youth & to demoralize bureaucracy.


q Some of the earlier Hindu religiosity was shed, & there were no more rituals like oath-taking, & this facilitated participation by Muslims.

q Muslims such as Mir Ahmed, Fakir Ahmed Mian & Tunu Mian were in his group.


Women's Participationq Prominent women revolutionaries in Bengal during this phase

included Pritilata Waddedar, who died conducting a raid on Railway Institute at Paharatali ;

q Kalpana Dutt (now Joshi) who was arrested & tried along Surya Sen & given a life sentence;

q 1931: Santi Ghosh & Suniti Chandheri, school girls of Comilla, who shot dead the district magistrate;

q 1932: Bina Das who fired point blank at the Governor while receiving degree at convocation.


Who among the following organised the famous Chittagongarmory raid ?

(a) Laxmi Sehgal

(b) Surya Sen

(c) Batukeshwar Datta

(d) J.M.Sengupta

2001


Official Reactionq There was panic at 1st & then severe government repression.

q Armed with 20 repressive acts, the Government let loose the police on the revolutionaries.

q In Chittagong, several villages were burned & punitive fines imposed on many others.

q In 1933, JL Nehru was arrested for sedition & given 2 years' sentence because he had condemned imperialism & praised the heroism of the revolutionaries.


Achievementsq They succeeded to a great extent in removing fear of authority in

the minds of the common people.q The revolutionaries were fearless in nature & heroic in their

actions which encouraged people to stand up against authority.

q Government made some legislative changes bowing to demands from the nationalists.

q It aroused a patriotic feeling among Indians.

q They believed in secularism & promoted it. They believed that secularism was the key to India’s unity & Independence.


q Movement became weak after the death of Bhagat as his charisma was unmatched.

q The movement didn’t die completely & many revolutionaries resurfaced during the 1942 Quit India Movement.


Ideological Rethinkingq A real breakthrough was made by Bhagat Singh & his comrades in

terms of the revolutionary ideology, forms of revolutionary struggle & the goals of revolution.

q The rethinking had begun in the mid-1920s.

q The Founding Council of HRA had decided to preach revolutionary & communist principles, & the HRA Manifesto (1925) declared that the "HRA stood for abolition of all systems which made exploitation of man by man possible".


q HRA had proposed nationalization of railways & other means of transport & of heavy industries such as ship building & steel.

q HRA had also decided to start labor & peasant organisations & work for an organised & armed revolution.

Continued…


During their last days (late 1920s):q These revolutionaries had started moving away from individual

heroic action & violence towards mass politics.

q Bismil, during his last days, appealed to the youth to give up pistols & revolvers, not to work in revolutionary conspiracies &instead work in an open movement.

q He urged the youth to strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity, unite all political groups under the leadership of the Congress.

q Bismil affirmed faith in communism & the principle that "every human being has equal rights over the products of nature".

Ideological Rethinking


q The famous statement of the revolutionary position is contained in the book The Philosophy of the Bomb written by Bhagwaticharan Vohra.

q Even before his arrest, Bhagat Singh had moved away from belief in violent & individual heroic action to Marxism & the belief that a popular broad-based movement alone could lead to a successful revolution.

q In other words, revolution could only be "by the masses, for the masses".

Continued…


q That is why Bhagat Singh helped establish the Punjab NaujawanBharat Sabha (1926) as an open wing of revolutionaries to carry out political work among the youth, peasants & workers, & it was to open branches in villages.

q Bhagat Singh was fully secular — 2 of the 6 rules drafted by him for the Sabha were that its members would have nothing to do with communal bodies & that they would propagate a general feeling of tolerance among people, considering religion to be a matter of personal belief.

q Bhagat Singh & Sukhdev organized the Lahore Students' Unionfor open, legal work among students.

Continued…


q Bhagat Singh & his comrades also realized that a revolution meant organisation & development of a mass movement of the exploited & the suppressed sections by the revolutionary intelligentsia.

q He used to say, “real revolutionary armies are in villages & factories”.

q A few weeks before his death, he wrote the article ‘Why I am an Atheist’ in which he subjected religion and religious philosophy to a scathing critique. He traced his own path to atheism, how he 1st gave up belief ‘in the mythology & doctrines of Sikhism or any other religion,’ & in the end lost faith in the existence of God.

Continued…


q To be a revolutionary, he said, one required immense moral strength, but one also required ‘criticism & independent thinking.’

q In the struggle for self-emancipation, humanity had to struggle against ‘the narrow conception of religion’ as also against the belief in God.

q ‘Any man who stands for progress,’ he wrote, ‘has to criticize, disbelieve & challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook & corner of the prevailing faith.’

q Proclaiming his own belief in atheism he asserted that he was ‘trying to stand like a man with an erect head to the last; even on the gallows.’

Continued…


Evaluate the contribution of revolutionary terrorism represented by Bhagat Singh to the cause of India’s struggle for independence. (150 words)

2007


What was the need for individual heroic action?

q Because of the rapidity of change in thinking, effective acquisition of new ideology is a prolonged & historical process.

q These young intellectuals faced the classic dilemma of how to mobilize people & recruit them.

q Here, they decided to opt for propaganda by deed, i.e., through individual heroic action & by using courts as a forum for revolutionary propaganda.


Drawbacks

q The movement retained some conservative elements.

q It failed to evolve broader socio-economic goals

revolutionaries - amazon web services...q1905: shyamji krishna varma had started in londonan indian...

Documents