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Student Profile
Name: Pratyush Agrawal

Class: 10
Section: L

Roll Number: 13453

Topic: The Swadeshi Movement

ICSE Batch: 2021-2022

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Index
Sl. Number Topic Page No.

01 Student Profile 01

02 Index 02

03 Introduction. 03

04 1) Real intentions of partition. 04

2) Contributions of Swadeshi Movement.

05 1) Impact of the Swadeshi Movement. 05

2) Major Contributions of the Swadeshi
Movement.

06 1) Effects of the swadeshi movement. 06

2) Anti-measures taken by the British.

07 Few Leaders associated with the Swadeshi 07

Movement.

08 Conclusion. 08

09 Acknowledgement & Bibliography. 09

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The Swadeshi Movement

The Swadeshi movement of Bengal (1905-1908) is
seen as an important historical event in the
episodic narrative of the Indian Nationalist
Movement, which takes the story forward to its
eventual climax in 1947. Lord Curzon’s unpopular
decision to partition the province of Bengal in
1905, led to this popular movement, which was
organized around the effective use of ‘Swadeshi’
and ‘Boycott’ as methods of agitation, under
Extremist leadership. The subsequent unification
of Bengal in 1911 came to be regarded as a marker
of the movement’s success. The British divided
Bengal on the pretext of administrative difficulty
due to its vast territory and large population. In
reality, the British were applying the Divide and
Rule policy by creating a divide between Hindus
and Muslims.

Lord Curzon ↑

Introduction
The proposal of the partition of Bengal was raised by the British authorities on 6 th
December, 1903. Soon, there emerged a strong anti-partition movement in Bengal
by leaders like Surendranath Banerjea, Bipin Chandra Paul, Aurobindo Ghose,
Rabindranath Tagore, etc. they felt that the move was an attempt to break the
Hindu-Muslim unity that existed in the province. They started a signature
collecting campaign to create strong public opinion and awareness among the
people. They submitted around 70,000 protest papers to the Secretary General, but
the British Government remained adamant. The people then rose unitedly against
this plan of the British by launching massive public protests and agitations. Many
places in Bengal were marked by strong protest marches against the move. The
people irrespective of the caste, creed and religion, joined the movement. The
congress leaders realising the great potential of this new mass movement decided
to turn this movement, into a national movement. During its session at Benares in
December in 1905, they decided to go beyond the partition issue. Thus, they
termed the new movement as Swadeshi Movement because it went beyond the
borders of Bengal and people across the country, accepted the idea of boycotting
foreign items, using home-made goods, and rejecting government given titles and
posts. Students were asked to leave the government schools and colleges, and join
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the national institutions set up by the patriotic Indian leaders. Thus, this phase of
the movement against the British came to be known as the Swadeshi Movement,
and it lasted for 6 years, from 1905 to 1911.
Intentions of the partition of Province of Bengal
Although the official purpose declared by the British government in India for the
partition of Bengal was administrative convenience, yet the real intentions and aims
of this move were different. The main intentions of the partition of Bengal were as
follows-
 To stem the tide of nationalism which was first emerging in Bengal. Bengal
was considered to be the hotspot of nationalism
 To break the Hindu-Muslim unity which could have been a threat to a stable
British empire in India.
 To divide the province of Bengal in such a way that Hindus became a minority
in the newly created province, while the Muslims became a minority in the
retained province of Bengal. This would destroy any chances of both groups
joining and fighting against the British government.
 To please the Muslim leaders and to weaken the Hindu-Muslims who were in
the fore-front of the national movement.
 To dominate and control the growing anti-British extremists within the
congress Party.
Major Features of the Swadeshi Movement
 To non-cooperate with the British government and make it collapse. 
 To boycott or cut out buying British goods made in our country. 
 To create India's own goods and buying only those, such as Khadi
(Swadeshi goods)
 To protest the ruling British government and shouting slogans such as
'Swatantra Bharat'.

Contributions of Swadeshi Movement towards:

1) National Education-

One of the major contributions of the swadeshi movement was in the field of
development of National Education. The movement caught the attention of the
student community and many of them took active participation in the Swadeshi
Movement. The result was that the chief secretary of the province of Bengal
circulated a notice, warning students not to join the movement against the
government. The student community made a strong protest against this order
and observed a walk-out of the classrooms as a mark of the protest. On 4 th
November, 1905, Rabindranath Tagore organised a vast student rally against
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the unjustified circular of the government and an “anti-circular society” was

formed to disobey the order of the government. Prominent leaders such as,
Rabindranath Tagore, Bipin Chandra Paul, etc. called upon the students to
come away from government schools and colleges. On 8 th November, 1905,
Rabindranath Tagore established a set of educational institutions named ‘Banga
Jatiya Vidyalaya’ in Calcutta and Rangpur.

2) National Industries-

The swadeshi movement led to the emergence of the spirit of self-

development which led to the development of Indian industries. As foreign
goods were rejected, people now turned to locally made goods. The result was
that several big industries and many small-scales industries came up in
different parts of the country. Spinning machines, small and medium
handloom industries, industries for producing mustard oil, soap, sugar, match
box, etc. were established. During this period, national banks and national
insurance companies also came into existent. One of the establishments set up
during this period was “The Swadeshi Bhandar” which became a reputed
textile firm. It was started by Rabindranath Tagore. Yogesh Ch. Choudhury
and Krishna Bihari Sen jointly established ‘Indian Stores’ in Calcutta. The
heavy industries sectors also witnessed some initiative during this period.
Acharya Prafulla Ray established ‘Bengal Medicals’ in July, 1906. On 17th
December, 1905, the first Indian industrial summit was held at Benares with
R.C Dutta as the chairman. The summit created awareness among the Indian
people about the prospects of the indigenous industries.
Thus, the Swadeshi Movement spurred the industrial growth in the country.

Major Contributions of the Swadeshi Movement

The major contributions of the Swadeshi movement are-
 Gave awareness about mass movement: An important contribution of the
Swadeshi movement was that Indians became politically aware of the power of
mass movement. They realised that if people came out together in majority for
a common cause, the mass struggle would eventually bring success.
 Involvement of women: Swadeshi movement empowered the Indian women
towards the mass movement. Each person in the Bengal province kept a fast
day when Prafulla Chaki was executed. Moreover, Bhubanesari Dev called
thousands of women for mass movement to protest police torture of her son,
Bhupendra Nath Dutta.
 Aroused demand for SWARAJ: The Swadeshi movement aroused the passion
for ‘Swaraj’. It was during this movement that Indians for the first time
demanded Swaraj or self-governance from the British. This demand was raised
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during the congress session at Calcutta in 1906 under the presidentship of

Dadabhai Naoroji.

Impact of the Swadeshi Movement

The swadeshi spirit moved all sections of the society. The cobblers refused to
mend English shoes and the washermen refused to wash European garments. A person
selling or buying foreign good was subjected to great humiliation. Foreign salt, and
sugar, cloth, placed on heaps were set on fire.
The movement failed to de-stabilize the government, but it affected the life of the
nation in the following ways-
 Stimulus to Indian industries, such as the Bengal chemical factory started by
P.C. Ray and establishment of Tata and Iron Steel Company.
 An urge of national education that resulted in the establishment of hundreds of
national schools in Kolkata.
 An outburst of literary activity through writings in journals and newspapers
like the Kesari and the Mahratta, by Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
 People from all walks of life participated in the movement with the greatest
contribution coming from students and women.
 It resulted in significant decline in the foreign imports during 1905-1908.
 The Swadeshi movement led the people to learn to challenge and disobey the
British government explicitly without fearing the atrocities of the police and
imprisonment.
 The movement however also set the undertones for communal disharmony by
invoking religious sentiments, setting foundation for Muslim League.

A few anti-movement measures taken by the British to dominate the Swadeshi

movement were as follows:
 The government offered various titles, posts and medals to moderate leaders of
the Indian National Congress in hope that they would support the government
in its various acts.
 The moderate congress leaders were also offered posts of judges of high
courts, membership of British Parliament, etc. The congress leaders such as
Surendranath Banerjee, Gopal Krishna Gokhlae, Bipin Chandra Pal, etc.
however stood firm and rejected all the concessions offered by the government.
 The British tried to please Muslim leaders and woo them away from the Indian
National Congress. They encouraged them to start a political party of Muslims
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to oppose the moves of the Indian National Congress. To a great extent, they
succeeded in this venture.

Leaders Associated with Swadeshi Movement

1) Bal Gangadhar Tilak: He earned the epithet ‘Lokmanya’

(respected by the people) and was almost worshipped as God.
He spread the message of Swadeshi to Poona (now Pune)
and Bombay, and organised Ganapati and Shivaji festivals to
arouse patriotic feelings. He stressed that the aim of
Swadeshi, Boycott and National Education was attainment of
Swaraj. He opened cooperative stores and headed the
Swadeshi Wastu Pracharini Sabha. Tilak was
the editor of Kesari which was a Marathi newspaper.

2) Bipin Chandra Pal: In 1867, Bipin Chandra joined the Brahmo Samaj Movement.
He later joined the Congress in 1887, and at the Chennai
Congress in 1887, he pleaded that the Arms Act should be
repealed. During the anti-partition movement, Bipin Chandra
toured several parts of the country, and wherever he went, he
carried the message of “SWADESHI” and “Boycott” with
him. He even edited several papers, the most important one
being- “New India”, which he started in 1901. He was a
marvellous orator, and a great journalist.

3) Lala Lajpat Rai: He took the movement to Punjab and Northern India. He was
assisted in his venture by his articles, which were published
in ‘Kayastha amac ar’, endorsed technical education and
industrial self-sufficiency. In 1905, he along with Gokhlae,
went to England, to persuade the British officials, to not
give effect to the scheme of the Partition of Bengal. He
even presided over the Kolkata session of congress in 1920,
where a resolution on “Non-Cooperation Movement” was
adopted by the Congress. He was the first Indian Leader to
have written about the problems of socialism and labour
organisation.
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4) Rabindranath Tagore: Tagore’s later years, in the 20th

century, saw immense tumult. India was fighting the
British Raj, and Tagore’s “mission” for freedom and
justice, as he often called it, extended far beyond his roles as
a writer and administrator. In 1925, Tagore wrote the
essay, Cult of the Chakra, which severely criticised the
Swadeshi movement and Gandhi’s idea of
‘chakra spinning’ as a means to achieve independence.

Conclusion
Major reasons for the break-up of the Swadeshi Movement-

1. There was severe government repression.

2. The movement failed to create an effective organization or a party structure. It

threw up an entire gamut of techniques that came to be associated with Gandhian
politics—non-cooperation, passive resistance, filling of British jails, social reform
and constructive work—but failed to give these techniques a disciplined focus.

3. The movement was rendered leaderless with most the leaders either arrested or
deported by 1908 and with Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal retiring from
active politics.

4. It failed to unite the Hindus and Muslims for the cause of a united Bengal.

5. The movement aroused the people but did not know how to tap the newly
released energy or how to find new forms to give expression to popular
resentment.

6. The movement largely remained confined to the upper and middle classes and
zamindars, and failed to reach masses—especially the peasantry.

7. Non-cooperation and passive resistance remained mere ideas.

8. It is difficult to sustain a mass-based movement at a high pitch for too long.

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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank our Principal. I am grateful for our History Teacher,
Ma’am Chatterjee, for giving us such an insightful as well as an interesting
topic- “The Swadeshi Movement”, of our Indian history to research and make a
project on. Due to this topic, I gained a clear understanding behind the
commencement of the Swadeshi movement, its contributions towards specific
fields such as education, its various effects and its impact.

Bibliography
Lasty, the information for the project has been taken from the following
websites:
 www.thehansindia.com
 www.jagranjosh.com
 www.historydiscussion.net
 www.thebetterindia.com
 www.britannica.com
 www.sankalpindia.net
 www.drishtiias.com
 www.studiousguy.com
 www.devlibrary.in
 Modern Indian History Contemporary World and Civics. Class- X