HIS 103, Lecture 4

Reform movement in the Bengali Hindu Society, and the

foundation of Indian National Congress, 1885

June 23, 2021

 Impact of the First War of Independence,
1857

India became an official colony of the British Empire in 1858

Government of India went directly under British Parliament and
Government.
The post of the “Governor General” was replaced by the post of the
“Viceroy.”
Queen Victoria became the Empress of India in 1876.
More British were recruited in army/police.
 Impact: Administrative Reform
The style of governance changed very little although the Government of India Act of 1858
created a cabinet post of Secretary of State for India in Great Britain and Council of 15
British members.
All effective powers rested with the Viceroy (Lord Canning was the first viceroy), his
Executive Council and the members of the Indian Civil Service.
Recruitment of Indians to ICS (Indian Civil Service) began in 1862, (first Indian to be
recruited as an ICS officer was Satyendranath Tagore in 1863).
 Indians were given some share of the business of administration by creation of other
specialized all-India services such as Police, Forestry, Engineering or Education.
Despite these changes, discrimination remained a fundamental trait of the British imperial
rule. Although the Indians began to be recruited to the ICS but physical barriers such as
examination in the UK, age limits and subjects of competition led a very few Indians to
compete fairly.
 Reformation in the Hindu Society
From Brahmo Sabha to Bramho Samaj:
 Debendranath Tagore, the father of Rabindranath Tagore turned Brahmo
Sabha (Raja Rammohan Roy, 1828) into Brahmo Samaj (1861), almost as a
new religion. He introduced a number of practices like formal initiation into
Brahmoism which nearly broke away from the parent body of the Hindu
society.
 The influence of Brahmo Samaj was felt in many aspects of social life such
as treating women as equal members of the society, with a right to
education and property, eradication of vulgar rituals, the return to
Vedanta, lessening of the rigors of the Satti and caste system, and general
exposure to Western sciences and liberal ideas.
 Reformation in the Hindu Society
Ramakrishna–Vivekananda Movement:
Ramakrishna did not propose any sort of synthesis of religious systems, nor did
he preach any universal religion as a varied form interrelating the basic elements
of different faiths; rather he argued that every religion is wholly true, for Truth is
one and indivisible and, as such, it would be improper to say that different
religions contained fragments of Truth.
Vivekananda called for the abolition of caste privileges and untouchability, for
establishing a classless society, for the education and uplift of the exploited
millions, for giving the working classes and the underprivileged their due share in
national wealth, for the emancipation of women, for establishing peasants’
ownerhip in land and for achieving a truly harmonious international order where
there will be no exploitation of one nation by another remains as relevant as ever.
 Beginning of Political Awareness
The root of political awareness in Bengal can be traced to Rammohan Roy who shaped his ideas on
the lines laid down by Western liberalism, and by his keen awareness of India being a “subject
country” under British rule and of the exploitation of poor people and the inflow of the liberalizing
influence of the West that went with it.
Organizations like the Academic Association (founded in 1828), the Society for the Acquisition of
General Knowledge (1838), the Hindu Theosophical Society and periodicals like the Parthenon (1830),
the Hindu Pioneer, the Bengal Spectator (1842) etc. carried on an endless campaign to educate public
opinion about the evils of colonial oppression and the need for building a resurgent new country.
Soon came the formation of the Landholders’ Society (1837), the very first organization in Bengal with
a distinctive political object.
The leaders of the educated public in Bengal now appreciated the urgency of establishing a more
effective political organization than the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society
(1843).
This led to the foundation of the British Indian Association on 31 October 1851, by the amalgamation
of the Landholders’ Society and the Bengal British India Society.
 The Indian Association and the National
Conferences (1883 and 1885)
The Indian Association, formed in 1876, which later became the
mouthpiece of the educated community of Bengal. The objectives were:
i. the creation of a strong body of public opinion in the country;
ii. the unification of the Indian races and people on the basis of common
political interests and aspirations;
iii. the promotion of friendly feelings between Hindus and
Mohammedans.
The association organized the agitation against the reduction of the
maximum age limit for the ICS examination from twenty-one to nineteen
and for holding the examination simultaneously in Britain and India.
 The Indian Association (Cont.)

The Indian Association, along with its more moderate contemporary- the
British Indian Association, played a catalytic role in building up political
consciousness.
Indian Association convened an all-India National Conference in 1883, the
first ever conference that had not been thought of previously.
Over 100 delegates including Muslims came from different provinces. The
conference was inaugurated by a national song.
The object and ideal of the National Conference gained popularity and the
following tours to different parts of India paved the way for its further sittings.
 The Indian Association (Cont.)
The second National Conference was held two years later during 25 to 27
December 1885.
Along with the Indian Association, the National Mohammedan Association and
the British Indian Association were also the conveners of the second meeting.
Surendranath Banerjee moved a resolution on the reconstitution of the
legislative council on democratic lines with a view to introducing a
parliamentary form of government as in Great Britain.
At its last session the second National Conference sent a message of goodwill
to the ‘Indian National Congress’ that was being held in Bombay at the same
time. It was a memorable act of humbleness on the part of the National
Conference in relation to the Indian National Congress.
 Formation of Indian National Congress
In 1885, the Indian National Congress was launched during the time of
Viceroy Lord Dufferin (1884-1888), who played the role of a facilitator
behind the scene.
On December 28, Allan Octavian Hume, an ICS officer, who retired in 1882,
organized an Indian elite group to set up the Congress in a conference in
Bombay.
It was a forum of educated Indians for articulation of the views of the loyal
subjects in a representative and authoritative manner.
Congress was the first political party in British India, Womesh Chunder
Bonnerjee being its first president, although its demands at the beginning
were all directed to secure advantages for Indians.