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Modern Bharat
 
Moderates & Extremists
   


Within the Congress , by 1905 was a large section of delegates trying for petition , resolution and constitutional demands. At it's helm were leaders like Aurobinda Tilak ,Bipin Chandra Pal and others .This along with the repercussion of the Swadeshi movement , winded the gap between the two school of thought and ultimately gave rise to two political parties, the Moderates and the Extremists .

The Basic difference in their thoughts was concerning both the political goal , and method to be adopted to achieve it. As for the goal , the idea initially setup by the Congress in 1905 was colonial form of self government . As against that, the Extremists were of the view to achieve absolute autonomy free from foreign control .

Also the Extremists had their attention concentration on ' Swaraj ' or self government . They thought petitioning was mad and fanatic and advocated methods of organised resistance to the existing form of government .

Leaders and members of the moderate party thought all of these , as impracticable . (Boycott of English goods , government service , and honorary offices ) or they thought some of the extremist views as injurious (Boycott of Universities and Educational institution ). Also they feared that some of extremist agenda may invite heavy resistance e.g. strikes.

Though arguments of Moderates were logical , the Extremists looked upon politics as a part of religion and thought that it should be approached by the power of faith neither counting obstacles nor measuring time . Hence they never tried to counter the individual argument of Moderates The first likeness of split between the two thoughts occurred

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at the Congress session at Varanasi , in December 1905.
No heed was paid to the Congress resolution to avoid Begal's partition and even Gopal Krishna Ghokhale- the Moderate stalwart had to accept the opinion that India has to achieve freedom , by it's own efforts. However , no consensus could be reached on ' Boycott ' issue. As the result of these differences, the Extremists decided to remain within the Congress , but with a platform of it's own, with a distance programme.

With this the 1906 Congress session took place at Culcutta . There were 1663 delegates , and visitors numbered to about 20,000. To avert a major drift , a veteran leader Dadabhai Navroji , then 82 years old, was chosen as the president. Extremists and Moderates were in upbeat mood , owing to two separate incidents.

For Extremists , the victory of Japan in Ruso-Japan war had proved that Asia can win over Europe . Simultaneously for Moderates , the victory of liberal party had boosted their morale .( As they believed that it will end the narrow imperialism ) Ultimately the demands of Moderates were denied by Lord Morley in scathing words and this benefited the Extremists .

In general for 1906 Congress , Extremists had won over the people of Bengal to a large extent. Yet the Moderates had a solid phalanx in the Congress . The president , however in 1906 , referred to Swaraj - self government as the goal of India , and a virtual split was avoided.

The Congress in 1907 , however witnessed what was avoided in 1906. 1907 Congress was held at Surat . The sharp difference of opinion , exclusion of the Extremists' ( or nationalist ) agenda , prompted Extremists to suggests the name of Lala Lajpat Rai as the President . The Moderates suggested name of Mr. Rash Behari Ghosh . The list of subjects, published ten days before excluded the nationalist topic of self government , boycott and national education.

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