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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