Question

What was the immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi Movement?
1. The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon
2. A sentence of 18 months rigorous imprisonment imposed on Lokmanya Tilak
3. The arrest and deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; and passing of the Punjab Colonization Bill
4. Death sentence pronounced of the Chapekar brothers

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon

The correct answer is The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.

• The immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi Movement was the partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.
• Swadeshi Movement
  • This was a comprehensive movement that lasted 6 years.
  • Although this was regarded as a cultural movement celebrating the rich harvest of history, the rich traditions like folk music, paintings, the culture of Bengal were highlighted.
  • But very soon, it got integrated with the political upheavals that followed after the partition of Bengal. Krishna Kumar Mitra, in his newspaper, ‘Sanjivani’ highlighted the prospects of national education and ‘Economic Swadeshi’.
  • Very soon, this movement started gaining momentum with the help of the entire Bengali middle-class intelligentsia.
  • After the partition of Bengal, the Swadeshi movement got a big boost, because of the integration of the boycott movement with the Swadeshi movement.
  • Tilak called this movement “Bahishkar Yoga“ and most of the Bengali intelligentsia that was initially not in favor of the boycott movement got integrated with the Swadeshi movement.
  • This was primary learning for the national movement.
  • According to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Lala Lajpat Rai, it was training in ‘self-determination’, ‘self-help’, and ‘self-reliance’.

• Lord Curzon
  • Curzon came up with the idea to suppress the rising tide of nationalism.
  • With the publication of the book, ‘Indian Musalman’, by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, and with his active alliance, the attitude of the British towards Muslims changed significantly.
  • Thus Curzon wanted to ensure that the minority consciousness should be used against the majority and that this would then break the solidarity of Indian society, and in turn, break the solidarity of the Indian National Movement as well.
  • Thus, his active agenda was to create a feeling of minority consciousness.
  • The ‘Partition of Bengal’ was at the core of his policies.
  • The population of Bengal was balanced - where Hindus and Muslims were numerically almost equal.
  • Their consciousness was that of a Bengali consciousness and not at all a religious contradiction between Hindus and Muslims, and the Bengali intelligentsia was primarily responsible for the spread of nationalism in different parts of India.