The politics of the moderate nationalists were founded on the belief that British rule could be reformed from within. But the spread of knowledge regarding political and economic questions gradually undermined this belief. The political agitation of the moderates was itself responsible for this to a large extent.
The nationalist writers and agitators blamed the British rule for the poverty of the people. Politically conscious Indians were convinced that the purpose of the British rule was to exploit India economically, that is, to enrich England at the cost of India.
They realised that India could make little progress in the economic field unless British imperialism was replaced by a government controlled and run by the Indian people.
In particular, the nationalists came to see that Indian industries could not flourish except under an Indian government, which could protect and promote them.
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The evil economic consequences of foreign rule were symbolised in the eyes of the people by the disastrous famines which ravaged India from 1896 to 1900 and took a toll of over 90 lakhs of lives.
The political events of the years 1892-1905 also disappointed the nationalists and made them think of more radical politics. The Indian Councils Act of 1892, discussed in Chapter 10, was a complete disappointment. On the other hand, even the existing political rights of the people were attacked.
In 1898, a law was passed making it an offence to excite “feelings of disaffection” towards the foreign government. In 1899, the number of Indian members in the Calcutta Corportation was reduced. In 1904, the Indian Official Secrets Act was passed restricting the freedom of the press.
The Natu brothers were deported in 1897 without being tried; even the charges against them were not made public. In the same year, Lokamanya Tilak and other newspaper editors were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for arousing the people against the foreign government.
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Thus, the people found that, instead of giving them wider political rights, the rulers were taking away even their few existing ones.
The anti-Congress attitude of Lord Curzon convinced the people more and more that it was useless to expect any political and economic advancement as long as Britain ruled India.
Even the moderate leader Gokhale complained that “the bureaucracy was growing frankly selfish and openly hostile to national aspirations.”
Even socially and culturally, the British rule was no longer progressive. Primary and technical education was not making any progress.
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At the same time, the officials were becoming suspicious of higher education and were even trying to discourage its spread in the country.
The Indian Universities Act of 1904 was seen by the nationalists as an attempt to bring Indian universities under tighter official control and to check the growth of higher education.
Thus an increasing number of Indians were getting convinced that self-government was essential for the sake of the economic, political and cultural progress of the country and that political enslavement meant stunting the growth of the Indian people.