The chief instrument through which nationalist-minded Indians spread the message of patriotism and modern economic, social and local ideas, and created an all-India consciousness was the press.

Large numbers of nationalist newspapers made their appearance during the second half of the nineteenth century. In their columns the official policies were constantly criticised; the Indian point of view was put forward.

People were asked to unite and work for national welfare, and ideas of self-government, democracy, industrialistion, etc., were popularised among the people.

The press also enabled nationalist workers living in different parts of the country to exchange views with one another.

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National literature in the form of novels, essays and patriotic poetry also played an important role in arousing national consciousness.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, Lakshminath Bezbarua in Assamese, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar in Marathi, Subramanya Bharati in Tamil, Bharatendu Harishchandra in Hindi and Altaf Husain Hali in Urdu were some of the prominent nationalist writers of the period.