Indian Nationalism and External Forces (1920-47) An Old and Rare Book

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Nationalism is a phenomenon of the modern world. It originally emerged in Europe and expanded to the other countries. The indigenous soil and climate-the socioeconomic milieu and the cultural-ideological moorings of the new lands gave it specificity in the course of an intense process of interaction. Indian nationalism thus may be viewed as an evolute of the western idea of nationalism, which having been nurtured in the context of the yearning for throwing off the yobe of British imperialism and in the socio-economic and political ideological conditions obtaining in the country took its present shape. The process has not been a simple one. It has been complicatingly interactive involving diverse individuals and group as actors and consisting of their reactions of love/hate, acceptance/rejection towards western, particularly the British, institutions and ideas.

The process is confined not only to the original idea of nationalism. Various other ideological movements, having originally emerged in the Western world in modern times, have gone to influence the shaping of Indian nationalism. Besides, no less important is the course of world events particularly after the First World War.

The present work seeks to examine the evolution of Indian nationalism during the period 1920-47 in the context of external forces i.e, the western ideological currents and cross-currents as well as the international relations during the period, which is the most Crucial in the history of Indian nationhood, as the course of successive stages and diverse strands of India's struggle for independence in the world context of crowded world events ultimately culminated in the creation of India as a sovereign and independent state at the close of this period. It is during this period that Gandhi and Nehru, Subhas and J.P. appeared at the scene and led the freedom struggle.

Literature on the theme of the interaction of Indian nationalism and the external forces is legion. All the important leaders have reacted to such phenomena as the Soviet revolution, the Paris peace Settlement, the world economic crisis, the emergence of fascism and nazism and several various other crises of the interwar period, the coming of the Second World War, the post-war settlement etc., so far they affected the course of events in world politics and the issue of Indian struggle for independence. The present work seeks to analyse the interaction of the manifold external events and ideas not only on the main strands of Indian nationalism but also on certain parallel strands as the leftwing movement and ideas. The assumption being that Indian nationalism is an amalgam of the search for identity conducted in the course of the freedom movement by diverse groups and classes, who articulated their demands separately and aggregated them with the central issue of independence.

It is not intended to suggest that Indian nationalism took its definitive shape in 1947. In fact it is in the process of constant flux under its inherent compulsions as well as under the impact of the interactions taking place in the present day world involving the Soviet Union and the socialist countries, the U.S.A. and the various advanced Capitalist countries and the third world countries, mainly consisting of the non-aligned. What may, however, be suggested is that some of the issues that were raised during the period under study continue to be vitally relevant even to-day and the struggle is still continuing in the political system in respect to them. We refer to such issues as anti-imperialism/anti-colonialism, non-alignment and the path to socialism. The present study may have some utility in clarifying the goals in the light of the experiences of an earlier phase of our contemporary history.

Indian anti nationalism, as the bond existing among individuals of the nation, motivated the nation towards its right of self-determination. It was mainly directed to throw off British rule over the nation and as such it may be viewed as a part of the nationalism emerging in the regions of Asia and Africa, to fight against the subjugation of imperialism. Interestingly. though this nationalism grew as a reaction against the western imperialism, it was influenced by the ideology and political theory developed in the West as also by the various events occurring in the world around. For its emergence itself. Indian nationalism owes its origin largely to the West, which created a common outlook amidst the diversity of the Indian society and disseminated the ideals of democracy and nationalism.

Sometimes, the British rule alone is considered to be the only factor contributing towards the emergence and growth. of Indian nationalism. Undoubtedly the alien rule was the most important factor propelling the growth of Indian nationality, as by its mission which was primarily directed towards the exploitation of the resources of India, Britain was destined to play a major role as an unwilling tool of history in the creation of the Indian nation. However, inspite of the British rule, the growth of English education and even after the formation of the Indian National Congress which crystellized the Indian opinion, the nation's voice towards the British rule was extremely sober. The early Congress was represented by the intelligentsia which had a deep sense of loyalty and faith in the British sense of justice. "I am loyal to the British Government", said Bipin Chandra Pal in 1807, "because I love Self-Government." Similarly, Surendranath Banerjee remarked in 1895 that England was "the august mother of free nations" and appealed to her "gradually to change the character of her rule in India, to liberise it, ... SO that India may find its place in the great confederacy of free States, English in their origin, English in character, English in their institutions, rejoicing in their permanent and indissoluble union with England, a glory to the mother-country, and an honour to the human race." However, the submissive way of dealing with the Govern-ment did not help improve the situation. The partition of Bengal in 1905, inspite of local protests; discredited the Cong-ress methods of prayer and petition. The hopes aroused by the formation of a liberal Government in England towards the end of 1905, were shattered when the new Secretary of State, Morley, declared partition to be 'a settled fact. Mean-while, certain events of wide-ranging implications took place in other countries which provided India with proper impetus to deal with the Government and these events ultimately shaped the Congrees attitude.

By 1905, a number of important events occurred in the world, such as the Sinn Fein movement in Ireland, the Egyptian struggle for freedom, the young Turk revolt and the adoption of constitution in Persia, the introduction of representative institutions in Philippines, and the grant of responsible Self-Government to the Transvaal and Orange River. The Czarist autocracy in Russia was assailed by a revolutionary movement, which had gained partial victory in the establishment of the Duma in 1905. Further, the repulse of Italian army in Abyssinia was also a reminder to the Eastern countries that the superiority of the West was not a settled fact. All these events exposed the people's mind to a wider horizon and helped the Congress decide its future course of action.