The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

A Brief Review of the Freedom Movement

The Freedom Movement can be described as having gone through three phases. The first phase started almost immediately after the conquest of India by the British. It manifested itself in the form of revolts and rebellions by princes and powerful landlords who felt their power threatened. This feeling was exacerbated by the economic exploitation by the British (see Chapter 3); in addition there was the conversion work of Christian missionaries which evoked strong reactions even from the common people. We have cited a few examples in this book. Two prominent ones are: the heroic resistance of Veerapandya Kattabomman and that of Kittur Chinnamma. Both of them fought heroically and sacrificed their lives for the cause.

However, the motive behind these revolts was not based on a clear national political consciousness. For the concept of a united India with a distinct political consciousness had not yet taken shape. Undoubtedly, there was a sense of a united India, but it was more a cultural and spiritual sense of unity. However, it cannot be denied that the determined and valiant resistance to the British by these heroes created subtly - almost unknown and unnoticed - the beginnings of a national consciousness on political lines. It will be useful in this context to dwell a little upon the aid lent by foreign rule - in this case, the British rule - to the process of nation-making. History abounds with illustrations. When one looks at the history of the modern nations in Europe, one finds that there is none which has not had to pass through a phase more or less prolonged, more or less complete, of foreign domination in order to realise its nationality. The essential work that this foreign domination did was to create a shock or a pressure; this shock awakened on one side a loose psychological unity which impelled it to the necessity of organising itself from within; and secondly the need to crush out, dispirit or deprive of power, vitality the obstinate elements and factors of disunion.

This is exactly what these early freedom fighters unconsciously did for India. By their strong reaction to the British rule and exploitation, they awakened in the people of India, the sense of a loose psychological unity which inevitably strove to grow into a full political unity.

In this context it is important to mention the Sepoy Mutiny. Whether it was a national Freedom Movement or a mutiny of sepoys is not the question here. What is important is that it gave a tremendous impetus towards creating a national political consciousness and a national awakening. The Sepoy Mutiny may be therefore described as a further step in awakening the national consciousness on political lines.

The Second phase starts with the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. This was a conscious and deliberate step in the formation of the national consciousness and from this time onwards there was no stopping of the movement. It was inevitable that this step would be taken for all the forces were working in this direction. No doubt the Congress in its early days was timid and moderate in its approach for the demand of freedom but it was evident that sooner or later this movement would take a more strident and aggressive approach. This happened with the Partition of Bengal in 1905. A section of the Congress named the Nationalist group demanded total freedom as a national birthright. The leaders of this movement were Sri Aurobindo, Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, among many others. As seen in the earlier chapters, this section of the Congress triggered a militant national awakening all over the country. The split in the Congress at Surat did not weaken the freedom movement; on the contrary it only strengthened it and its repercussions were felt all over India, particularly in Maharashtra, Punjab and South India. The political national consciousness was by this time fully dynamically awake.

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During this period, there were many national leaders all over India; but it must be noted that there was no one leader who dominated or controlled the movement. A force and aspiration for freedom was released and leaders cropped up all over the nation. Thus in Bengal we had Sri Aurobindo, Bipin Chandra Pal and Surendranath Banerjee; in the West we had Tilak, Gokhale and Pherozeshah Mehta; and in the South there were Subramaniam Bharati and Annie Besant. This was a period where there was a mix of moderate and militant movements. The Home Rule Movement started by Annie Besant and Tilak were important phases in this movement.

This phase lasted till 1920. The third phase starts with the advent of Gandhi, and this period ushered in a totally different approach. Two important characteristics mark this phase. Firstly, it was based entirely on the concept of non-violence and peaceful resistance; secondly, it was centred exclusively around the personality of Gandhi. No doubt there were many other powerful leaders, but all of them unquestionably accepted the lead and the decision of Gandhi. It is also true that they often disagreed with him but ultimately, they all suspended their judgement and acted according to his will. The phase may thus be characterised as the Gandhian phase.

Inevitably, in all the different phases of this period, it was Gandhi who called the shots and the other leaders only implemented the directions given by the Congress headquarters. This was evident first in the Khilafat Movement; many leaders had reservations about the direction of the movement, yet they followed his directions.

Similarly, in the Non-Co-operation Movement, there was a great deal of heart burning when it was suddenly called off after the Chauri Chaura episode. Despite expressing their opinion in private, no one opposed the decision to call off the movement.

This pattern was evident right through till the late thirties. It was only around 1939-40 that some leaders stood up and questioned the decisions of Gandhi. Since this book deals with the role of South India in the Freedom Movement, we shall omit any detailed description of the events during this period; they have been already narrated and analysed in detail in the vast literature available on this topic. We shall however point out some of the lesser known features and different viewpoints that pertain to this period. We consider this as very important for it gives an alternate view of the history of this period and also its impact on the later developments in the political history of India.

In this context, we shall highlight in the following chapters some of the leaders of the South who asserted their viewpoint or expressed their opinion with conviction and viewed the events from a different perspective. One such leader was C Rajagopalchari.

In the last phase of the Indian Independence Movement, from 1945 to 1947, the relevance of Gandhi was reduced considerably. It was during this period that two leaders played a sterling role in the movement; they were Sardar Vallabhai Patel and V. P. Menon.

Finally, we shall point out the silent role that Sri Aurobindo played during this period. It is true that he had retired from active politics; but he did intervene through letters and public statements on numerous occasions. These interventions are of great importance in understanding the finer nuances of the Freedom Movement and its importance for the future development of India.

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