‘Moderates Phase’ (1885 and 1905): First phase of Indian national movement

The period 1885-1905 (1885-1907 in some cases) is considered by many as the first or the early phase of Indian National movement; it is also referred to as the Moderate Phase. In this phase, the Indian National Congress (INC) was led by early political leaders, also called as Early Nationalists. They were educated, open minded, but were more cautious and avoided serious opposition to the British, because of which they passed fairly moderate reform resolutions.

The Indian National Congress (INC) was set-up in 1885 and heralded a new step in Indian National Movement.

The moderates dominated the Congress policies during the early years (1885- 1905) firmly believers in ‘liberalism’ and ‘moderate’ politics. They were educated, open-minded, but were cautious and avoided serious opposition to the British, because of which they passed fairly moderate reform resolutions.

During this period, the leaders worked towards achieving two goals:

1. Creating a strong public opinion to arouse consciousness and national spirit and trying to educate people on common political questions
2. Convincing the British Government to introduce reforms in India on the lines laid out by the nationalists.

The major demands of the Moderates were:

• Expansion and reform of legislative councils.
• Greater opportunities for Indians in higher posts by holding the ICS examination simultaneously in England and in India.
• Separation of the judiciary from the executive.
• More powers for the local bodies.
• Reduction of land revenue and protection of peasants from unjust landlords.
• Abolition of salt tax and sugar duty Freedom of speech and expression and freedom to form associations
• The repeal of the Arms Act
• Reduction of spending on army.
• The introduction of Permanent Settlement to other parts of India

The progress during the first phase of Indian nationalism was very modest because of the following reasons:

• The leaders were cautious in their demands as they did not want to annoy the British government and run the risk of suppression of their activities.
• This is also the reason why they did not demand complete independence from foreign rule in the beginning.
• Their main aim was to attain political rights and self-government by taking small steps.
• Moderates used petitions, resolutions, meetings, leaflets and pamphlets, memorandum and delegations to present their demands.
• Moderates had faith in the British sense of justice and fair-play and often looked to England for guidance.
• They demanded Indian control over the public money and raised the slogan that the Americans raised during their War of Independence, ‘No taxation without representation’.
• Drew most of their ideas from western political thinking which further alienated them from the people.
• They could not see that there existed conflicts of interest of the rulers and the ruled.
• They confined their political activities to the educated people only. This excluded the masses.
• They did not understand the power of a mass movement of people, unlike Gandhi who used this power to the fullest.
• The Moderates found themselves sidelined with the emergence of extremist leadership within the congress.
• They failed to keep pace with the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

However, there were successes of Moderates too:

• The British Government was forced to pass the Indian Councils Act of 1892, it increased the size of the legislative councils and also increased the proportion of nonofficials in them. However, the provisions of this Act failed to satisfy the Congress leaders.
• They were able to sow the seeds of nationalism among Indian and popularised ideals like democracy, liberty and equality.
• They were able to expose the Economic drain policies and the basic exploitative character of the British.
• They used the press effectively to put across their views, petitions and to reach the bigger population.
• With changing times and due to the presence of leaders like Tilak (who had radical views), the Moderates also started changing their stance. By 1905, Gokhale had started speaking of self-rule as the goal and in 1906 it was Dadabhai Naoroji who mentioned the word Swaraj as the goal of the Congress.
• Leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and M G Ranade were social reformers too and opposed child marriage and imposed widowhood. Dadabhai Naoroji believed in equality of men and women and was in favour ow women’s education.

When the INC was formed, the Moderate leaders felt that it was important to create a suitable platform before they could directly confront the British. They felt that the time was not ripe for a direct challenge to British rule, and thought that maintaining political connections with Britain was in India’s interest at that time.

While the immediate gains of the Moderates were insignificant, their contribution towards political and national awakening in India was of much greater value, based on which the next set of leaders were able to create a much bigger impact.