Moderates vs Extremists

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Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on 28 December 1885 by A.O. Hume, a retired British civil servant, with W.C. Bonnerjee as the first president. It began as a “safety valve” channel for moderate demands — civil rights, civil service reform, and representative government — but evolved into the principal vehicle of mass anti-colonial struggle.

Moderates (1885–1905) — Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjee: relied on prayers, petitions, and constitutional methods. Naoroji authored “Drain of Wealth” (Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1876).
Extremists (1905–1919) — Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal): demanded Swaraj, used Boycott–Swadeshi–National Education.
Partition of Bengal (1905) by Lord Curzon triggered the Swadeshi Movement; reversed in 1911 by Lord Hardinge.

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Moderates vs Extremists

Aspect	Moderates	Extremists
Period	1885–1905	1905–1919
Goal	Self-government within British Empire	Complete Swaraj
Methods	Petitions, prayers, press	Boycott, swadeshi, national education
Leaders	Gokhale, Naoroji, S.N. Banerjee	Tilak, Lajpat Rai, B.C. Pal, Aurobindo Ghosh
Belief	British sense of justice	British as exploiters; passive resistance legitimate

Gandhian Mass Movements

Champaran Satyagraha (1917) — first civil disobedience in India against the tinkathia system forcing indigo planters to grow indigo on 3/20 of their land. Gandhi’s first satyagraha in India.

Rowlatt Act (March 1919) — permitted detention without trial; led to Rowlatt Satyagraha and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (13 April 1919) at Amritsar, where General Reginald Dyer ordered firing on an unarmed gathering, killing hundreds.

Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) — non-cooperation with British institutions (courts, titles, schools), joined with the Khilafat Movement. Withdrawn after the Chauri Chaura incident (5 February 1922) when a police station was torched, killing 22 policemen.

Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34) — began with the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930) when Gandhi broke the salt law at Dandi. Key features: violation of salt laws, forest laws, foreign cloth.

Constitutional Acts

Government of India Act 1919 — introduced dyarchy in provinces.
Government of India Act 1935 — proposed provincial autonomy and a federal structure; abolished dyarchy in provinces, retained it at centre.
Indian Independence Act 1947 — passed by British Parliament on 18 July 1947, effective 15 August 1947, creating India and Pakistan as dominions.

Exam Pattern Focus (UPPSC RO/ARO Prelims)

Expect 1–2 MCQs typically on: INC session venues and presidents, year-person matches, or acts/laws. The Lucknow Pact (1916) between Congress and the Muslim League is a frequent match-the-year question.

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Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA

Bose resigned from the Indian Civil Service, formed the Forward Bloc (1939) within Congress, and escaped from house arrest in Calcutta (January 1941) via the Kabul route, reaching Berlin. He formed the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) initially under Captain Mohan Singh (1942) from Indian POWs of Singapore. Later, in Tokyo (4 July 1943), Bose reorganised the INA and proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India (21 October 1943) with Axis recognition. Japanese-occupied Andaman was renamed Shaheed and Nicobar as Swaraj. The Red Fort trials (1945–46) of INA soldiers by the British sparked nationwide unrest, accelerating the British decision to quit India.

Key Wartime Negotiations

August Offer (1940) by Lord Linlithgow — promise of dominion status post-war; rejected by Congress.
Cripps Mission (March 1942) — offered dominion status after the war but rejected because it denied immediate self-government and a real constituent assembly election. Quit India was launched in August 1942.
Cabinet Mission (1946) — Pethick-Lawrence, Stafford Cripps, A.V. Alexander — proposed a united federal India with weak centre; Congress accepted initially, League rejected.
Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) — accepted partition; led to the Radcliffe Line demarcation by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.

Edge Cases & Common Traps

Annie Besant — Irish theosophist, founded the Home Rule League (1916); she was not Indian, students confuse her with Indian Home Rulers.
Chittagong Armoury Raid (1930) — by Surya Sen, often missed.
First session of INC — held in Bombay (1885) with 72 delegates, not Calcutta.
Poona Pact (1932) — between Gandhi and Ambedkar, replaced separate electorates for Depressed Classes with reserved seats in joint electorate.
Doctrine of Lapse — Dalhousie’s policy (1848–1856), predates INC; sometimes confused with later reforms.
UPPSC trap: Simon Commission (1928) had no Indian member, leading to the slogan “Simon go back”.

Practice Prompts

Arrange chronologically: Morley-Minto Reforms (1909) → Lucknow Pact (1916) → Rowlatt Act (1919) → August Offer (1940) → Cabinet Mission (1946).
Match the leader to movement: (a) Tilak — Home Rule; (b) Bhagat Singh — Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (1928); (c) Vinoba Bhave — Individual Satyagraha (1940).

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Moderates vs Extremists