Moderates & Extremists (1885-1919) (Set 1)

Muhammad Iqbal wrote ‘Sare Jahan Se Achha’ in 1904. It went on to become one of the most widely sung patriotic songs of the Indian freedom movement.

Subramania Bharati was a Tamil poet and freedom fighter. His nationalist verse carried the freedom movement’s message to Tamil-speaking audiences in their own language.

‘Vande Mataram’ first appeared in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anandamath. It later became a rallying cry sung as an act of defiance against colonial authority.

The colonial government treated nationalist songs as a genuine political threat. It restricted or banned their public singing because of their power to mobilise and unite crowds.

Songs, prose, and theatre (as seen with IPTA) worked as parallel creative channels for the freedom struggle. A mass movement drew on every available artistic form at once.

‘Bharat Mata’ shows a saffron-robed woman holding symbolic objects. It became one of the most iconic visual images of Indian nationalism.

A.C. Mazumdar was the Indian National Congress President at the December 1916 Lucknow session. Muhammad Ali Jinnah represented the Muslim League side of the agreement.

The Pact allotted Muslims one-third of the seats in the central legislature. This was a larger share than their actual population share at the time.

Under the reciprocal weightage system, Hindus received extra representation in Muslim-majority provinces, while Muslims received extra representation in Hindu-majority provinces.

The same session also saw Congress’s moderate and extremist factions formally reunite, ending the split that had begun at the 1907 Surat session.

Both Tilak and Besant founded their own Home Rule League in 1916, within the Indian National Congress, to push for self-rule.

Besant’s League covered most of India outside Tilak’s zone, especially Madras Presidency, Sindh, and Gujarat.

The movement borrowed its name and idea from the Irish Home Rule movement, which sought self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom.

The All India Home Rule League changed its name to Swarajya Sabha in 1920, after Gandhi took over its presidency.

The British interned Besant in 1917 for her Home Rule activities. Her release later that year made her the first woman president of the Indian National Congress.