The leadership of the Indian national movement 1914-20

Abstract

In 1914 two tendencies existed in the Indian national movement - on the one hand, the Moderate tendency, inclined to caution, seeking a rational solution to Indian political problems, desirous of building a secular, democratic state on the British model, and of preparing thoroughly for this by the spread of education, by social reform and by the gradual introduction of the institutions of self-government; on the other, the Extremist tendency, based on the rise in Hindu selfconfidence associated with the Hindu revival, asserting India’s fitness for self-government, and moved by emotional appeals to patriotism and to rejection of Western innovations in favour of a return to indigenous institutions and traditions. Pew members of the national movement can be identified as belonging entirely to one of these types: in most, elements of both were combined. Show more