Early nationalist leadership believed that a direct struggle for the political emancipation of the country was not yet on the agenda. The Moderate leaders believed that militant mass struggle against colonial rule could be waged only after the heterogeneous elements of Indian society had been welded into a Nation.

Rise of Political activity:

• The period after 1858 witnessed a gradual widening of the gulf between the educated Indians and the British Indian administration. As educated Indians studied the character of British rule and its consequences for India, they became more and more critical of British policies in India. The discontent gradually found expression in political activity.The existing associations no longer satisfied the politically conscious Indians. Eg: East India Association by Dadabhai Naoroji, Indian Association by Surendranath Banerjee etc.

Rediscovery of India’s Past:

• Many of the nationalist leaders tried to arouse the self-confidence and self-respect of the people by countering propaganda of British of India as a backward country. They pointed to the cultural heritage of India with pride and referred the critics to the political achievements of rulers like Ashoka, Chandragupta Vikramaditya and Akbar.

The Role of the Press and Literature:

• The chief instrument through which nationalist-minded Indians spread the message of patriotism and modern economic, social and political ideas, and created an all-India consciousness was the press. In their columns, the official policies were constantly criticised; the Indian point of view was put forward; people were asked to unite and work for national welfare, and ideas of self-government, democracy, industrialist ion, etc., were popularized among the people. The press also enabled nationalist workers living in different parts of the country to exchange views with one another.
• National literature in the form of novels, essays and patriotic poetry also played an important role in arousing national consciousness. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali, Lakshminath Bezbarua in Assamese, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar in Marathi, Subramanya Bharati in Tamil, Bharatendu Harishchandra in Hindi and Altaf Husain Hali in Urdu were some of the prominent nationalist writers of the period.
• The most important part of the early nationalists’ political work was their economic critique of imperialism. They vehemently opposed the British attempt to develop in India the basic characteristics of a colonial economy, namely, the transformation of India into a supplier of raw materials, a market for British manufactures, and a field of investment for foreign capital. They organised a powerful agitation against nearly all important official economic policies based on this colonial structure.

Defence of Civil Rights:

• From the beginning, politically conscious Indians had been powerfully attracted not only to democracy but also to modern civil rights, namely, the freedoms of speech, the press, thought and association. They put up a strong defence of these civil rights whenever the government tried to curtail them. In fact, the struggle for democratic freedoms became an integral part of the nationalist struggle for freedom. In1897 the Bombay government arrested B.G. Tilak and the Nathu brothers, were deported without trial. The entire country protested against this attack on the liberties of the people.

Formation of the Indian National Congress :

• The formation of Indian National Congress by A.O Hume represented the urge of politically conscious Indians to set up a national organisation to work for their political and economic advancement.

Constitutional Reforms:

• From the beginning the early nationalists believed that India should eventually move towards democratic self-government.
• From 1885 to 1892 they demanded the expansion and reform of the Legislative Councils.
• The British government was forced by their agitation to pass the Indian Councils Act of 1892.

The nationalists were totally dissatisfied with the Act of 1892 and declared it to be a hoax. They demanded a larger share for Indians in the councils as also wider powers for them.