Introduction:

The setting up of Indian National Congress in 1885 by national leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozshah Mehta, D.E. Wacha, W.C. Bonnerjea, and S.N. Banerjea heralded a new step in Indian National Movement. The early years (1885- 1905) saw the evolution of Indian National Congress. The moderates dominated the Congress policies during this period and were staunch believers in ‘liberalism’ and ‘moderate’ politics.

Body:

To achieve the ends, they worked on a two-pronged methodology one, create a strong public opinion to arouse consciousness and national spirit and then educate and unite people on common political questions; and two, persuade the British Government and British public opinion 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 Congress programme during the first phase was very modest due to the following

• Moderates had total faith in the British sense of justice and fair-play and looked to England for inspiration and guidance.
• Moderates used petitions, resolutions, meetings, leaflets and pamphlets, memorandum and delegations to present their demands.
• Confined their political activities to the educated classes only.
• Drew most of their ideas from western political thinking which further alienated them from the people.
• Their main aim was to attain political rights and self-government stage by stage.
• The leaders were cautious in their demands and did not want to annoy the government and incur the risk of suppression of their activities.
• They demanded Indian control over the public purse and raised the slogan that had earlier been raised by the Americans during their War of Independence, ‘No taxation without representation’.
• This phase of the national movement excluded the masses and only the educated elites participated in it.
• They did not demand complete independence from foreign rule.
• They did not understand the power of a mass movement of people unlike Gandhi who used this power.
• The Moderates found themselves in a tight corner with the emergence of extremist leadership within the congress. The British authorities also doubted their bonafides.
• They failed to realise that there existed conflicts of interest of the rulers and the ruled.
• 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, but the provisions of this Act failed to satisfy the Congress leaders.
• This Act increased the size of the legislative councils and also increased the proportion of non-officials in them.
• They were able to sow the seeds of nationalism in the people and popularised ideals like democracy, liberty and equality.
• Exposure of Economic drain policies of British was one of the major successes.
• They exposed the basically exploitative character of colonial rule, thus undermining its moral foundations.
• They used press as an effective medium to put across their views, petitions and to reach the populace.
• With changing times, the Moderates also began to alter their position. 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.

Conclusion:

The Moderate leaders believed that political connections with Britain were in India’s interest at that stage of history and that the time was not ripe for a direct challenge to the British rule. In the opinion of M.N. Roy, “It was the golden period of modern Indian history.” Though the immediate gains of the Moderates were insignificant, their contribution towards political and national awakening was of permanent value to India.