The transformation of a Moderate into an Extremist, due to the popular agitation against the Partition of Bengal, was initially brought about by Bipin Chandra Pal (1858-1932), ably assisted by Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), Barin Ghose (Sri. Aurobindo's brother), Sister Nivedita (1867-1911), Jatindranath Bandyopadhyaya, P.Mitra, Ullaskar Dutt and others.
On December 21, 1904, Bipin Chandra Pal wrote in the 'New India': �The belief that England will of her own free will help Indians out of their long-established civil servitude and establish those free institutions of Government which she herself values so much was once cherished, but all hope has now been abandoned. What India really wants is a reform in the existing Constitution of the State, so that the Indians will govern themselves as other nations do, follow the bent of their own national genius, work out their own political destiny, and take up their own legitimate place, as an ancient and civilized people, among the nations of the world.� Henceforth Bipin Chandra Pal fell in line with nationalist leader Sri Aurobindo, and became a pillar of the Nationalist School and the Extremist Party.
As the Swadeshi Movement outstripped its original limitation and became an All-India Movement, so the Extremist Party of Bengal became an All India Party under the leadership of Lokmanya Tilak (1856-1920), Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928), G S Khaparde, Bipin Chandra Pal and Sri Aurobindo. This new alignment in Indian politics became an accomplished fact before the end of 1906 and was the most striking feature in the Congress Session held in Calcutta in December 1906. The Moderates could never reconcile themselves with the boycott of foreign goods and the existing educational institutions. The Extremists on the other hand wanted Poorna Swaraj. They wanted to do nation building through a system of National Education rooted in India's cultural heritage, which meant Sanatana Dharma.
Sri Aurobindo wrote a series of articles on 'Passive Resistance' in the Bande Mataram between 9 and 23 April, 1907. They contained a masterly exposition of the Doctrine of Passive Resistance, which later, in the hands of Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in India's struggle for freedom. The following extract from Sri Aurobindo's article in 'Bande Mataram' on 17 April, 1907, conveys a fair idea of the theory and programme of Passive Resistance: �The essential difference between Passive or Defensive and Active or Aggressive Resistance is this, that while the method of the Aggressive Resistor is to do something by which he can bring about positive harm to the Government, the method of the Passive Resistor is to abstain from doing something by which he would be helping the Government.
The object in both cases is the same�to force the hands of the Government; the line of attack is different. The Passive Method is especially suitable to countries where the Government depends mainly for the continuance of its administration on the voluntary help and acquiescence of the subject people. The first principle of Passive Resistance, therefore, which the new School have placed in the forefront of their programme, is to make administration under present conditions impossible by an organized refusal to do anything which shall help either British commerce in the exploitation of the country or British officialdom in the administration of it�unless and until the conditions are changed in the manner and to the extent demanded by the people. This attitude is summed up in one word, 'BOYCOTT'�.
The radical policy differences between the Moderates and the Extremists reached a point of climax at the Surat Session of the Congress in December 1907. At this Session, Lokmanya Tilak explained the difference between the Moderates and the Extremists in these simple words: �I admit that we must ask for our rights, but we must ask with the consciousness that the demand cannot be refused. There is a great difference between asking and petitioning. ... You must be prepared to fight in the event of your demand being turned down. Protests are of no avail. More protests, not backed by self-reliance will not help the people. Three Ps�prayer, pleas, and protests�will not do unless backed by solid force. Look to the example of Ireland, Japan and Russia, and follow their methods. We must show that the country cannot be governed well by the present method. We must convince the Government of this. Do not rely much upon the sympathy of the rulers.�
The Extremists broke away from the Congress on 27 December, 1907 at Surat and created the Nationalist Party. Sri Aurobindo presided over the Conference of this Party at Surat and reaffirmed the demands for SWARAJ, SWADESHI, AND NATIONAL EDUCATION, which had been adopted at the previous Calcutta Session of the Congress held in Calcutta in December 1906, under the Presidentship of Dadabhai Naoraji (1825-1917). And yet it was going to take the Congress another 22 years to declare Poorna Swaraj or Complete Independence for its goal�which was done only in the Lahore Session of the Congress in December 1929.
After the Surat Session of the Congress, Sri Aurobindo became the focal point of India's National Movement with its ideology of organized violence against British Rule to oust the British from India. Referring to the cataclysmic impact of Sri Aurobindo on the rising tide of Hindu Nationalism in Bengal during this time, Ramsey Macdonald, who later became the Prime Minister of Briton, wrote in the Daily Chronicle in England in 1907: �The Bengalee inspires the Indian National Movement.
In Bombay, the Nationalist is a liberal politician, a reformer who takes what he can get and makes the best of it. In the Punjab he is a dour, unimaginative person who shows a tendency to work in a lonely furrow. In Bengal he is a person of lively imagination who thinks of India, and whose nationalism finds expression not only in politics, but in every form of intellectual activity. .... Bengal is better than the rest of India in political agitation. Bengal is also idealizing India. It is translating nationalism into religion, into music and poetry, into painting and literature. From Bengal gush innumerable freshets of religion all flowing to revive and invigorate the Nationalist spirit. A literary revival makes for the same end. ...
The renowned Revolutionary, Hema Chandra Das Kanungo, who, at the instance of Vir Savarkar (1883-1966), had gone to Paris in 1906 to meet the Russian Nihilists from whom he got the formula of, and practical lessons in, the manufacture of Bombs, returned to India and on reaching Poona in January 1907, demonstrated the formula and manufacture of a bomb before Lokmanya Tilak and Sri Aurobindo. Both of them were pleased to see the new weapon and they admired the courage of Hema Chandra Das who had brought it all the way from Europe. Sri Aurobindo asked his younger brother BARINDRA GHOSE to form a Revolutionary Centre in the Maniktolla Garden in Muraripukur of Calcutta.
The Garden belonged to Sri Aurobindo and his brothers. Soon, a miniature bomb factory sprang up in this Garden. Barindra Ghose's organization tried the first bomb on the Bengal Governor's Carriage and after two unsuccessful attempt in October and December 1907, succeeded in wrecking the train in a third attempt. In April 1908, a bomb was hurled at the carriage of Magistrate Kingsford in Musafarpur, who was notorious for inflicting inhuman punishment on Swadeshi Convicts. Of the two young men who did it, Profulla Chaki shot himself dead when caught. The other 17 year old young revolutionary, KHUDIRAM BOSE, was arrested and hanged.
The Government came down with a heavy hand upon the Revolutionaries and in the small hours of May 2, 1908, a large police party invaded the Maniktolla Garden at Muraripukur. The Police Investigation Report stated: Those who were living there were all educated young men belonging to respectable families. They studied the Bhagavat Gita, practiced yogic practices and of course prepared bombs.
Even while the police raid was in full swing at Muraripukur, another party of police surrounded Sri Aurobindo's house at Grey Street in Calcutta and arrested him. Sri Aurobindo, and his brother Sri Barindra Ghose and others were sent to Alipore Jail and lodged there. There began one of the most famous and celebrated trials in Indian history, the Maniktolla Bomb Case, popularly known as Alipore Conspiracy Case. On May 2, 1908, Lord Minto, the then Viceroy of India wrote to Lord Morley (1838-1923), the Secretary of State for India: 'The British are now confident of having a chance to silence for ever the most dangerous man we have to deal with at present'.
(To be contd...)
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