The Swadeshi Movement
With over 70 million people, Bengal was becoming a challenge to manage under one administration. At least that’s the reason Lord Curzon, a British ruler in India, gave when he announced the partition of Bengal in 1905. Bengal was the first region in India that the British colonized. It was also where they built their capital city, Calcutta. Curzon planned to split Bengal right down the middle, separating the west, which had a majority of Hindus, from the east, where the majority of Muslims lived. The people of Bengal (Bengalis) were angry with this decision. They believed that Curzon’s real motive for partitioning Bengal was to weaken the city’s influence as the center of Indian nationalism. The fight for Indian independence was gaining momentum in Bengal, and it appeared that Curzon wanted to stop it.
Wasting no time, the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) came up with creative ideas to block the partition. The Congress Party, formed in 1885, was a group of educated Indians and activists who wanted more of a say in their country’s government. They led the charge in the fight for India’s independence. Prominent leaders of the Congress Party, like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bal Chandra Pal, encouraged Bengalis to protest the partition by boycotting all British-made goods. That is how the Swadeshi Movement began. Swadeshi is a Sanskrit word that means “of one’s own country.” The movement emphasized Indian self-reliance. Its goal was to strengthen national pride and build up local economies. The Swadeshi Movement quickly gained massive support. Bengalis promised to shop locally.
Instead of wearing clothes made from imported material, women dressed in simple hand-spun and handwoven cotton saris. People avoided making food using European sugar and salt. In fact, priests even refused to perform religious ceremonies at homes where foreign spices were found. To further demonstrate their opposition to British rule, Bengalis burned British-made goods and paraded through the streets singing Bande Mataram! which means “Hail to thee, Mother!”
*In most parts of India, people pronounce it “Vande Mataram,” but the Bengalis pronounce it “Bande Mataram” because their language doesn’t include the “v” sound.
Bonfires fueled by imported goods lit up the streets, and roars of Bande Mataram! echoed throughout the country. However, this didn’t stop Curzon from carrying out the partition of Bengal. The movement strained an already fragile Hindu-Muslim relationship, which led to a divide that the country still deals with today.
While the Swadeshi Movement didn’t play out exactly how the Congress Party leaders thought it would, it proved successful in many important ways. The movement boosted domestic businesses, like cotton mills, match factories, iron foundries, and more. It even led to an increase in demand for national education. Bengali students and professors refused to attend English schools and colleges. Although the movement began in Bengal, it was adopted in many other states like Bombay (Mumbai), Poona (Pune), and Madras (Chennai).
Although historians still debate its impact, the Swadeshi Movement is seen as the most successful pre-Gandhian movement. It taught Indians that they didn’t need to rely on the British. Instead, they could stand up for their rights and fight against injustice in a peaceful, yet strategic way. The Swadeshi Movement evolved and inspired larger independence movements in India. Mahatma Gandhi later used Swadeshi as a key strategy and described it as the soul of Swaraj (self-rule).
Take a minute to think about this: Have you heard people talk about shopping locally or supporting small businesses? That’s the Swadeshi way! Even ideas from the early 1900s can still apply to our modern-day lives.
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