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The Home Rule Movement in India (1915-1918)

1. Leadership and Founders

• Key Leaders:
  • Bal Gangadhar Tilak
  • Annie Besant
• Founding Leagues:
  • Tilak’s League: Launched the first Home Rule League in April 1916, based in Poona.
  • Besant’s League: Launched a separate league in September 1916, based in Adyar (near Madras).
• Prominent Associates:
  • S. Subrahmanyam Iyer was a key associate of Annie Besant’s league.
• Leaders Not Associated:
  • C.R. Das, T.S. Alcott, Aurobindo Ghosh, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Vipin Chandra Pal were not leading figures in this movement.

2. Objectives and Nature

• Primary Goal: To achieve self-government (Swaraj) for India within the British Empire.
• Methods: Peaceful and constitutional (e.g., petitions, lectures, publications).
• Slogan: Tilak popularized the slogan “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it.”
• Inspiration: The Irish Home Rule Movement.
• Ideology (Besant): Annie Besant was a proponent of Fabianism, advocating for gradual, reform-based change.

3. Scope, Operation, and Publications

• Geographical Division:
  • Tilak’s League: Operated in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Central Provinces, and Berar.
  • Besant’s League: Operated in the rest of India.
• Publications:
  • Tilak’s Organs: Kesari and Maratha.
  • Besant’s Organs: New India, Commonweal (first wrote about her Home Rule ideas here in 1914).

4. Significance and Impact

• Reinvigorated the Indian national movement after the beginning of World War I.
• Successfully demonstrated its political strength at the Lucknow Session of the Indian National Congress in 1916.
• Helped bridge the divide and establish coordination between the Extremist and Moderate factions within the Congress.
• Was ideologically significant for presenting a clear and united demand for self-government to the nation.

5. Key Events and Outcomes

• The British government arrested Annie Besant and her associates in 1917, which led to widespread protests that forced their release.
• Annie Besant became the first female President of the Indian National Congress at its Calcutta Session in 1917.
• The two leagues operated separately but cooperatively; there was no formal merger.

Summary of Key Relationships:

• Tilak’s League & Besant’s League: Separate entities, cooperative, no formal merger.
• Home Rule Movement & Indian National Congress: The movement influenced and gained support from the Congress (Lucknow Session 1916, Besant’s Presidency 1917).
• Extremists & Moderates: The movement acted as a unifying force between these two factions.

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