Question

Discuss the four major trends discerned during the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.

Answer 1

Boycott and Swadeshi were part of the plan to make India self-sufficient. Four major trends can be discerned during the Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.

The Moderate Trend:

1. Had faith in British rule and their sense of justice and democratic practice.
2. The moderate leaders were not ready to wrest power from the British in one single movement.
3. Boycott and Swadeshi Movement was of limited significance to them.

Constructive Swadeshi:

1. Focused on self-help through Swadeshi industries national schools arbitration courts and constructive programmes in the villages.
2. Rejected the self-defeating modest approach of moderates.
3. It remained non-political in nature.

Militant Nationalism:

1. Focused more on a relentless boycott of foreign goods.
2. Had little patience for the non – political constructive programmes.
3. They ridiculed the idea of self-help.

Revolutionary terrorism:

1. A radical response to the British rule with violent methods.
2. It marked the shift from the mass-based movement to individual action.
3. British officials who were anti – Swadeshi or repressive towards the native population were targeted.