Indian National Congress (1905-14)

🌍 Background – Unity under Strain

The Partition of Bengal (1905) gave INC a new energy. At the Benaras Session (1905), under Gopal Krishna Gokhale:

• Congress condemned partition and Curzon’s reactionary policies.
• Supported Swadeshi and Boycott (but cautiously).

But between 1905–07, differences sharpened:

• Extremists (Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Bipin Pal, Aurobindo) wanted Swadeshi-Boycott to spread across India and cover all forms of cooperation with colonial government.
• Moderates (Gokhale, Dadabhai, Pherozeshah Mehta) wanted Swadeshi confined to Bengal and boycott limited to foreign goods.

👑 INC Session at Calcutta, 1906

Here the differences came to a head.

• Extremists wanted Tilak as Congress President. Moderates opposed.
• A compromise was reached: Dadabhai Naoroji — respected by all — became president.

Outcomes:

Four important resolutions were passed:

1. Swadeshi
2. Boycott of foreign goods
3. National Education
4. Swaraj (self-government on the model of colonies like Canada, Australia).

👉 Dadabhai in his speech declared Swaraj as the goal of Congress — a historic shift.
But soon after, Lord Minto and Morley offered “reforms” (discussions leading to the Indian Councils Act, 1909). Moderates became hopeful of constitutional progress, while Extremists pressed for passive resistance and mass boycott.

🔥 INC Session at Surat, 1907 — The Split

By 1907, the conflict became irreconcilable:

• Extremists wanted:
  • Session at Nagpur, so Tilak or Lajpat Rai could be president.
  • Retain the four resolutions of Calcutta (1906).
• Moderates wanted:
  • Session at Surat (Tilak’s home province — so he could not preside).
  • Rash Behari Ghosh as president.
  • Drop the four resolutions.

The session (26 December 1907)

• Atmosphere turned chaotic: shouting, breaking of chairs, unrolling of turbans, even sticks being raised.
• Moderates managed to keep control of the Congress machinery.
• The organisation formally split into Moderates and Extremists.

⚠️ Aftermath of the Surat Split

• Moderates abandoned radical measures adopted earlier.
• Politically aware Indians largely sympathised with Tilak and Extremists, even if passively.
• The split weakened the movement:
  • British applied Divide and Rule.
  • Extremists were isolated and heavily repressed.
  • Moderates were “placated” with limited concessions.

🎯 British Strategy – “Carrot and Stick” Policy

This is very important. After 1907, the Government used a three-pronged strategy:

1. Mild suppression of Extremists → to scare Moderates.
2. Conciliation of Moderates → by offering reforms and promises (Indian Councils Act of 1909).
3. Crushing Extremists → once Moderates were won over, the full force of repression was unleashed on Extremists, and later even Moderates were ignored.

Why this worked:

• Moderates failed to realise that the British negotiated with them only because of the pressure of Extremists, not their own strength.
• Extremists failed to see that Moderates acted as their protective outer layer, without which they were exposed to repression.
• Both forgot that only a broad-based united movement could challenge an empire ruling over a vast country like India.

✨ Significance

• The Surat Split marked the end of the Swadeshi phase (1905–08).
• Nationalism became fragmented — Moderates engaging in reformist petitions, Extremists facing repression.
• The period 1907–1914 is often called a “gap phase” in the national movement — but it was also a period of learning, preparing the ground for Gandhian mass politics after 1919.