Moderate Leaders

Dadabhai Naoroji

Who Was Dadabhai Naoroji?

• A Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and nationalist leader.
• Fondly remembered as the Grand Old Man of India for his long life dedicated to India’s cause.
• Among the first generation of Indians who used education and intellect to challenge colonial rule.

Early Career

• Education: Studied at Elphinstone College.
• 1845: Appointed as Assistant Master at Elphinstone College.
• 1854: Became the first Indian full professor—teaching mathematics and natural philosophy.
• 1855: Resigned and moved to Britain, helping to establish Cama & Co., the first Indian commercial firm in the UK.

👉 Notice: from the beginning, he had one foot in India and one in Britain—he understood both societies and used that position to argue India’s case abroad.

Political and Administrative Roles

• Diwan of Baroda (1874) – Appointed as the chief minister of the princely state under Malharrao Gaikwad. Resigned soon after.
• Member of Parliament (1892–95) – First Indian elected to the British House of Commons (as a Liberal Party MP).
  • In 1893, he introduced a Bill demanding simultaneous ICS examinations in India and England.
  • Though it failed initially, a resolution was passed the same year—an important moral victory.

👉 By entering the British Parliament itself, he gave the nationalist movement an international voice.

Organisations Founded or Supported

Dadabhai Naoroji was a pioneer in building institutions for reform and politics:

1. Students Literary and Scientific Society (1848) – Promoted education, especially women’s education.
2. Rehnumai Mazadayasan Sabha (1851) – Reformist movement for Parsis (with Naoroji Furdonji, S.S. Bengalee).
3. Bombay Association (1852) – First political association in Western India.
4. East India Association (1866, London) – Forum to influence British public opinion on Indian issues.
   • In his paper England’s Duties to India, he accused Britain of draining India’s wealth.
5. Indian National Congress (1885 onwards) – Attended its first session.
   • Congress President: 1886 (Calcutta), 1893 (Lahore), 1906 (Calcutta).
   • In 1906, under his presidency, the Congress officially demanded self-government (Swarajya).
6. British Committee of the INC (1899, London) – To lobby for Indian interests in Britain.

👉 He created a bridge between Indian opinion and British politics, making nationalism an international question.

Journals, Books, and Writings

• Rast Goftar (1851) – Gujarati fortnightly (meaning Truth Teller).
• Voice of India (1883, Bombay) – Newspaper to spread nationalist ideas.

Books:

1. Poverty and Un-British Rule in India – His most famous work; explained the Drain Theory.
2. Poverty of India
3. The Wants and Means of India
4. The European and Asiatic Races

Papers:

• The Manners and Customs of the Parsees
• The Parsi Religion

👉 These writings combined scholarship with activism—they gave nationalism a theoretical foundation.

The Drain of Wealth Theory

Dadabhai Naoroji’s biggest contribution was economic analysis.

• He showed that India’s poverty was not due to laziness, fate, or backwardness, but due to British exploitation.
• Wealth was being siphoned off to England through:
  • Salaries, pensions, and savings of British officials.
  • Payments to British troops.
  • Profits of British companies.
• He called this the “Drain of Wealth”, and argued that it was the root cause of Indian poverty.

At the Calcutta Session of 1896, the Indian National Congress officially adopted the Drain Theory—making it a central plank of nationalist agitation.

👉 This was revolutionary: it turned Indian poverty into a political question, blaming colonialism itself.

Why Dadabhai Matters

• First economic nationalist – Provided the intellectual critique of colonial exploitation.
• Institution builder – Created associations in both India and Britain.
• International voice – First Indian MP, lobbied directly in the British Parliament.
• Nationalist pioneer – Guided Congress in its formative years, bridging the gap between reform and politics.
• Moral authority – His integrity and scholarship earned him respect across communities.

✨ In simple words:
Dadabhai Naoroji was the intellectual father of Indian nationalism. He taught Indians that their poverty was not fate, but a product of colonial exploitation. He gave them the courage to demand self-government. And by carrying India’s case to Britain itself, he internationalised the Indian question.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Early Life and Education

• Born in 1866 near Ratnagiri (Maharashtra), into a middle-class Chitpavan Brahmin family.
• Graduated from Elphinstone College, Bombay (1884).
• Immersed in Western political thought, admired liberal thinkers like John Stuart Mill and Edmund Burke.
• Began teaching at the New English School, later became lecturer at Fergusson College, Pune.

👉 His education gave him a blend of Indian traditions and Western liberalism, shaping his later politics.

Influence of M.G. Ranade

• Deeply influenced by Justice M.G. Ranade, whom he considered his mentor.
• Under Ranade’s guidance, he entered public life through the Sarvajanik Sabha (a political association in Poona).
• When Tilak’s group captured the Sabha in 1896, Gokhale left and founded the Deccan Sabha, continuing Ranade’s liberal legacy.

👉 Ranade’s influence made Gokhale a believer in reform through moderation, gradualism, and reasoned argument.

Journalism and Public Life

• Wrote in Sudharak, a reformist journal started by Gopal Ganesh Agarkar.
• Edited the Quarterly Journal of the Sarvajanik Sabha.
• Used press as a platform to spread reformist and nationalist thought.

Legislative Career

• 1899: Elected to the Bombay Legislative Council.
• 1901: Entered the Imperial Legislative Council (the highest law-making body for India).
• Famous for his budget speeches: calm, logical, yet fearless in criticising government’s fiscal policies.
• Sent to England to give evidence before the Welby Commission (Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure). He strongly argued against Britain charging Indian revenues for imperial wars and pensions.

👉 In councils, Gokhale was the voice of reasoned nationalism.

Servants of India Society (1905)

• Founded on 12 June 1905 in Pune.
• Belief: India needed selfless, trained workers to educate and uplift the masses.
• Members took vows of renunciation and service.
• Worked on:
  • Education (especially primary education).
  • Sanitation and healthcare.
  • Social reforms (against untouchability, alcoholism, women’s oppression).
• Published The Hitavada (1911, Nagpur).

👉 The Society still exists, though small—proof of his enduring legacy

Work for Indians Abroad

• Took up the cause of indentured Indian labourers in Natal (South Africa).
• In 1912, at Gandhiji’s invitation, he visited South Africa and helped Indians fight discriminatory laws.
• This brought him into close mentorship with Mahatma Gandhi, who called him his political guru and even dedicated a Gujarati book Dharmatma Gokhale to him.

Campaign for Education

• Between 1910–13, strongly pushed for free and compulsory primary education.
• Moved a Bill in 1911 in the Legislative Council—it was defeated, but it highlighted the neglect of mass education under the British.

👉 He laid the groundwork for later nationalist movements that tied education with empowerment.

Role in Indian National Congress

• Joined the Congress in 1889; soon became a key moderate leader.
• President, Banaras Session (1905) – emphasised constitutional reforms, criticised Curzon’s repressive policies.
• Later went to England to negotiate with the Secretary of State, helping prepare ground for Morley-Minto Reforms (1909).

Political Thought

• Gokhale was a liberal reformer, not a revolutionary.
• Believed British rule had two positive contributions:
  1. Modernisation of Indian society.
  2. Introduction of liberal ideas (law, limited representation, free press).
• Thought Indians must “qualify” themselves for self-government by advancing in education, industry, and civic responsibility.
• Believed in self-government within the British Empire, not complete independence (unlike Tilak or Aurobindo).
• Famous comparison:

• Tilak’s swaraj was birthright, unconditional.
• Gokhale’s self-government was conditional, gradual, earned through preparation.

👉 This marks the ideological divide between Moderates and Extremists.

Social Reform Outlook

• Believed political reform must go hand in hand with social reform.
• Worked against untouchability, discrimination, alcoholism, and oppression of women.
• Favoured persuasion, not confrontation—argued that educated classes must lead reforms.

Refusal of Titles

• Offered a Knighthood by Lord Hardinge—he declined.
• Also refused a seat in the Secretary of State’s Council in London.
• This showed his commitment to service, not honours.

Legacy

• Guru of Gandhi – gave Gandhiji his first grounding in Indian issues. Gandhi called him the “Ganges—inviting, refreshing, and easy to connect with.”
• Voice of Moderation – his calm, reasoned, liberal politics shaped early constitutional nationalism.
• Servants of India Society – institutionalised selfless public service.
• Bridge between Moderates and Extremists – while critical of extremists, he also pushed Moderates to demand self-government more clearly.

✨ In simple words:
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was the conscience-keeper of early Indian nationalism. He stood for constitutional reform, social progress, and selfless service. If Dadabhai Naoroji was the economist of nationalism, Gokhale was its moral teacher—who passed the torch directly to Mahatma Gandhi.

Surendranath Banerjee (1848–1925)

Often called “Surrender Not Banerjee” because of his fiery spirit, he was one of the earliest nationalist leaders and a master orator.

Early Career

• Passed the Indian Civil Services exam in 1869, one of the first Indians to do so.
• But he was disqualified on flimsy age grounds—a humiliation that turned him towards public life.
• This personal injustice became symbolic of how the colonial system excluded Indians.

Political Organisations

• Indian Association (1876): Founded with Ananda Mohan Bose, aiming to:
  • Unite Indians on a common political programme.
  • Build strong public opinion on national issues.
• The Association later merged with the INC (1886), showing the growing consolidation of nationalist efforts.
• He also organised a massive protest in 1877 against the British decision to reduce the ICS age limit from 21 to 19 (a move clearly meant to exclude Indians).

Journalism

• Purchased and edited The Bengalee (1879–1919), one of the most influential nationalist newspapers.
• In 1883, his criticism of Justice Norris landed him in jail for two months—making him the first Indian journalist to be imprisoned.
  👉 This gave him immense popularity as a nationalist voice.

Role in Congress

• Presided over Congress sessions in 1895 and 1902.
• Remained a Moderate, opposing Tilak’s extremist methods and later Gandhi’s non-cooperation.
• Supported the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms (1919), which put him at odds with mainstream Congress.
• Left Congress and formed the Indian National Liberal Federation (1919), which believed in working within British reforms.

Later Life

• Accepted Knighthood (1921), a decision that damaged his nationalist image.
• Still remembered as an early nationalist pioneer and a link between social reform and political struggle.

Other Moderate Leaders and Their Contributions

(a) G. Subramania Iyer

• Founder of two key nationalist newspapers:
  • The Hindu (English, 1878)
  • Swadesamitran (Tamil, 1882)
• Co-founder of the Madras Mahajan Sabha with M. Veeraraghavachariar and P. Anandacharlu.
  👉 Played a vital role in spreading nationalist consciousness in South India.

(b) Badruddin Tyabji

• Along with Pherozeshah Mehta and K.T. Telang, founded the Bombay Presidency Association.
• Became the first Muslim President of the INC (1887, Madras Session).
  👉 Symbolised the inclusive, secular nature of early nationalism.

(c) Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee

• First President of the INC (1885).
• Again presided over the Allahabad Session (1892).
• Defended Surendranath Banerjee in his 1883 Contempt of Court case.
  👉 Helped lay the constitutional and legal foundation of Congress politics.

(d) Sir Rash Behari Ghosh

• President of INC during the Surat Session (1907) (the famous split between Moderates and Extremists) and the Madras Session (1908).
• Knighted in 1915.
  👉 Tried to steer Congress during a highly turbulent phase.

(e) Sir William Wedderburn (1838–1918)

A reminder that not all Moderates were Indians—some British liberals also supported India’s cause.

• A British civil servant, denied a judgeship for supporting Indian equality.
• Co-founder of the INC, presided over Allahabad Session (1889) and 1910 session.
• Chairman of the British Committee of the INC (1889–1918).
• MP in the British Parliament (1893), where he formed the Indian Parliamentary Committee to voice Indian issues.
• Represented India in the Welby Commission (1895) on Indian expenditure.
• Believed in self-government for India and welcomed the 1917 British policy statement promising gradual self-rule.

👉 Wedderburn symbolises how some British liberals acted as allies of Indian nationalism, though always within constitutional limits.

The Bigger Picture

Together, these leaders—Naoroji, Gokhale, Banerjee, Mehta, Tyabji, Bonnerjee, Wedderburn—formed the core of Moderate leadership.

• They were lawyers, teachers, journalists, reformers—products of English education and liberal thought.
• They believed in constitutional agitation, press, petitions, and public opinion.
• Their greatest contribution was not immediate political gains, but creating a new political culture:
  • Rational debate
  • National unity
  • Secular inclusivity
  • Economic critique of imperialism

✨ In simple words:
The Moderates were like the first builders of India’s political house. They laid the bricks of unity, liberty, and reform. Later generations would paint it in bold colours—Tilak with Extremism, Gandhi with Satyagraha—but without the Moderates, the very foundation of Indian nationalism would not have existed.