Home Rule Movement: Background, accomplishments, fall

Home Rule Movement or Home Rule League was started by two different people: An Irish lady Annie Besant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak in September and April 1916 respectively.

The core motive of this movement was to get self-rule (or Swaraj) under the British as in many other British-ruled colonies. It advocated not for overthrowing the British government, but to be accrued with more freedom and power.

After the Indian National Congress broke in the Surat session of 1907, it was rendered virtually inactive. Extremists were jailed and the moderates received no significant profits that the Britishers talked about.

It was the carrot and stick or divide and rule strategy of the Britishers that formed this split in the Congress, but till the time the leaders smelled this conspiracy, the freedom-seeking spirit had almost ebbed out from the organisation.

When Tilak, an extremist, got out of the jail, he tried to get himself in the Congress, but the dominance of the moderates prevented him.

Tilak then came in contact with Annie Besant and talked about initiating Home Rule Movement in India. She agreed, but said that she needs more time to execute it properly.

But Tilak, a starter, didn’t wait for her, and kick-started his league in April, 5 months before Annie Besant finally launched herself in this movement.

This movement started by two different people, bore the same nature and objectives, but instead of making it the genesis of rivalry, they worked in harmony with each other.

It took a life of its own, courting widespread support from different quarters of the country, and surprised the Britishers.

In the meantime, Congress, rendered inactive by the Surat split, leapt opportunely to joined hands with the leaguers. it was hungering to put itself back on the forefront of activities. Tilak was invited back in the 1916 Lucknow session of the Congress, and thus the former allies, brought together by the same thread of independence, again got successful in forging ties with one other.

All the three freedom-seeking groups (i.e. the moderates, the extremists, and the revolutionaries) were brought together due to the Home Rule Movement, which poured fresh fuel to drive forth the freedom struggle.

No matter however powerful, this movement couldn’t help India get Swaraj. But it did accomplish two very significant milestones:

1. It reknitted all the freedom seekers in the common fabric of independence rousing the Congress back in action
2. It prepared the grounds for future struggle, and the next generation of leaders (chief among them Mahatma Gandhi) took it up to the next level

Two key factors, coincidently, also triggered the downfall of this movement.

Firstly, becoming a prey to the Britishers’ favourite policy of pacifying by the means of false promises, Annie Besant was told that Swaraj was at a fast approach, and consequently she was persuaded to water down the movement.

Secondly, Tilak had filed a libel case against Valentine Chirol, the author of Indian Unrest, the pursuance of which took him to London for several pivotal months.

Thus having been devoid of its leaders, the movement stuttered and skidded off to oblivion.