Home Rule Movement in India 1916
Home Rule Movement
Home Rule Movement was started by Annie Besant and Tilak in 1916. self government for India in British Empire and work for national education, social and political reform etc were the aims of Home Rule League.Home Rule League, either of two short-lived organizations of the same name in India established in April and September 1916. Tilak’s movement was confined to Maharashtra and Karnataka. And Annie Besant movement spread to other parts of India.
But as far as organization skill is concerned, Tilak’s Home Rule League movement was more organized, and there were many volunteers who worked for Tilak. Annie Besant was the first woman president of INC (1917, Calcutta session). Annie Besant tried to mobilize participation through the publication of her two newspapers, New India, Commonweal and Young India, Tilak continued writing in ‘Kesari’, ‘Mahratta’, and Young India to spread the message of the Home Rule League.
Thus, the number of people who took part in Tilak’s movement was much more compared to Annie Besant. Mohammed Ali Jinnah also had the first experience of participating in politics in India by taking part in the Home Rule League of Annie Besant. Thus the activity of Tilak and Annie Besant were very important to Indian Nationalism. This period marks the transition from the moderate, or deliberate phase of Indian National politics to the agitational phase stared by M.K. Gandhi. Thus, it had a great impact. Bal Gangadhar Tilak got the title of ‘Loknayak’ during the Home Rule League itself.
Home Rule Movement marks the beginning for the attainment of Swarajt The Montague declaration of 1917 was the greatest achievement of the Home Rule League. The Lucknow session of the India National Congess in 1916 marked there union of the Moderates and Extremists together at Lucknow in 1916. The Lucknow pact was executed between the congress and Muslim League in 1916.
The decline of Home Rule League
In 1918, the Home Rule League declined due to many factors. In 1917: Montford reforms was presented before the British Parliament. The Montford reforms promised responsible Government in India. It was the Montford reforms that turned Annie Besant ‘pro-British’. Bal Gangadhar Tilak went to England to file a legal suit against Valentine Chirol. Valentine Chirol had published, a book, “Father of Indian Unrest”, in which the Tilak featured as the hero of the title . He blamed Tilak for being responsible for the agitational politics that came to India.
Thus Tilak became busy with filing the legal suit against Valentine Chirol. The advent of Gandhi who actively took part in Indian politics, gave an opportunity to the Indian youth to get integrated in Gandhian politics, contributed to the decline of the Home Rule League. Nonetheless, it was the Home Rule League that marked the transitional phase between the deliberative and dormant phase of the INC to the mass-based politics of the Gandhian agitation.
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