INC Surat Session and Split 1907
Cause?
- Bengal partition of 1905 apparently enabled the Extremists to criticize the Moderate strategies and the partition further promoted the extremist ideology.
- The Moderate method of constitutional agitation, expressed in three Ps (petition, prayer and protest), remained largely an academic exercise that seemed to have exhausted potentials with the emergence of extremist ideology and revolutionary tendencies which asked direct action against the British.
- In Surat Session of Congress, the two main objectives placed by the extremists were: Lala Lajpat Rai to be made the President of the INC and Demand for the resolution of Swaraj. These two demands were not accepted by the moderates, and instead of Lala Lajpat Rai, the moderates supported Rash Behari Ghosh as the President.
What Happened ?
- The 1907 Surat session was held at the bank of the Tapti river in Surat.
- The Extremist camp was led by Lal Bal and Pal and the moderate camp was led by Gopal Krishna Gokhle.
- Extremist demanded Lala Lajpat Rai as president and moderate refused their demands and Rash Behari Ghosh elected as president of INC
- The session was suspended.
- it was the extremist camp that was facing the Lathis and arrest by the British Government who was now in its comfortable position as Congress was divided.
Resulted In
- The moderates after the Surat Split in 1907 demanded colonial self-government, as against the extremist demand of complete independence.
- Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 shows that constitutional politics of the moderates had failed .
- As a result, the moderate leaders had lost touch with the younger generation of nationalists who wanted to see the results and this was also the major cause of emergence of revolutionaries.
- The British Government followed the policy of divide and Rule’ and in order to curb and isolate the militant nationalists and suppress them they tried to win over moderate nationalist opinion.
- Extremism was confined mainly to Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab, where outbreak of terrorism allowed the government to unleash repression.
- With extremist leaders like Tilak in prison, the moderate-dominated Congress was immersed in total inactivity.
- In 1909 the Separate electorates were granted to the Muslims and congress was at its low. Thus the British had taken absolute advantage over the INC.