द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

INTRODUCTION 21
people at large were completely disarmed. By the eighties of
the last century the political depression was over and the
public began to raise their head once again. This time the
policy and the tactics of the liberty-loving and progressive
Indians were quite different from those of 1857. An armed
revolution being out of the question, constitutional agitation
was substituted in its place. Thus in 1885, the Indian
National Congress was founded for striving for self-govern-
ment for India by constitutional means. The agitation con-
ducted by the Indian National Congress made the Govern-
ment of India feel that a further political advance was neces-
sary. So in 1892 another Act was passed called the Indian
Councils Act of 1892. Under this Act the Legislative Councils
were given the right to put questions and to discuss the
Budget, though voting on the Budget was not allowed.
Further, provision was made in the Legislatures for a non-
official element to be appointed by the Government. The
Governor-General's Legislative Council was also increased
by sixteen members.
With the dawn of the present century there was a national
awakening in India on a large scale and Bengal, which had
suffered longest from the British yoke, was the pioneer in
the new movement. In 1905 the Viceroy, Lord Curzon,
ordered the partition of that province. The official reason
given for this action was one of administrative exigency—but
the people felt that the object was to cripple the new renais-
sance in Bengal. A stormy agitation against the partition was
set in motion in Bengal and this was accompanied by a
powerful movement all over the country, in the course of
which attempts were made to boycott British goods as a
retaliatory measure against the Government. The pressure
of these events forced the Government to make another
meagre concession to popular clamour and so the Morley-
Minto Reforms followed. Lord Morley was then the Secretary
of State for India and Lord Minto the Viceroy of India.
The Morley-Minto scheme of reforms was first announced
in December 1906, and was finally passed into law as the
Indian Councils Act of 1909. As a result of official inspiration,
a few months before the announcement was made, a depu-