The home rule league movement was led by Lokmanya Tilak and Annie Besant.
Tilak was released from prison in 1914 and he came back to a very different India. The moderates were disillusioned with the constitutional reforms of 1909. The congress was yet to recover from the Surat split. The firebrand leaders of the extremists had either taken sanyas or left for abroad.
Initially he spent his energy in trying to get admission to the INC a body that was now the representative of the Indian national movement. He also assured the crown that he was a loyalist. He dissociated himself from the revolutionary terrorist movements in Bengal and urged all to support the British in this hour of crisis i.e. during the World War I.
The congress which had lapsed into inactivity after the Surat split too wanted them back. There was considerable pressure for this from Annie Besant who had joined the congress.
Annie
Besant had come to India for her work with the
theosophical society. She stayed close to madras and
spread her message of theosophy amongst the people. She
had gained a large number of followers.
In 1914 she wanted to enlarge her sphere of activity to build a movement of home rule league but she knew she would need the sanction of the congress and the support of the extremists for this.
However
the 1914 session was a disappointment as the moderates
refused to let them enter. So she and Tilak decided
to revive political activity on their own and at same time
continue to convince the congress to let extremists enter.
However the death of Pherozshah Mehta had weakened their opposition and the moderates decided to allow extremist to re-enter the congress. However the congress or Muslim league did not agree to her idea of starting home rule league. So she put a condition that if by September 1916 congress did nothing then she was free to start her own.
Tilak
meanwhile had already started the home rule league in
Bombay province. Besant waited till 1916 September and
when congress showed no sign of activity she too started
with her own league. Tilak home rule movement was
based in Maharashtra [excluding Bombay], Karnataka,
central province and Berar. Besant’s movement was in
rest of India.
Tilak
wasn’t a Marathi chauvinist or a casteist or pro
religions. He appealed to all on a wholly secular basis.
He
said “If god
tolerates untouchability I wouldn’t recognize him as
god”.
The home rule league was popular with the moderates as it confined itself to political discussions and education. Many moderates who were dissatisfied with the congress for inactivity joined the home rule workers.
In
1916 Tilak and the extremists were welcomed back to
congress by the president Ambika Mazumdar in
Lucknow. The Lucknow session was also famous for
Congress - league pact which was engineered by Tilak and
Besant with support of Jinnah. The congress accepted the
league demand for separate electorates, reservation for
minorities in legislatures but apart from this the pact
was necessary to dispel minority fears about majority
domination.
Congress and Muslim league then confronted the colonial government together on demand of self government after the war. The negative thing about the pact was that it tacitly accepted that India had different communities with separate interest of their own. This opened the door for future communalism.
In 1917 the government of madras took harsh measures against home rule league to stop its popularity. The leaders like Besant, Arundale, Wadia were placed under arrest. However this had the reverse effects and the popularity soared. Many people who had initially stayed away joined the home rule movement.
The
government now changed its stance and adopted a
conciliatory approach. It made a declaration stating that
the government’s aim was to increase association with
Indians in every stream and a creation of a responsible
government. After this declaration home rule demands were
no longer seditious and Besant was released. At the
height of her popularity she was made the congress
president in 1917 on Tilak's suggestion.
She became the first woman president of the congress.
The Home Rule agitation was also joined by Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, Chittaranjan Das, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mohammad Ali jinnah, Tej Bahadur Sapru and Lala Lajpat Rai.
Some of these leaders became heads of local branches.
Many of the Moderate Congressmen who were disillusioned with Congress inactivity, and some members of Gokhale's Servants of India Society also joined the agitation.
However, Anglo-Indians, most of the Muslims and nonbrahmins from South did not join as they felt Home Rule would mean rule of the Hindu majority, mainly the high caste.
The following factors lead to this pact :
Britain's refusal to help Turkey (ruled by the Khalifa who claimed religio-political leadership of all Muslims) in its wars in the Balkans (1912-13) and with Italy (during 1911) had infuriated the Muslims.
Announcement of cancelation partition of Bengal in 1911 had annoyed those sections of Muslims who had supported the partition.
The refusal of the British Government in India to set up a university at Aligarh with powers to affiliate colleges all over India also alienated some Muslims
The younger League members were turning to bolder nationalist politics and were trying to outgrow the limited political outlook of the Aligarh school. The Calcutta session of the Muslim League (1912) had committed the League to "working with other groups for a system of selfgovernment suited to India, provided it did not come in conflict with its basic objective of protection of interests of the Indian Muslims". Thus, the goal of self-government similar to that of the Congress brought both sides closer.
Younger Muslims were infuriated by the government repression during the War. Maulana Azad's Al Hilal and Mohammad Ali's Comrade faced suppression while the Ali brothers, Maulana Azad and Hasrat Mohani faced internment. This generated anti-imperialist sentiments among the "Young Party".
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