-
02 Dec 2020
GS Paper 1
History
Nationalism since its early phase had an economic character. Comment. (150 words)
- Introduce by stating the general character of Nationalism.
- Explain the exploitative economic character of British and the nationalism taking economic character.
- Substantiate the arguments with suitable examples.
Introduction
The development of nationalism in India has been intertwined with the realization of the exploitative British economic policies. As early as 1831, Raja Rammohan Roy was already speaking of a ‘drain’ from India i.e. of unilateral outward movement of funds.
- British rule was economically injurious to India and it was designed so, to suit the British economy, or to help the British economy gain prosperity. This reality was pointed out by the nationalist leaders like G.K. Gokhale, G.V. Joshi, M.G. Ranade, D.E. Wacha, R.C. Dutt, Dadabhai Naoroji, B.G. Tilak, the Mahratta, the Kesari and numerous other nationalist papers.
- Naoroji was convinced that the primary cause of India’s growing poverty was the British rule. He first put forward the idea that Britain was extracting wealth from India ‘as a price of her rule in India’. The nationalist leaders firmly believed and raised the question that England was draining wealth from India at the cost of Indian poverty.
- Naoroji, who wrote ‘Poverty and un-British rule in India’, was one of the moving spirits and founder of the Indian National Congress, and was elected thrice as its president. Another leader Ranade stood for economic justice to India in the Indo-British economic relations. He gave India the first complete and integrated logic of economic nationalism.
- The idea of swadesh or ‘one’s own country’ was the promotion of indigenous products against foreign. The swadeshi movement began in response to the partition of Bengal, it gave immense impetus to the boycott of British goods.
Therefore it is correct to argue that nationalism had an economic character from the start. Once the leaders and masses realized that economics was involved in politics and administration, it was clear that Indian nationalism was to have an economic character.
