The Extremist Phase and Swadeshi Movement (1905–1920)

3.1 Surat Split (1907)

The Congress split at the Surat session (December 1907) over the presidency. The Extremists (Tilak's faction) wanted Lala Lajpat Rai as president; the Moderates insisted on Rash Bihari Ghosh. The Extremists disrupted the session, leading to a formal split between Moderates and Extremists. This division lasted until the Lucknow Pact (1916) reunification.

3.2 Bal-Pal-Lal — The Extremist Triumvirate

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920)

• Published Gita Rahasya (commentary on Bhagavad Gita) while imprisoned in Mandalay (1908–14)
• Died 1 August 1920 — Gandhi's first political mass mourning
• See Section 2.2 for full profile

Bipin Chandra Pal (1858–1932)

• Bengali journalist and orator; advocated "passive resistance" (a form of non-cooperation before Gandhi)
• Editor of New India; called the "father of revolutionary thought in India"
• Refused to testify against Tilak at his 1908 sedition trial and was imprisoned for contempt

Lala Lajpat Rai (1865–1928)

• "Punjab Kesari" (Lion of Punjab); wrote Unhappy India (1928) as response to Katherine Mayo's Mother India
• Led protest against Simon Commission (an all-British constitutional reform committee that excluded Indians) at Lahore, 30 October 1928
• Received severe lathi blows from police superintendent James Scott's order; died from injuries 17 November 1928
• His death prompted Bhagat Singh's famous avenging assassination

3.3 Swadeshi Movement (1905–08)

The Partition of Bengal triggered India's first mass national movement.

• Boycott of British goods: Especially British cloth — "Swadeshi cloth" became a nationalist symbol
• Indigenous enterprise promotion: National Education Council, indigenous financial institutions
• Militant political action in Bengal: Bomb factories; Khudiram Bose executed 1908 (aged 18) — India's youngest martyr of the freedom movement
• Geographical spread: Initially Bengal-centred but spread to Punjab (Lajpat Rai) and Maharashtra (Tilak)
• Reversal: Partition of Bengal was annulled at the Delhi Durbar (1911), but communal lines had hardened

3.4 Home Rule Leagues (1916)

Annie Besant (Irish-British theosophist) founded the Home Rule League (Madras, April 1916). Bal Gangadhar Tilak founded a parallel Home Rule League (Maharashtra, April 1916). The leagues demanded "Home Rule" for India within the British Empire — a less radical demand than full independence.

Annie Besant was interned by the British (June 1917), which paradoxically increased her popularity. She became INC president in December 1917 — the first woman president.

Lucknow Pact (December 1916)

• The Moderate-Extremist split in Congress was healed
• Congress and Muslim League reached an agreement on separate electorates for Muslims (the League's demand)
• Also agreed on a joint programme of constitutional reform demands
• The pact represented a moment of Hindu-Muslim political unity

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