main cause behind the indian national movement
Answers
What is Civilisation?
Introduction to Heritage
Historians and Dates
Onset of Nationalism in India
India as a nation has witnessed an increase in the nationalistic feelings somewhere in the latter half of the 19th century. Prior to that, there were mini battles here and there but nothing much at the national level as such. We may say that with the onset of the Indian National Congress, this nation saw a surge of patriotism and a desire to fight against the oppression of British rule collectively with an organized means.
Causes of the National Movement
For any movement to take roots there are several causes that lead up to the final culmination point. Similarly, the making of the National Movement is a result of many things that eventually led to the creation of Indian National Congress. Some of these reasons are briefly listed here.
Education
British came up with several educational institutes in the nation to ensure that their local subjects could understand their language. The motive behind was to enable the subjects to serve the Raj better. However, things didn’t go as planned.
The language helped the educated Indians to better understand the world. It instilled in them ideas of liberty and equality that was propagated by many European liberal thinkers. This helped to unite India in a common goal.
Unity through Language
Since the educated elite of India came from all parts of the country, so language could often become a barrier, but with the introduction of English language, the thinkers from across the nation found a common language to communicate their ideas, surpassing the barriers of language.
Vernaculars
These same people would take their knowledge and spread it across to other parts of the country by propagating them in their respective languages, thereby spreading the revolutionary ideas far and wide.
Socio-religious Movements
Some revolutionary thinkers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy challenged the conventional and biased orders of the society and enlightened people about the various social evils plaguing our nation. With the rise of knowledge in this department, the nation witnessed the rise of evolving new generation of revolutionaries.
An interesting fact to know is that Indian women never had to bring about a suffragette separately like USA or France and other developed nations. The fight for equality of women was a part of the freedom struggle. Many prominent Indian women were part of the freedom movement and an example of empowered women.
British Economic Policies
The economic policies propounded by the British resulted in widespread poverty and hunger in India. Famines were a constant occurrence leading to lakhs dying. This instilled a feeling of deep-seated resentment against British, which in turn let to the national movement.