repressive of Lord Ripon.
Answers
Lord Ripon came to India in 1880, as the viceroy. He selected by Gladstone who came to power in 1880. So he was the representative of Gladstone, an era with a strong belief in the virtues of peace, laisse-fair, and self-government.
Lord Ripon was indeed of a different stamp from the typical viceory, and in his whole Political outlook was the very antithesis of his immediate predecessor. Gladstone, the chief devotee of Liberty in Europe, explained his policy towards India thus: “our title to be in India depends on a first condition, that our being there is profitable to the Indian natives; and on a second condition, that we can make them see and understand it to profitable”.
So in Calcutta in his first public speech he said “Judge me by my acts and not by words”. With these aspirations Lord Ripon heartily sympathised and he was determined to take some forward steps in the direction of liberalising Indian government.
Various repressive measures undertaken by the British authority in India led to the growth of suspicion and hatred towards the British. During the time of Lord Lytton, the Viceroy, certain repressive laws like Vernacular Press Act and Arms Act of 1878 were passed to suppress the Indian mass.