Governmental Measures/Action to Address Human Security in Kazakhstan

IRJMSH Vol 5 Issue 6 [Year 2014] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print)

International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity ( IRJMSH ) Page 301

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The Debilitated Congress in Colonial Punjab

Dr. Vikram Singh Associate Professor, Vaish College, Bhiwani (Haryana)

E-mail: [email protected]

This article is an endeavor to analyze microscopically to elucidate the position of „The

Debilitated Congress in Colonial Punjab‟. The Punjab was prosperous as five rivers (Sutlej, Ravi,

Beas, Jhelum and Chenab) ran through the province. Punjab, lies between the Indus and the

Ganges rivers. Most of the state has an alluvial plain which is irrigated by canals. The British

Punjab constituted two thirteenth of the whole of the British Indian Empire which had total area

nearly 2, 53,000 square miles.1 The position of the Punjab on the globe is at 29‟30‟‟ N to 32‟32‟‟

N latitude and 73‟55 E to 76‟50 E longitude.

It was the birth place of ‘Kukas’ who started the war of independence against the British

Rule The brave warriors of this province who had offered stubborn resistance and ultimately

turned back the Germans from the wall of Paris during the First World War. The Punjab was the

province where thousands of people were massacred in Jallianwala Bagh and the resolution for

complete Independence was passed on the banks of Ravi. The people of Punjab were always

ahead with raising the clarion call of the national leaders, but the Congress position in Punjab

was debilitated during the freedom struggle of India as the brave people of the province had

fallen low in the eyes of the people of India.

The origin of the Indian National Congress in 1885 was neither a sudden event, nor a

historical accident, but it was the culmination of political awakening which arose in the 1860s

and 1870s and mainly leaped forward in the late 1870s and early 1880s preparing solid ground

for the establishment of an all-India organization. A number of organizations were established

before the origin of the National Congress viz. Dadabhai Naroji established East Indian

Association in London in 1866, Mahadeva Govinda Ranade formed the Madras Mahajana Sabha

in 1881 and also the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha in 1867 for social reforms and national awakening.

In 1885, the Bombay Presidency Association was formed under the leadership of persons like

Feroz Shah Mehta, Badruddin Tayabji etc. These associations were especially established to

attract the attention of the British Government towards the welfare of the Indians and awakening

national consciousness.

1 Sharma, Inderjeet, Land revenue Administration in the Punjab 1849-1901. New

Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 1992, pp 15-23.



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Moreover, among all these organizations, the Indian Association was established under

the leadership of Surendra Nath Banerjee and Anand Mohan Bose which actively attempted to

form a strong public opinion against the unjust policies of the British Government. Allan

Octavian Hume, a retired I.C.S. officer played a vital role in the formation of Indian National

Congress. He wrote an open letter to the students of Calcutta University, inviting them to resolve

the political deadlock of India.. Mr. A. O. Hume met Lord Dufferin, the then Viceroy of India

after discussion with the students and suggested to form an organization to function like the

opposition party of Britain. He finally shaped this idea mobilizing leading intellectuals of that

time and organized the first session of the Indian National Congress in Bombay in December

1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjeeji. This session was attended by 72

delegates who belonged especially to the middle class and after that the Congress session is

being held every year in December, in a different part of the country. The new educated middle-

class got entry into Indian politics with the formation of Indian National Congress in 1885

which transformed our political scenario. Womesh Chander Banereeji Dadabhai Naoroji (elected

thrice), Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozshah Mehta, P. Anandacharlu, Surendranath Banerji, Romesh

Chandra Dutt, Ananda Mohan Bose and Gopal Krishna Gokhale were among the prominent

presidents of the Congress during the end of the 19th

the early century and the beginning of the

20th

century. Their basic objectives were to lay the formation of a secular and democratic

national movement, to educate the people, to set up the headquarters to propagate the

movement against the British‟s unjust policies. Indian National Congress was very humble

initially, but gradually transformed it into a powerful organization. The struggle for the Indian

National Movement began with its formation in a well planned manner. It represented the

people all over India as well as all walks of life. Consequently, Mahatma Gandhi transformed it

into a mass organization from a class organization of few urban educated middle class The

leaders of Indian National Congress tried their best to fulfill their objectives which were coined

in 1885‟s session so that India might be liberated from the unjust British colonial rule by

following a non-violent movement.

In the beginning, the Indian National Congress did not progress in Punjab in comparison

of other states. Though Jaisi Ram, Dwarka Das, Dyal Singh Majithia, Harkishan Lal and others

of the Indian Association tried their best to popularize it among the masses. Its new branches

were inaugurated in Lahore (1885), Ambala (1885) and Hisar (1886), which no doubt functioned

very informally. It had more followers than the Indian Association. A few Muslims also joined

the Congress in the beginning among whom prominent were Mohammad Alam (Editor, Paisa

Akhabar) Nabi Bakhsh and Umar Bakhsh (Sir Saiyed Ahamd Khan's opponents). Dyal Singh

Majithia started a nationalist paper, The Tribune, in 1881 to provide momentum as power to the

National movement. Although three annual sessions, 1893, 1900 and 1903 of the Congress were

also held at Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, yet the position of Congress did not improve much

in the Punjab during the struggle of the national movement. The Congress in Punjab was

confined only to urban Hindu middle class, and its programs had hardly any impact on rural

areas of Punjab. Government‟s considerate policy to keep the people of Punjab out of its evil



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influence and poor politicization of the people were the major hurdles in its way. In spite of

nationalists‟ best efforts the Congress could neither emerge nor propagate in the Punjab, as

rightly said by Duni Chand, a veteran nationalist leader from Ambala, could become “nothing

but a gathering of a few holiday makers out for intellectual entertainment”.2

The Congress faced great hurdles in establishing itself in the Punjab as the Arya Samaj

was very much popular there and that was against the Congress‟s ideology and programmes..

They regarded Congress as a puppet of the Britishers and they considered that the Britishers

would love their country as well as exploited Indians, thereby the Congress leaders would never

achieve their objectives to liberate India. They also thought that Congress was formed by

Englishmen to keep the Indian intelligentsia busy. They opined that Indians should make

themselves stronger through education as well as by popularizing Swadeshi to improve their

strength so that they would be able to oust the British.3 They were against the Hindu-Muslim

unity as they believed that such unity would make the Muslims politically very strong which

might endanger the development and unity of India. They considered that the Congress leaders

would divert their energy from the planning for Hindu solidarity and Hindu reform. They

considered that political involvement would make the British suspicious of the Hindus, which

might harm them, therefore, they should keep them away from political movements and

concentrate only with social reforms. However, some men like Bakshi Jaishi Ram, Babu

Jogendra Chandra Bose and L. Harikishan Lal in the Samaj who had sympathized with the

Congress in the province and remained in contact with the Congress leaders. It was due to their

hard efforts that in 1893 Punjab Congress leaders invited the Congress for the annual session, yet

Arya Samaj leaders did not take any conspicuous part in the Congress, which led the conflict

between religion and modernization and split the Arya Samaj in 1893. The split was an

indication of change in the leadership pattern. Earlier the Samaj had been the stronghold of

trading and commercial classes under the sway of Brahminical tradition, but the growth of

English education challenged the Arya Samaj. The newly emergent elite could not work

independently. It owned its position partly by the Government, which was the chief source of its

patronage and partly to the positions of the classes to which it belonged. Therefore, it remained

in a captivated position both socially and economically, which proved a great hurdle for the

emergence of the Congress. Lala Lajpat Rai said about Lala Harikishan Lal, who was an

example of such leadership,“The beauty of it is that L Harikishan Lal‟s political outlook was the

same as that of the Arya Samajists but ostensibly he was a Congressman. He ridiculed the social

and religious ideas of the Arya Samajists and called many of its member‟s humbugs, but he

2 Duni Chand, The Ulster of India, Lahore, 1936, p.2 Also see Azim Hussain, Sir Fazal-I-

Hussain: A Political Biography, Bombay, 1946, p. 70.

3 Joshi, V.C. (ed), Lala Lajpat Rai: Autobiographical Writings, Delhi, 1965. p. 87.



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knew that in this province no movement could be successful without the help of the Arya

Samaj”.4

The emergence of the Indian National Congress in the Punjab coincided unfortunately

with the rise of the situation that led to the enactment of the Land Alienation Act,5 which created

communal tension in the province and marred its proceedings. Therefore, the Hindu bourgeoisie

who dominated the Congress felt annoyed with it on account of its failure to take a strong action

for the repeal of the Land Alienation Act.6 The Hindu delegates from the Punjab had raised this

question at several sessions, but the attitude of the Congress leadership towards this question left

both the communities dissatisfied. For instance, a strong resolution against the Bill passed by the

Congress at its session in December 1899 hurt the Mohammedans in the province.7 When the

Hindus raised this question again at the 1900 session, the Congress leadership was reluctant to

endorse their earlier decision on account of the determined opposition of the Muslim delegates.8

The policy of the Government further opened non-agriculturist professions to

agriculturists, the majority of whom were Muslims, added to the grievances of the Hindus; one

Hindu leader pointed out that the “Hindu Sabha came into existence in the Punjab mainly with a

view to bringing about pressure on the Government to repeal the Land Alienation Act”.9 The

Indian National Congress could not take up any issue over which the major communities in the

Punjab were divided but such policy of the Congress prevented a large number of Hindus from

joining the Congress.

4 Ibid., pp. 95-96.

5 The Land Alienation Act was passed in the Imperial Legislative Council on October 19, 1900,

which came into force in June 1901. The Act aimed at placing certain restrictions on the

transfer of agricultural land in the Punjab with a view to checking its alienation from the

agricultural to the non-agricultural classes. It also prohibited all unsfractory mortgages except

“automatic repayment mortgage”, where after the expiry of the term of mortgage which was

limited to a maximum of 15 years, the land, reverted to the mortgage with the mortgage debt

extinguish.

6 Annie Beasant; How India Wrought For Freedom; Theosophical Publishing House, Madras,

1915, p. 317.

7 See Report of the Proceedings of the Sixth Indian National Congress, Session 1890, Calcutta,

N.M.M.L., New Delhi,

8 See Report of the Proceedings of the Sixteenth Indian National Congress, Lahore, 1900,

N.M.M.L., New Delhi,

9 Ibid.



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Moreover, the British Government formed a new class of big landlords amongst Muslims

in the Punjab, who having acquired vested interests in the existing order became its staunch

supporters. O' Dwyer stated, in his Memoirs, the following advantages of the Land Alienation

Act; “As a result of the Act, the Punjab landowners, the finest body of the peasantry in the East,

have been standing loyalty to the British”.10

However, among the Muslims no strong middle

class had emerged. In the absence of such middle class, the Muslims looked for leadership to

landed families which owned their wealth and status by the Government. The Muslims had been

against the Congress since its origin. The Majority of the Muslims after 1887-88 opposed the

Indian National Congress, and many pamphlets were distributed with warning of the dangers for

the Muslims appealing them not to join the Congress. The pamphlets of Saujad Hashim Bukhari,

National Congress Se Mussalmanon Ko Bachana Chahilye (Mussalmans should beware of

National Congress) and Munshi Shams-ud-din's Aina-I-National Congress („Mirror of the

National Congress’)11

greatly influenced the Muslims who kept on isolating themselves from the

Congress. When the Congress session of 1893 was held in Lahore the central Mohammedan

Association of Lahore showed great hostility towards it. It was reported by an observer that

Mohammedans were so vehemently antagonistic to this session that none of them was coming

forward to attend it till Maulvi Moharram Chisti undertook to bring a contingent of them.12

However, he was not very successful, as out of 481 delegates from Punjab only 49 were

Mohammedans.13

The sessions of 1905 and 1906 attended by large contingents from Punjab

could claim just a few Muslims. This caused serious damage to the prestige of the Congress,

among the Muslims.14

Ghadarites as well as the terrorists dominating the Punjab politics from 1908-1914 and

due to their activities, the position of the Congress in the province became more miserable. The

people of Punjab made themselves efforts to guard the British Empire during the First World

War (1914 -1918). As a large number of youth recruited themselves in the army especially

Sikhs' recruitment was speeded up and the number of Sikhs in the army rose from 35,000 at the

beginning of 1915 to over 100,000 by the end of the war forming about one-fifth of the army in

action.15

Nau Jawan Sabha,Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Muslim League, Akali

Dal also played their influential role in the Punjab politics.Their leaders had different ideology

10

O‟Dwyer, M., India as I Knew it 1885-1925, London, 1925.

11 Edward Churchill; „Printed Literature of the Punjabi Muslims, 1860-1900’ in Sources on

Punjab History, pp.309-10.

12 Ibid.

13 Report of the Congress Session, 1893, N.M.M.L., New Delhi,

14 Ibid.

15 Leigh,M. S., The Punjab and the War, Lahore, 1922, p. 14.



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from the Congress which was the major cause to provide a set back to the Congress in the Punjab

politics, but we cannot explain it in detail due to lack of space.

A new era began in the Punjab politics in 1937 when Provincial elections were held in

this year and the Unionist Party got absolute majority. Congress had a great setback in this

election. The Unionist Party won 95 seats out of 175, Congress 18, Khalsa National Board 14,

Akali Party 10, Hindu Election Board 12, Ahrar 2, Congress Nationalists 1, Muslim League 1,

Ithad-I-Milat 1, Congress Socialist Party 1, Parliamentary Board 1 and Independent 19.16

Thus

the biggest was the Unionist Party and it formed the Government with Sir Sikander Hyat Khan

as its Premier. It remained firmly in the hands of the loyal allies of the British. This was the

culmination of the policy which they had pursued in the Punjab from 1849-1936.

Several measures of agrarian legislation were introduced by the Unionist Party as three

amendments were made to the Punjab Alienation of Land Act. The first amendment was the

prohibition of agricultural land being put to destructive use of a mortgage or a lease, without the

consent of the owner and removed the ambiguity regarding the period for which temporary

alienation of land belonging to a statutory agriculturist debtor could be ordered by a Civil Court.

The amendment was nullified certain sales and mortgages of land which were affected in

contravention of the intention of the Punjab Alienation of Land Act (1901). The third enactment

provided the agriculturist moneylenders for the purposes of the Punjab Alienation of Land Act in

the same position as non-agricultural moneylenders and checked them from permanently

acquiring the land of their agriculturist debtors. The Restitution of Mortgaged Lands Act was

passed in 1938 terminating old mortgages of land (affected before 1901) on payment of a

reasonable compensation when necessary by the mortgager to the mortgages. It restored 835,000

acres of land to 365,000 peasants who had been dispossessed of their lands. The Punjab

Agricultural Produce Marketing Act was also passed, which provided the registration of the

Mandis and the licensing of the Mahajans. The registration of the Mandis envisaged the setting

up of the Mandi marketing committees, with two third representation to the peasants and one-

third to the Mahajans.17

The Unionists argued that the basic program of the party was to help the

backward classes to rise in a large a measure as possible to the level of advanced classes.18

The

moneylenders who were handicapped by the Land Alienation Act, were still not willing to give

up their hold on the cultivators. The government resorted to Benami transactions which allowed

transfer of land in favor of agriculturists. Similarly the Debtors Protection Act (1936), Punjab

Resortation of Mortgaged Land Act (1938), Agricultural Produce Marketing Bill (1938) etc.

16

A.I.C.C. Papers (Punjab 1942-45), F. No. p. 16, N.M.M.L., New Delhi.

17 Gopal Madan, Sir Chhotu Ram: A Political Biography, p.107.

18 Tika Ram, Sir Chhotu Ram-A Political Biography, 1979, p.45



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were passed to strengthen their hold on the peasantry. The Government also set up Debt

Conciliation Boards to give relief to the poor debtors in advance.19

Thus, the Punjab Congress was placed in a paradoxical situation due to the introduction

of various Agrarian Bills. The Bills were not actively supported by the Congress and criticized

them as being inadequate and providing such an impression to the peasantry that the Congress

was opposed to such measures. It was enough to defame the Congress.20

The Unionist Party was

able to feed the countryside in its propaganda that Congress was identified with the party of

money lenders and businessman. The peasantry believed in the slogans and principles of the

Unionists. Moreover, the Unionists were engaged only in administering the province, whereas

the Congress was extensively busy in anti-colonial struggle. Congress Committees concentrated

in towns and cities instead of rural areas which confirmed to the masses that the Congress had an

urban outlook. 21

The urban people had their own problems and interests like the peasantry. In such state of

affairs, Congress has been always a loser as levies evident from the agitation of Beopar Mandal

in 1941 against the Sales Tax of four Annas per hundred rupees by Unionist Government. This

agitation diverted the attention of the urban based business classes from the program of the

Congress. The non-committal attitude of the Congress worsened the situation and the provincial

Government even reported in May, 1942 that traders held the Congress responsible for the

failure of their agitation against the Sales Tax.22

Mian-Iftikhar-Ud-Din, President, Punjab Provincial Congress Committee, supported to

Rajagopalacharia's controversial formula involving the possibility of Pakistan, which went a long

way in weakening the faith of Hindus and Sikhs in the competence of the Congress to prevent

the vivisection of the country. The political controversies raised by Sikander's formula as an

alternative to Pakistan and the Sikhs demand for „Azad Punjab’ drowned the cry of “Quit India”.

Muslim, Sikhs and Hindus organized „Khaksars,’ „Akali Dal and the „Rashtra Swayam Sewak

Sangh’ respectively consolidate their own strength and safeguard their own interests which

damaged the position of the Congress.23

The Punjab Congress leaders were unable to co-operate with each other in fighting

against the communal forces due to their personal prejudices and vested interests which was also

19

Agnihotri, H.L. and Malik Shiva N., A Profile in Courage A Biography of Sir Chhotu Ram,

1978, p.33.

20 National Front, July 3, 1938.

21 Narang, A.S., Storm Over the Sutlej-The Akali Politics, Delhi, 1983, p. 58

22 Home Political, 18/5/42, 2

nd half of May, 1942, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

23 Home Political., F. No. 4/2/39, National Archives of India, New Delhi.



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weakened the Congress. For example Lala Duni Chand of Ambala, who occupied an important

place in Punjab Provincial Congress Committee organized communal body styled as Hindu

Rastriya Sabha in 1932. In the election of 1937, he approached Hindu Election Board not to put

a candidate against him as he was a staunch Hindu.24

The „Great Lala‟ Sham Lal of Rohtak

aroused the caste sentiment in the 1937 election among the voters in order to win the election

against Pandit Thakur Das.25

Moreover, the result of the Punjab Provincial Congress under

representation in the Congress Working Committee was its mismanaged affairs to some extent.

As there was no member of the Punjab in the Congress Working Committee after 1937 but there

used to be two Punjabi members out of 15 earlier.26

As the Punjab province was the Muslim majority province, but the alienation of Muslims

from Congress was also no less important reason for its weak situation in the Punjab. All India

Congress Committee, Punjab Provincial Congress Committee and the Congress Working

Committee were all practically controlled by the Hindu. So the Muslim leaders warned the

Muslims that if they joined the Congress, they would be considered as the second grade citizen.27

Moreover, there was no charismatic Muslim leader in Congress who could attract the Punjabi

Muslims. Though there were two prominent Muslim leader, i.e. Dr. Saif-ud Din Kitchlew, a hero

of the martial law days, but he had to retire from Punjab politics in 1940 due to intra party

politics28

and other was Maulana Abul Qadir who could not impress the Muslims effectively to

join them in the Punjab Congress.29

The Punjab Congress had to modify its policies and programs towards the Hindus to

compete with the Hindu Sabha30

therefore, the Muslims in alienation still remained its members.

These Muslims organized themselves as a separate group under the leadership of Abul Qadir

Kasuri and Mohammad Alam who complained against the Punjab Congress leaders and appealed

to the Congress High Command for a direct affiliation for the Muslim interests.31

Thus, such

type of leg pulling in the party and a faction-ridden party was not a good sign for the progress of

the Congress..

24

Ibid., F. No. E-17/1937, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 Oral History Transcript, Lala Jagat Narain, Acc. No. 373, p.82, N.M.M.L., New Delhi.

28 Interviewed by Tofic Kitchlew son of Dr.Saif-ud-din Kitchlew.

29 Oral History Transcript, Lala Jagat Narain, Acc. No.373, pp. 48-49, N.M.M.L., New Delhi.

30 Home Political, F. No. 1/12/1943, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

31 Ibid.



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The Congress was also deprived of the unequivocal support of the Sikhs. The

Government in a clever move offered membership of the Viceroy‟s expanded Council to eminent

Sikh leader Sardar Joginder Singh and Sardar Baldev Singh was inducted into the Cabinet. It also

conceded some of the communal demands of the Sikhs. The good offices of these leaders

prevented a more effective participation of the Sikhs in the Congress.32

The Punjab Congress leaders were divided into two groups was at low ebb. One group

led by Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargava who had never accepted the leadership of other Congressmen

of Punjab like Dr. Satyapal and Saif-Ud-din Kitchlew, the former enjoying the support of Sardar

Patel while the later was supported by Maulana Azad. Both the groups wanted to suppress each

other in order to have supremacy over the other. The Punjab leaders in such situation could not

see eye to eye and failed to cooperate with each other in fighting out reactionary as well as

communal forces. For instance, after the death of Lala Duni Chand, infighting is evident from the

election held for the vacant seat. The Provincial Congress Committee selected Kaidar Nath for

the seat. Though Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargav supported Virender (son of Mahashe Krishna Dutt)

against the Congress official candidate yet had to withdraw his candidature on Gandhiji‟s

intervention. Dr. Gopi Chand Bhargav worked against the Congress nominee who was

considered as a Dr. Satyapal‟s man. Even he did not cast his vote.33

Such type of jealousy and

rivalry weakened the Congress Party in Punjab, where it was at its lowest ebb and its leaders

were at loggerheads with each other.34

There was a wide gap between the High Command and the lower strata workers of the

Punjab Congress, which worsened its position. Whenever any central leader of the Congress

visited the Punjab, he was usually highjacked cleverly by one group who managed him in their

favor in order to bypass the other group which hid the real position of the Congress in the eyes of

High Command.35

Thus the High Command failed to judge the real situation of the province.

Thus, we may conclude that the control and the popularity of the Indian National

Congress in the Punjab was neither very strong nor widespread. Its message was confined to

certain classes in cities and towns; it had not reached the numerous villages of the province,

possibly because the Congress had not openly and avowedly taken up the cause of the rural

classes. Then the vast population of the Muslims in the Punjab remained indifferent to the

Congress program. Rather, after some time they became its strongest opponents. Moreover, the

32

Linlithgow Collection, Glancy to Linlithgow, August 21, 1942 MSS.EUR.F.No. 125/91,

N.M.M.L., New Delhi.

33A.I.C.C. Papers, Punjab 1942-46, F. No. p. 16, N.M.M.L., New Delhi.

34 Mansergh Nicholas, The Transfer of Power 1942-1947, Vol. II (London, 1971), p. 463.

35 A.I.C.C. Papers, Punjab 1942-46, F. No. p. 16 N.M.M.L., New Delhi.



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Unionist Party which was pro-British and had complete hold over peasants and landholders

played an important role to debilitate the Congress in the Punjab province.

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