Revolutionary Activities in Maharashtra and Punjab

At a Glance

• Maharashtra Phadke 1879; Chapekar 1897; Mitra Mela and Abhinav Bharat; Jackson 1909
• Savarkar Brain of the Nasik conspiracy; transported for life
• Punjab Lajpat Rai, Ajit Singh, Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan
• Punjab turning point Ban on meetings and deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, May 1907
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: Revolutionary Activities and the First World War

Where Does It Fit?

This is the third topic of the category on revolutionary activities and the First World War. The previous topic surveyed Bengal. This topic surveys Maharashtra and Punjab. The next topic covers revolutionary activities abroad. Previous topic: Revolutionary Activities in Bengal.

What Began in Maharashtra Before 1900?

The first revolutionary activity in Maharashtra was the Ramosi Peasant Force organised by Vasudev Balwant Phadke in 1879, which aimed to rid the country of the British by an armed revolt that disrupted communication lines. It hoped to raise funds through dacoities and was suppressed prematurely. The Ramosis themselves appear in Important Tribal Movements of Mainland India.

During the 1890s Tilak propagated a spirit of militant nationalism, including the use of violence, through the Ganapati and Shivaji festivals and his journals Kesari and Maharatta. Two of his disciples, the Chapekar brothers Damodar and Balkrishna, murdered Rand, the Plague Commissioner of Poona, and a Lieutenant Ayerst in 1897. Tilak’s arrest in 1897 is told in Indian Councils Act, 1892: partial concession Administrative Indianisation,…">Constitutional Reforms, Administrative Reforms and Civil Rights Campaigns.

What Were Mitra Mela, Abhinav Bharat and the Nasik Conspiracy?

Savarkar and his brother organised Mitra Mela, a secret society, in 1899, which merged in 1904 with Abhinav Bharat, named after Mazzini’s Young Italy. Soon Nasik, Poona and Bombay emerged as centres of bomb manufacture. In 1909 A.M.T. Jackson, the Collector of Nasik, who was also a well-known indologist, was killed by Anant Lakshman Kanhere, a member of Abhinav Bharat.

It was found that the killing was part of a conspiracy to overthrow the British government in India by armed revolution. Thirty-eight people were arrested. Savarkar, with his two brothers, was found to be the brain, leader and moving spirit of the conspiracy extending over several years, and was sentenced to transportation for life and forfeiture of all his property. His time in London is told in Revolutionary Activities Abroad.

What Fuelled Extremism in Punjab?

Punjab extremism was fuelled by frequent famines together with a rise in land revenue and the irrigation tax, the practice of begar by zamindars, and the events in Bengal. Active in Punjab were Lala Lajpat Rai, who brought out the Punjabee (motto: self-help at any cost), and Ajit Singh, the uncle of Bhagat Singh, who organised the extremist Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan in Lahore with its journal Bharat Mata. Before Ajit Singh’s group turned to extremism, it was active in urging non-payment of revenue and water rates among the Chenab colonists and Bari Doab peasants. Other leaders included Aga Haidar, Syed Haider Raza, Bhai Parmanand and the radical Urdu poet Lalchand Falak. The Punjab movement is also noted in Anti-Partition Campaign Under the Moderates.

How Did Punjab Extremism End and Turn Revolutionary?

Extremism in Punjab died down quickly after the government struck in May 1907 with a ban on political meetings and the deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh. After this, Ajit Singh and a few associates, Sufi Ambaprasad, Lalchand, Bhai Parmanand and Lala Hardayal, developed into full-scale revolutionaries.

During the First World War Rashbehari Bose was involved as one of the leading figures of the Ghadr revolution. At the close of 1913 Bose met Jatin to discuss the possibility of an all-India armed rising of the 1857 type. He then worked with Bagha Jatin, extending the Bengal plan to Punjab and the upper provinces. As the plan for revolution did not succeed, Rashbehari Bose escaped to Japan in 1915, and much later he played an important part in the founding of the Indian National Army. The Ghadr is in Revolutionary Activities Abroad.

As an analytical point, the two regions differed in origin. In Maharashtra, revolutionary violence grew from a cultural nationalism built on festivals and the older tradition of armed revolt, while in Punjab it began from peasant grievances over revenue, water rates and begar and only later turned revolutionary. In both, the state moved first against the open leaders, as in the deportations of 1907 and the Nasik trial.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Names and dates Chapekar 1897, Jackson 1909 and Ajit Singh are standard Prelims items
• Regional comparison Maharashtra versus Punjab appears in Mains
• Link to Ghadr Punjab leads into the Ghadr and wartime plots

What Came Next?

The next topic covers the revolutionary activities abroad. Next topic: Revolutionary Activities Abroad.

Key People and Terms

• Ramosi Peasant Force Phadke’s armed force of 1879
• Abhinav Bharat The secret society formed in 1904 from Savarkar’s Mitra Mela
• Nasik conspiracy The plot linked to Jackson’s killing in 1909
• Anjuman-i-Mohisban-i-Watan Ajit Singh’s extremist body at Lahore
• Begar Forced labour exacted by zamindars
• Punjabee The newspaper brought out by Lala Lajpat Rai

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about revolutionary groups outside Bengal. These points add depth.

• Cultural roots Maharashtra drew on Ganapati and Shivaji festivals
• Agrarian roots Punjab began from revenue and water-rate unrest
• State response Trials and deportations