Poona Sarvajanik Sabha and the beginning of moderate phase of freedom struggle

 

After the failure of the revolt of 1857 there was vacuum in the nationalist movement. Various locals movements of tribes and peasant were organized in that time but on the pan India level there was not any organization which could represent the Indian people

After 1857 various political and administrative changes took place in British India . The East India company was abolished and the British crown accepted the responsibility of governing India . The designation of Viceroy was changed to Governor General who was a direct representative of the British Government . A office of Secretary of state was created at the London and was entrusted with the administrative overlook of the given territory.

For the administrative convenience British had introduced English education system in India . The purpose of this was a create a generation of English educated folks who could work for the lower grade jobs in the British Government . Some of the English educated folks became loyal to the British Government but some of them became aware of the discriminatory policies of the British.

Some young students who went to London for higher education saw their the working of Democratic system and compared it with the present form of Government in India.

In Maharashtra also many young people raised their voices against the discriminatory policies of the British Government . Balshastri Jambhekar was considered as pioneer of intellectual movement against the British government in Maharashtra .

He had spread the idea of Nationalism , liberty and democracy through his newspapers and weekly publications. He had started various newspapers like Darpan, Prabhakar, Dhyanprasakrak, Digdarshan.

Balshashtri Jambhekar is also knows as “Darpankar”.

At the same time Dadabhai Nauroji and Justice Ranade had started attacking on the exploiting economic policies of British Government in India . They had put forward the theory of economic drain. So according to them Indian resources are being transferred to England through salaries of the officers and the pensions of the retired officials.

So before the formation of Indian national congress various small organization came up in India and the England .Some of them are as follows.

East India Association

The grand old man India Dadabhai Nairobi was the first who had launched a united opposing movement against the British government .Dadabhai had spent most of his years in England hence he was aware about how modern democratic works . He had been influenced by the modern democratic values like Liberty, Humanitarianism , and equality .

Dadabhai Nauraoji founded the East India Association in London in 1^st December 1866 in London. This organization was aimed at creating a platform for debate and discussion between British and Indians in England.

 This organization made people aware about the Civil services exam which was being held in that time only in London. He also demanded the government to hold the exam in India also.

Dadabhai returned to India in 1869. He had set branches of the organization in Bombay , Madras and Calcutta.

The Bombay branch of the Association was under the control of the committee consisting Firozshah Mehta , Jamshedji Jijibhoy, Dr. Bhau Daji and Bal Mangesh Wagle.

Bombay Association

The year 1852 saw the widespread riots between Muslims and Parsis  in different parts of Mumbai. Nana Shankar Seth had organized a meeting to discuss the political and social impact of the riots and to find the solution so that such type of riots will not happen in future.

Members of Muslim, Hindu, Jew and Parsi community  were present on that meeting and in that meeting it was decided to form a political organization. And hence Bombay association was established in Mumbai with the support from the members of different religion.

The Association wanted the full cooperation of the government and hence they inform the government about their organization and its way of working. Governor gave a positive response to their request.

But some English newspaper like “Bombay Gazette “ and “Telegraph and Currier “ and criticize this move.

Association did not wanted itself to restraint only to Mumbai and hence it  contacted the districts members of the society and increase their member base. The association also collected signature of around 4000 people and submitted it to the government. For this firs time in the India the politics of signatures and memorandums was started.

Signatures from Mumbai, Pune, Thane and other small places were collected. It presented to the government that how the Colonial nature of East India Company had affected India.

As Nana Shankar Seth was the member of the Association it was necessary for the government to look up into the demand of it. Various issues which government neglected were taken up by the Association.

The government had to accept the demand for translating the legislations into the language of people. Again there was discrimination for Stamp Duty between City and Villages . That too was stopped due to Association’s interference.

The Association also demanded the appointment of Hindi judges in the Bombay High court.

With the death of Nana Shankar Seth in 1865 the association became inactive. Various steps were taken to start the  association but that became failed. Hence at last Firozshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji and other members transferred this organization into “Bombay Presidency Association” .

Poona Sarvajanik Sabha

The poona sarvajanik sabha was established on 2^nd April 1870 in Pune . Although the majority of the members were Brahmins but the real control was in the hands of lawyers

The Sabha was active in social and political sphere. The laws made by the British government for the Indian people were not in accordance with their culture and traditions . The poona Sarvajanik sabha has demanded that the laws should be made by thoroughly studying the Indian culture and the values.

They also demanded that the draft of the legislation should be published in Indian languages so that people would able to examine it.

The Indians were not appointed in the high court at that time. On the demand of Sabha for the first time The Indian Justice Nanabhai Haridas was appointed in the High Court.

Sarvajanik Sabha took the economic survey of all the district in Maharashtra and created a full fledge report and submitted it to the government.

So before the establishment of the Indian National congress in 1885 these organization had created consciousness among the people about the discriminatory policies of the British government. These pre-congress organization had created a class of intellectuals which became the driven force behind the formation of Indian National Congress.