Swadeshi movement
The Swadeshi movement is a part of the Indian independence movement and the developing Indian nationalism, was an economic strategy aimed at removing the British Empire from power and improving economic conditions in India by following the principles of swadeshi, which had some success.
In short,
Swadeshi movement is the awareness of avoiding the British products and maximum utilization of the domestic products and production processes.
Background History on Swadeshi Movement
According to L M Bhosle, There are five phases of the Swadeshi movement listed below :
| Year | Movement History |
| 1850 to 1904 | Swadesh movement developer by Dadabhai Naoroji, Gokhale, Ranade, Tilak, G.V. Joshi.
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| 1905 to 1917 | Partition of Bengal in 1905 by Lord Curzon.
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| 1918 to 1947 | Swadeshi thought shaped by Mahatma Gandhi and accompanied by the rise of Indian industrialists.
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| 1948 to 1991 | India became a bastion of obsolete technology during the license-permit raj.
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| 1991- onwards | Liberalization and globalization. Foreign capital, foreign technology, and many foreign goods are not excluded and doctrine of export-led growth resulted in modern industrialism.
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- The most successful of the pre-Gandhian movement, The 2nd swadeshi movement started in 1905 during the partition of the Bengal by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon and it was continued up to 1911.
- In the list of chief architect includes Aurobindo Ghosh, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Babu Genu. And Swadeshi as a Strategist, Mahatma Gandhi described it a the soul of Swaraj which was strongest in Bengal and also known as vandemataram movement. Gandhi remained loyal to the British Crown at the time of the actual movement.
How Swadeshi Movement proposal came into existence ?
- In 1906, The proposal of partition of Bengal became publicly known and later on the protest all over Bengal had started. The movement’s agenda was to avoid the British products and Western clothes should be thrown onto Bonfires.
- During this period, People gathered at the cross roads and burnt everything from the British goods to let the British know how unhappy the Indians were because of the partition of the Bengal. People used to utilize only the things which made only in India and so that’s how this movement called Swadeshi Movement. In this way. The anti-partition movement started to oppose the British decision to partition Bengal.
- Indian nationalism was started gaining the strength and the agenda for the partitioning the Bengal was purely political. Hence in 1903, The Swadeshi movement was about to launch and Risley (Home Secretary to the Government of India) said, “Bengal united is power; Bengal divided will pull several different ways”.
- The partition of Bengal was meant to encourage the another kind of division on the basis of religion between the Hindu and Muslim. And Indian Nationalist clearly identified the structure behind the partition and condemned it unanimously and In this way anti-partition and Swadeshi movement had begun.
Swadeshi movement effect after Independence
- The Swadeshi movement after Independence has developed differently than it was before. Pre-independence movement was required a response to colonial policies and the post-independence Swadeshi movement was an answer to the increasingly oppressive imperialistic policies in the post-Second World War climate. Things were changed and meanwhile India was required to compete with the industrialized economies of the west. Five year term plan was aimed to foster the Self-sufficient India and should balance with the Swadeshi Movement. This time period the Rapid industrialization. Hence this movement of slightly recast was noted by S.R. Ramaswamy and other late in the movement includes the likes of Rajiv Dixit, Swami Ramdev and Pawan Pandit.
Important points to be noted :
- Mahatma Gandhi had described the Swadeshi Movement as the soul of self rule In the country. Mahatma Gandhi had formulated the strategy for Swadeshi Movement considering it will have Social as well as Political impact on our country.
- The main agenda for Swadeshi movement and Boycott movements were to oppose the Bengal partition. Swadeshi movement started from 1903 and lasted in 1905 as a comprehensive movement. But this anti-partition movement is considered as the aggressive movement in the Indian history.
- The well known chief forerunners of swadeshi movement were Bal Gangadhar tilak, Bipin Chandra pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Veer Savarkar and Aurbindo Ghose. Eventually Swadeshi movement had reached through all over the states like Bombay, Madras and Bihar in India.
- After Swadeshi movement, On a larger scale, The Industrial materials, Foods, Oil, Sugar etc had started to manufacture in our own country’s native soil and boycotting the foreign products. Which later on gave boost to Indian economy. In this way, Swadeshi movement had great impact on our nation which encouraged as the Independent Indian nation.
