Heroes
of Freedom
Struggle-6
Sir Surendranath Banerjea:
Making of India’s first ‘national’
leader
![http://pibphoto.nic.in/documents/rlink/2016/aug/i20168501.jpg](http://pibphoto.nic.in/documents/rlink/2016/aug/i20168501.jpg)
PRIYADARSHI DUTTA
This 1869-batch ICS officer could have evolved into a seasoned
civil servant. But his dismissal from the service, on flimsy ground in 1874,
led to reorientation of priorities. He came to the arena of public life. India
came directly under the British Crown in 1858. Constitutional politics had been
growing in Bengal and Bombay Presidencies even prior to that. Yet, the
underdeveloped communication kept different parts of India at bay. But
proliferation of the railway network in 1870s and 80s closed those gaps.
Surendranath Banerjea (1848-1925) was the right person at the right time to
capitalize upon it. He arose as the first all-India leader.
Ruined in his career by 1875, Banerjea began to participate in
‘public life’ in Kolkata. His maiden public speech during the Temperance
Movement in Bengal, aimed at discouraging drinking, made people take notice of
him. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the great educationist and reformer, made him
the Professor of English at Metropolitan Institution.
He was a skilled orator, and soon he was in great demand amongst
the students’ community in and around Kolkata. He was the first to familiarize
an Indian audience with Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872), the pioneer of Italian
unification. Banerjea was the first leader to use material from Indian and
foreign histories to instill a sense of patriotism amongst his audience. But he
remained a thoroughbred ‘Moderate’. In those days there was no demand for
‘independence’ from British rule. The demand was for better representation in
legislative councils and bureaucracy in order to participate in decision
making.
Founding a political association was on Banerjea’s mind. It came
true on July 26, 1876. On that day, Banerjea along with Ananda Mohan Bose
formed the ‘Indian Association’ in Kolkata. Banerjea, inspired by Mazzini,
wanted an India unified in the matter of political aspiration and programme.
British Prime Minister Marquis of Salisbury’s decision to reduce the maximum
age to sit in Indian Civil Services from 21 to 19 year provided the handle.
Banerjea recognized it as a ploy to exclude Indians from the Civil Services. He
organized a huge public meeting against this decision on March 24, 1877 in Town
Hall, Kolkata. The meeting adopted on an action plan never attempted before. It
resolved to bring whole of India on a common platform, on civil services in
particular, but also all policies affecting Indians in general.
Few realized that Banerjea was creating history when on May 26,
1877 he embarked upon a tour of northern India by train. He was the first
Indian to exploit the growing railway network in India for political purpose.
By the mid-1870s the railway network had attained a critical mass of 6,519
miles (10,430 kms). Banerjea covered Lahore, Amritsar, Delhi, Merut,
Aligarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad and Varanasi. Crowded meetings were held in
all places to adopt Civil Services memorandum. Wherever possible associations
affiliated to Indian Association, Kolkata were formed. Banerjee thus gave shape
to a public life that was waiting to manifest from one end of India to the
other. The following year, he made a similar railway tour to Bombay and Madras
Presidency. His aim was to unite the scattered political aspirations and
developments across India. In the process, he laid the groundwork for the
Indian National Congress that was subsequently established in December, 1885.
In fact the Congress was prefigured in the first National
Conference organized by Indian Association in Kolkata between December 28 and
30, 1883. It was presided over by Ramtanu Lahiri, a veteran of Bengal
Renaissance. The issues discussed were Representative Councils or
Self-government, general and technical education, separation of judicial from
executive functions in the administration of criminal justice and greater
employment of Indians in public service.
In May, 1884 Banerjea again toured northern India extensively
over the civil services question that remained unsettled. He trudged the
earlier route between Kolkata and Lahore. Petitions to Secretary of State, to
increase the maximum age limit in civil services was drawn up. A public service
commission was appointed in 1885, as a result of whose recommendation the
maximum age limit was raised.
The Second National Conference of the Indian Association was
held during December 25-27, 1885 in Kolkata. The dates clashed with the first
session of the Indian National Congress held in Bombay (Mumbai). The two events
were planned without any coordination between the organizers. This prevented
Banerjea from attending the Bombay Congress. The issues discussed in Bombay
Congress, 1885 bore imprint of First National Conference (1883). Banerjea
informs that Justice K.T. Telang, who was associated with Bombay Congress, had
asked for notes of the First National Conference. But between 1886 and 1917,
Banerjea attended every annual Congress except Karachi (1913). Banerjee also
twice presided over Congress- Pune (1895) and Ahmedabad (1902).
He was part of the nine member Congress delegation to England in
1890. Every delegate had to bear his own expenditure completely. Banerjea
distinguished himself as the sole spokesperson. His series of lectures on
political reforms that Congress sought impressed British audience. But his
finest hour came on May 22, 1890 at the Oxford Union debate- 'This House
views with regret the non-recognition of elective principles in the Bill now
before the House of Commons’. Oxford being the hub of British Conservative
politics, it was feared the motion would be defeated. But he pulled up a
brilliant coup against Lord Hugh Cecil. The majority voted in favour of the
motion. An indirect elective principle was recognized in the Indian Councils
Act, 1892.
Banerjea’s unrivalled power of eloquence was his forte. He was
called the ‘Trumpet Orator’. But that was not a substitute for his
devotion towards India. Let none who does not love his country, he said, aspire
to become an orator. During 1905-11 he took leading part in the Bengal
anti-partition movement but opposed boycott and acts of violence. He was a
champion of local self government and founder of Ripon College (now
Surendranath College). He became a member of Imperial Legislative Assembly in
1921 and was knighted the same year.
The writer is an independent researcher and columnist. The views
expressed are his personal.