Growth of Modern Nationalism in India

Important Factors for the growth of modern nationalism in India are as follows: 1. Understanding of Contradiction in Indian and Colonial Interests 2. Political, Administrative and Economic Unification of the Country 3. Western Thought and Education 4. Role of Press and Literature 5. Rediscovery of India’s Past 6. Progressive Character of Socio-religious Reform Movements 7. Rise of Middle Class Intelligentsia 8. Impact of Contemporary Movements Worldwide 9. Reactionary Policies and Racial Arrogance of Rulers.

1. Understanding of Contradiction in Indian and Colonial Interests:

People came to realise that colonial rule was the major cause of India’s economic backwardness and that the interests of the Indians involved the interests of all sections and classes—peasants, artisans, handicraftsmen, workers, intellectuals, the educated and the capitalists.

The nationalist movement arose to take up the challenge of these contradictions inherent in the character and policies of colonial rule.

2. Political, Administrative and Economic Unification of the Country:

The British rule in the Indian subcontinent extended from the Himalayas in the north to the Cape Comorin in the south and from Assam in the east to Khyber Pass in the west. The British created a larger state than that of the Mauryas or the great Mughals. While Indian provinces were under ‘direct’ British rule, Indian states were under ‘indirect’ British rule. The British sword imposed political unity in India.


A professional civil service, a unified judiciary and codified civil and criminal laws throughout the length and breadth of the country imparted a new dimension of political unity to the hitherto cultural unity that had existed in India for centuries.

The necessities of administrative convenience, considerations of military defence and the urge for economic penetration and commercial exploitation were the driving forces behind the planned development of modern means of transport and communication such as railways, roads, electricity and telegraph.

From the nationalists’ point of view, this process of unification had a two-fold effect:


(i) Economic fate of the people of different regions got linked together; for instance, failure of crops in one region affected the prices and supply in another region.

(ii) Modern means of transport and communication brought people, especially the leaders, from different regions together. This was important for exchange of political ideas and for mobilisation and organisation of public opinion on political and economic issues.

3. Western Thought and Education:

The introduction of a modern system of education afforded opportunities for assimi­lation of modern western ideas. This, in turn, gave a new direction to Indian political thinking, although the English system of education had been conceived by the rulers in the interest of efficient administration.

The liberal and radical thought of European writers like Milton, Shelley, John Stuart Mill, Rousseau, Paine, Spencer and Voltaire helped many Indians imbibe modern rational, secular, democratic and nationalist ideas.


The English language helped nationalist leaders from different linguistic regions to communicate with each other. Those among the educated who took up liberal professions (lawyers, doctors, etc.) often visited England for higher education.

There they saw the working of modern political institutions in a free country and compared that system with the Indian situation where even basic rights were denied to the citizens.

This ever-expanding English educated class formed the middle class intelligentsia who constituted the nucleus for the newly arising political unrest. It was this section which provided leadership to the Indian political associations.

4. Role of Press and Literature:

The second half of the nineteenth century saw an unprecedented growth of Indian- owned English and vernacular newspapers, despite numerous restrictions imposed on the press by the colonial rulers from time to time. In 1877, there were about 169 newspapers published in vernacular languages and their circulation reached the neighbourhood of 1, 00,000.


The press while criticising official policies, on the one hand, urged the people to unite, on the other. It also helped spread modern ideas of self-government, democracy, civil rights and industrialisation. The newspapers, journals, pamphlets and nationalist literature helped in the exchange of political ideas among nationalist leaders from different regions.

5. Rediscovery of India’s Past:

The historical researches by European scholars, such as Max Mueller, Monier Williams, Roth and Sassoon, and by Indian scholars such as R.G. Bhandarkar, R.L. Mitra and later Swami Vivekananda, created an entirely new picture of India’s past.

This picture was characterised by well-developed political, economic and social institutions, a flourishing trade with the outside world, a rich heritage in arts and culture and numerous cities.

The theory put forward by European scholars, that the Indo-Aryans belonged to the same ethnic group from which other nations of Europe had evolved, gave a psychological boost to the educated Indians. The self-respect and confidence so gained helped the nationalists to demolish colonial myths that India had a long history of servility to foreign rulers.

6. Progressive Character of Socio-religious Reform Movements:

These reform movements sought to remove social evils which divided the Indian society; this had the effect of bringing different sections together, and proved to be an important factor in the growth of Indian nationalism.

7. Rise of Middle Class Intelligentsia:

British administrative and economic innovations gave rise to a new urban middle class in towns. According to Percival Spear, “The new middle class was a well-integrated all-India class with varied background but a common foreground of knowledge, ideas and values….It was a minority of Indian society, but a dynamic minority….It had a sense of unity of purpose and of hope.”

This class, prominent because of its education, new position and its close ties with the ruling class, came to the forefront. The leadership to the Indian National Congress in all its stages of growth was provided by this class.

8. Impact of Contemporary Movements Worldwide:

Rise of a number of nations on the ruins of Spanish and Portuguese empires in South America, and the national liberation movements of Greece and Italy in general and of Ireland in particular deeply influenced the nationalist ranks.

9. Reactionary Policies and Racial Arrogance of Rulers:

Racial myths of white superiority were sought to be perpe­tuated by a deliberate policy of discrimination and segregation. Indians felt deeply hurt by this. Lytton’s reactionary policies such as reduction of maximum age limit for the I.C.S. examination from 21 years to 19 years (1876), the grand Delhi Durbar of 1877 when the country was in the severe grip of famine, the Vernacular Press Act (1878) and the Arms Act (1878) provoked a storm of opposition in the country. Then came the Ilbert Bill controversy.

Ripon’s Government had sought to abolish “judicial disqualification based on race distinctions” and to give the Indian members of the covenanted civil service the same powers and rights as those enjoyed by their European colleagues. Ripon had to modify the bill, which almost defeated the original purpose, because of stiff opposition from the European community.

It became clear to the nationalists that justice and fair play could not be expected where interests of the European community were involved. However, the organised agitation by the Europeans to revoke the Ilbert Bill also taught the nationalists how to agitate for certain rights and demands.

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