Nationalism And British Raj

The Political, Economic And Social Condition Of The Punjab Took A New Turn During The First Global War. There Was Much Resentment And Dissatisfac¬Tion At Various Levels In The Province. The People Could Not Expect Solution Of Their Problems Which Were Growing Day By Day. Hence The Anti-Raj Stance Was Magnified More And More With The Passage Of Time.The New Laws Passed By The Raj Were Indeed No Solution To Contain The Growing Dissatisfaction. They Were Thought To Be A Severe Attack On Their Civil Liberties And Rights For Which They Were Denied Justice As They Could Not Go To The Court Of Law. The Atrocities On Innocent People Before And After The Martial Law Were Proverbial In The History Of Our Country. People Lost Faith In The Efficacy Of The Raj And Sought Ways And Means To Launch An All India Non-Violent Struggle, In The Coming Years, Under The Leader¬Ship Of Mahatma Gandhi.The Book Analyses In A Compre¬Hensive Way The Severe Mass Opposi¬Tion To The Rowlatt Bills Resulting Into The Ghastly Tragedy In The Jallianwala Bagh At Amritsar. It Is Based On An Analytical Study Of Archival Sources. The Work Would Be A Useful Study For Students, Teachers And Researchers Of Modern Indian History.

South Asian History has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance over the past thirty years. Its historians are not only producing new ways of thinking about the imperial impact and legacy on South Asia, but also helping to reshape the study of imperial history in general. The essays in this collection address a number of these important developments, delineating not only the complicated interplay between imperial rulers and their subjects in India, but also illuminating the economic, political, environmental, social, cultural, ideological, and intellectual contexts which informed, and were in turn informed by, these interactions. Particular attention is paid to a cluster of binary oppositions that have hitherto framed South Asian history, namely colonizer/colonized, imperialism/nationalism, and modernity/tradition, and how new analytical frameworks are emerging which enable us to think beyond the constraints imposed by these binaries. Closer attention to regional dynamics as well as to wider global forces has enriched our understanding of the history of South Asia within a wider imperial matrix. Previous impressions of all-powerful imperialism, with the capacity to reshape all before it, for good or ill, are rejected in favour of a much more nuanced image of imperialism in India that acknowledges the impact as well as the intentions of colonialism, but within a much more complicated historical landscape where other processes are at work.

The author discusses in detail the twin phenomena of colonialism and nationalism that has loomed large over the historical canvas of modern India. The nature of British colonialism, colonial policies and strategies of economic growth have been examined within the parameters of the colonial structure. A unique feature of the book is the description of the Pressure-Compromise-Pressure Strategy employed by the British to consolidate power. Probable reasons for the failure of the nationalist movement to counter disruptive colonial forces have been suggested. In effect, Colonialism has been studied as a distinct structure through its different stages. Reinterpreting this period that spanned 150 years, the book provides an alternative framework for the study of modern Indian history.

With the steady growth of interest in the history of India under the British, interpretations have emerged, and they may sharply alter much of our thinking about Indian nationalism and British Imperialism. Some of these historical revisions, and the conclusions which may flow from them, are illustrated by the essays in this book. All of them grapple with questions of Indian political organization in different parts of the British Raj. They enquire how these organizations worked at different level; in the towns and in the countryside, in the provinces and in the subcontinent itself. They examine how these kinds of politics came to be bonded together into what were called 'nationalist' movements. They suggest that the interplay between these movements and British Imperialism was very much more ambiguous than has been commonly supposed. All these essays are preliminary announcements of findings which will later appear in longer versions.

Briefly discusses the conquest of India, British rule, Indian nationalism, and Muslim consciousness.