How Journalism in Bengal invigorated National Freedom Struggle - The Power of Press.

We all know that a pen and a paper has more power than swords and guns. We all know that how breaking the mental backbone of an individual is far more destructive than breaking hands and legs  of an individual. Look at the present-day young terrorists, how eager they are, how ready they are, even to face death. Think what level of mental brainwash they must have gone through, these poor lads! Well, our point is, if we can convince someone to believe in any particular idea, that idea becomes immortal and surely manifests itself in future. We may beat someone to death, persuading someone to believe that 1+1=2, but as long as we do not present the rational setup behind this belief (which may or may not be true), we cannot convince anyone. But once convinced, that firm resolve none can shake. Thus we see, ideas penetrate minds, and not brute force. Human mind, even when taught nonsense, can literally die for that nonsense and can trigger a trillion more such minds to believe in that nonsense and evoke a mass revolution!

Now it is clear that the secret to evoke a mass revolution is to alter the minds of the public. This is where media comes into play, journalism comes into play. Please note that I've already written a blog on the importance of journalism, state of Indian media etc. Check out the blog from here :- Degrading of Journalism and Rottening of Media - Early Signs of Dictatorship and Monopoly.

In this blog we are going to talk about those times, when the britishers were openly exploiting the Indians for past numerous decades, and except few awoke scholars, no Indian commener had any slightest idea how his holy motherland was being slow-poisoned by the selfish britishers. Some 300 million Indians were crumpled under the foot of few hundred englishmen, and that too, willingly. What was the first problem, the foremost of all mistakes? Lack of awareness! Thus, our national leaders knew, that to invoke a steady and gradual revolt against this foreign government, awareness is the first step for national revolution. They knew, that just for once, if they can win the minds of the common people, they can unite them and assemble them for collective good and national upliftment.

Let me have a quick build-up to give proper context about the whole situation of that time. It is just the beginning of the 20th century. Almost all the european countries are at its peak in industrialisation. Here is India, sleeping. It is around 1900-1905 and national leaders are hopelessly trying to revive the nation. In 1905, after Lord Curzon dividing Bengal, there evokes a fierce revolt of Bang-Bhang Movement and Bengal becomes one of the first states to conduct freedom struggle on such a huge level after the long-gone 1857 revolt. After eminent personalities like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Debendranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Ishwarchandra Vidhyasagar prepared the groundwork for freedom struggle, there aroused Bengal Renaissance and thousands of great personalities rose to contribute to the society.

Newspapers and magazines played a very crucial role in creating the necessary awareness among the public. Bengal was the centre of Indian press and journalism. How? The first newspaper printed in India was Hicky's Bengal Gazette, started in 1780 under the British Raj by James Augustus Hicky. The first newspaper in an Indian language was in Bengali, named as the `Samachar Darpan`. In short, the concept of reading news and being up-to-date about current affairs was not new for Bengalis. Therefore, it was this very medium which was to be used to "spread the word" of freedom movement and sow the seeds of revolution and national awakening directly in the minds of the readers. (just like what Impulsum aims to do:)

Now let us look at some well-known nationalist newspapers of those times, which were run secretly by the youths, aiming to bring general awareness about freedom movement.

1. Yugantar

Jugantar or Yugantar (New Era or Transition of an Epoch) was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.

The jugantar party was established in April 1906 by leaders like Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barin Ghosh, Bhupendranath Datta (younger sibling of Swami Vivekananda), Raja Subodh Mallik. Barin Ghosh and Bagha Jatin were the main leaders. Along with 21 revolutionaries, they started to collect arms, explosives and manufactured bombs.

Jugantar Patrika, a political weekly,  was founded in March 1906 and served as the propaganda organ for the nascent revolutionary organisation Anushilan Samiti that was taking shape in Bengal at the time. The paper rapidly acquired a broad popularity, at one time having a readership of 20,000. Bhupendranath Dutt served as the editor of the newspaper till his arrest in 1907, although it also published articles from a number of noted Bengali revolutionaries including Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Aurobindo Ghosh. It faced prosecution a number of times by the British Indian government for publishing seditious articles. Bhupendranath Dutt was arrested in 1907 for publication of articles "inciting violence against the Government of India", for which he was sentenced to a year's rigorous imprisonment. The paper was ultimately forced to shut down in down in 1908, amidst financial ruins following the prosecutions, and after the passage of The Newspapers (Incitement to offences) act in June 1908 which made its position vulnerable.

2. Bande Mataram

The Bande Mataram was an English language weekly newspaper published from Calcutta (now Kolkata) founded in 1905 by Bipin Chandra Pal and edited by Sri Aurobindo.

Its aim was to prepare Indians to struggle for complete independence. It was a daily organ of Indian nationalism. It was accused of spreading 'radical Indian nationalism' and 'Nationalist Extremism'.

The two decades of increasing influence of journals such as Bande Mataram in Bengal, and similar journals emerging in the United Provinces and also in Punjab led to a strict government censorship under the Press Act 1910.

Britishers became intolerant, got tired of this!

The Press Act of 1908 was legislation promulgated in British India imposing strict censorship on all kinds of publications. The measure was brought into effect to curtail the influence of Indian vernacular and English language in promoting support for what was considered radical Indian nationalism.

 It followed in the wake of two decades of increasing influence of journals such as Kesari in Western India, publications such as Jugantar and Bandemataram in Bengal, and similar journals emerging in the United Provinces. These were deemed to influence a surge in nationalist violence and revolutionary terrorism against interests and officials of the Raj in India, particularly in Maharashtra and in Bengal. A widespread influence was noted amongst the general population which drew a large proportion population of youth towards the ideology of radical nationalists such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh, and towards secret revolutionary organisations such as Anushilan Samiti in Bengal and Mitra Mela in Maharashtra.

Here our journey to the past ends, and we come to present. What did we learn from the past? We saw how exactly can we have national level upliftment. We conclude the very first lines of our today's blog, which were, "a pen and a paper has more power than swords and guns." and "breaking the mental backbone of an individual is far more destructive than breaking hands and legs of an individual."

Afterall, Impulsum is in itself is an attempt to imitate those national revolutionaries who dared to spread their ideas through weekly publications.

You can go right now and re-read the description of Impulsum Blogs. It goes as,

"Here you'll find 5 min reads on Philosophy, Education System, Youth Awakening, Universal Harmony, Spiritual Humanism and Rationalism based inquiry. Keep sharpening your sword of wisdom with Impulsum. New blog every Tuesday."

Thus, you and me, let us take proud that we too have attempted to bring change and have contributed to national revolution for progress and upliftment of society.

Daksh Parekh.