The Liberal tradition in India which has had a continuous history since the nineteenth century, played an important role in the shaping of a modern consciousness, and instilling social and political ideas that were not indigenous to India. It ensured their becoming part of political and social discourse and did many other things of very great value; like for instance, founding educational institutions, running newspapers and journals, initiating the forming of associations in cities and towns, interacting with the British government on behalf of the people of India and championing the cause of the underdog. But for the work of India’s liberals, the British rulers would have remained in ignorance about the conditions of the people.

These are only some of the very many things that they engaged in.

An Impressive Roll Call of Names
To recall the names of the liberals is a roll call of the greatest names of modern India going back to the 1820s. They worked in the capitals and important cities of the provinces in British India and it is a fact of significance that the emergence of the Liberals in India is due to the contact of western and native civilizations. Indian liberals had their counterparts at about the same time in other countries like China, Japan and Turkey as well, also because of the contact with the West. It was part of a new awakening.

Western Influence, Yet Very Much Indian
India’s early liberals could be called westerners for they were deeply influenced by western reasoning, science, social and political institutions. Yet, with the exception of a few, they were also rooted in Indian culture and they believed in the abiding values of Indian traditions. Though we now call them liberals, in their own time from the 1820s they were not called liberals. They began to be called liberals in the 1890s mainly to distinguish them from nationalist extremists like Lokamanya Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh. The description was used again from the 1920s to distinguish them from the Indian National Congress when they formed a Liberal Party.

Sovereignty of Public Opinion
One of the important principles of British liberalism was the sovereignty of public opinion. The belief was that the government should respond to public opinion and not be indifferent to it. In fact in the first half of the nineteenth century, organized public opinion was vociferous in demanding several concessions from the government, resulting in several important pieces of legislation - such as the abolition of slavery in the British colonies, the Reform Act of 1832 with which begins the movement for parliamentary democracy. As, in India then, the government was not democratic, the people wanted the government to be responsive to demands made upon it. The leaders of public opinion in India as well as in England seized upon the importance of organized public opinion, presenting them in a rational acceptable manner and pressurizing the government to respond to their petitions and demonstrations.

One needed associations for organizing public opinion and numerous associations were floated in different parts of the country - the Bombay Presidency Association, the Madras Native Association, the Sarvajanik Sabha. These associations essentially were organized for the redressal of grievances, organize information relating to particular grievances, present them in a convincing manner to the authorities and pressurize them for redressal. This method was adopted throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

These grievances were openly expressed and a new principle in our political system was made popular. During earlier regimes, demands made upon the sovereign were made in a closed system; the king had to be appealed to and much depended upon those who were close to the centres of political power. More often than not, the demands made might not be heard at all or responded to. By contrast, these demands and grievances were aired in public under the full glare of publicity. They had to be transparent; the demands had to pass public scrutiny and be acceptable to the larger public. The field was open to anyone to make these demands and none was excluded in availing himself of it. It should be remembered that dalits too began to make demands for redressal of many of their social inequities.

Government as an Acceptable Institution
Central to this whole approach was the presumption of the right to liberty of opinion, expression and the right to mobilize public opinion in a peaceful manner. This is fundamental to liberalism. This is essentially a lawyer’s view and many of the liberals were also lawyers. A lawyer presumes the legitimacy of the government and he works within the confines of the law. There was an acceptance of government and no suspicion that it would ride roughshod over the rights of citizens. Government was considered to be one that was conducted according to laws, not to caprice or whims, as were earlier governments in India. According to the liberals, the actions of governments were predictable; it could not be arbitrary, whimsical and carnal. It is these that made government an acceptable institution.

Politically, their task was clear-cut and within the limits they had set for themselves. They succeeded admirably. With regard to social problems their task was formidable. Politically they educated the public in new values; they attempted to modernize society. Not easy taks. Agarkar, a prominent liberal in Maharashtra, was to put it well - freedom is the easiest of things to win but social freedoms are the most difficult to achieve and to sustain. This was a daunting task which tried the might and resources of entire generations. One cannot say that all their efforts have succeeded.

Modernizing Indian Society
The task of modernizing society began with Ram Mohun Roy. Single-handedly and against great odds he instilled a sense confidence among the Hindus and sought to elevate a community sunk in ignorance and wallowing in superstition and ignorance. He demonstrated his belief that the tenets of Christianity as well as of advanced evolved religions, were to be found in the Hindu scriptures. Hinduism could reinvent itself and shed its shibboleths and obscurantist practices. With him began the Brahmo Samaj movement which spread to Maharashtra, Andhra, Sind and Punjab and leaven the soil for reform. His political values were in advance of his times and he was enthused by the Enlightenment agenda of liberty and equality. He strived successfully for the elevation of women by championing the abolition of sutee, and the education of girls and women. He championed the cause of India’s peasants in the British Parliament. In fact he was the quintessential liberal. He remained an ideal for all later philosophers of liberalism no less than for new generations of Indians and summed up in his life the aspirations of the new, reawakened India.

Liberals Well-known and Not-so-Well-known
Ram Mohun Roy was the first modern Indian who was to influence not only Bengal but the entire country. Some of the other liberals were to reach an all India audience; some remained known in the region where they labored. Ishwara Chandra Vidyasagar’s work was mainly in Bengal and he wrote in Bengali but his great accomplishment was to inspire every educated Indian. Surendranath Bannerjea became an all India figure as did Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, Ranade, Gokhale and G. Subramaniam Iyer. There were equally important liberal stalwarts whose superhuman endeavour was restricted to their region and in the regional language. Lokhitawadi and G. G. Agarkar in Maharashtra, Veerasalingam Pantulu in Andhra, Phule in Maharashtra, D. V. Gundappa in Mysore, Dr. Ambedkar who came late on the scene. Both Phule and Ambedkar championed the cause of the depressed and their methods were essentially liberal - educate, organize, agitate and try continually to drum your message to a public which will be compelled to wake up and take note of your demands. Unfortunately these regional stalwarts who are no less important for regenerating the country are yet be known widely outside their region.

Social Reforms
The abolition of sutee is too well known to need recapitulation. The liberals tried to raise the status of women by insisting upon their right to education, to prevent child marriages, to legislate the validity of widow marriages. Each was a long battle, tough and bitterly fought. Of these the most successful was the battle for the education of girls. A very important plank in the liberal programme was the battle for social reform - the right to cross the seas, loosening of caste bonds, raising the age of marriage. In almost all these they battled valiantly.

The issues that were initially taken up by the liberals became part of the nationalist programme and almost all their key programmes become nationally acceptable by the ‘thirties and ‘forties.

The British Association
The battle for constitutionalism was one in which the liberals did not see eye to eye with the nationalists and the liberals were generally tended to be reviled. The liberal held the view that British association was on the whole beneficial inspite of the economic exploitation. They were convinced that the empire would soon be a thing of the past and in the interval the long term benefits should be taken advantage of, viz. rule of law, constitutional development, education of the people in political values, local government, participatory politics, general education and gradualism. Too rapid a change would not be in the long term benefits of the people. Political training is time-consuming and its fruits are not visible immediately. Nation building is a long term engagement and there are no short cuts to development, both economic and political. The life blood of a nation are its institutions and the liberals built this up patiently - The Deccan Education Society, The Indian Association, The Deccan Sabha, the Sarvajanik Sabha, the Mahajana Sabha, the Bombay Presidency Association, and the Servants of India Society.

Stress on Education
They laid great stress on education - both formal and public education. It is interesting to note that almost every liberal of note was a teacher at some stage in their lives. For a very brief period, Ranade was a college teacher; Dadabhai had a longer innings as professor of mathematics. Surendranath Banerjea founded the Ripon College and was proud of his students. Gokhale served long as teacher, so did Agarkar. G. Subramania Iyer was teacher who founded and managed schools and Veerasalingam was a pandit all his life and his students were great enthusiasts.

Teachers Par Excellence
They were also teachers par excellence of the public. The most famous of them was Surendranath Bannerjea who stomped around North India lecturing on the development of nationalist ideas and the great work of Joseph Mazzini, the Italian nationalist. Single-handedly he made the concept of nationalism popular and educated a whole generation. His autobiography is appropriately called A Nation in the Making. Similarly, Dadabhai Naoroji drew public attention to the draining of India’s wealth because of British rule (which he called Un-British) and raised the question of the poverty of Indians. Gokhale’s lectures in the Imperial Legislative Council for nearly ten years, educated both the rulers and the ruled. The Budget became the focus of the entire policy of the rule of the British focusing on tasks done and not done and the many squandered opportunities.

They also started newspapers and periodicals. Ram Mohun Roy was a journalist; Vidyasagar edited Jatrabodhini Patrika, Krishna Das Pal (Hindu Patriot), Lokhitawadi wrote extensively for journals and started his own. Agarkar’s Sudharak is justifiably famous. Veerasalingam Puntulu’s papers and journals are famous and single-handedly he gave shape to Telugu journalism and made it a force. The most famous of them was G. Subramania Iyer who founded the Hindu, the leading newspaper in the South today.

The Indian Constitution - A Liberal Document
If India was educated at all, in matters relating to politics, economics and society it was entirely due to the work of the liberals. It is this task that Gandhi continued, though his message and methods were different. The Congress annual gatherings till 1920 were essentially liberal concourses and even later the fundamental principles continued though the emphasis totally changed. The Indian Constitution is the culmination of the Liberal Tradition in India.B

Written by Dr. R. Srinivasan, retired professor of Political Science, Mumbai University.

Mr. D. V. Gundappa, to whom Dr. Srinivasan has referred in this article, has also dealt with the emergence of Liberalism in India. Please see Liberal Position Papers - Paper 7.