Indian Political Associations and Reform of Legislature 1818-1917 (An Old and Rare Book)

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The object of this treatise is to trace the origin and development of public life in India with special reference to the growth of political associations in the period before the advent of Mahatma Gandhi (1818-1917) and also to examine the influence of these bodies on the development of the constitution of India. A few enlightening monographs and articles on some of the Associations have been published on the basis of records of individual organisations indeed, but a comprehensive account of all the political bodies has never been attempted. If a researcher endeavours to write the history of the Palas, Rastrakütas or the Gurjara Pratiharas relying exclusively on the inscriptions of the relevant dynasty alone, the resultant picture will be partial and imperfect. Similarly, the history of the British Indian Association or the Indian Association or the Muslim League gleaned only from the records of the body concerned fails to present a correct perspective of events. Even the Indian National Congress can not claim absolute originality for most of the resolutions it passed during the first thirty-three years of its existence. The Congress method of carrying on propaganda in England on behalf of India was also anticipated by earlier Associations.

The British authorities in India were anxious to prove that they did not attach much importance to the clamours of the so-called 'microscopic minority of educated Indians, who were said to have been actuated by their selfish class and communal interests. The British officers further claimed that they were the only true custodians of the interests of the Indian peasantry. It is now necessary to examine objectively the truth of the respective claims of political leaders in India and British officials. It is indeed a platitude to say that no imperial power has ever conceded any right of self-government to a dependency simply out of benevolent and humanitarian cons derations. But the general trend among the writers of the history c reform of Legislative Councils in India has been to show that these measures emanated from the goodwill and generosity of the Secretaries of State and the Viceroys of India.