Day 4 – Q.1 During the freedom struggle, newspapers and magazines published by nationalist leaders were used as effective tools to mobilize the masses. Comment.

During the freedom struggle, newspapers and magazines published by nationalist leaders were used as effective tools to mobilize the masses. Comment.

स्वतंत्रता संग्राम के दौरान, राष्ट्रवादी नेताओं द्वारा प्रकाशित समाचार पत्रों और पत्रिकाओं को जनता को लामबंद करने के लिए प्रभावी उपकरण के रूप में इस्तेमाल किया गया था। टिप्पणी कीजिए।

Approach

Candidates can start the answer with highlighting importance of the print medium during struggle and then simply comment on how it mobilized the masses for movement.

Introduction

Newspapers during the freedom struggle in India were an important source of mass communication throughout the country. Leaders used the newspaper to spread awareness among the masses. Though impact of these journals and newspapers was not only limited to towns and cities it helped to mobilize masses in villages.

Body

• The beginning of the 19th century, politically conscious Indians had been attracted to modem civil rights, especially the freedom of the Press.
• Sighting the Importance of Press, the struggle for the freedom of the Press became an integral part of the struggle for freedom.
• James Augustus Hickey is considered the father of Indian Press. He started the Bengal Gazette in the year 1780.

Role of newspaper and magazines to mobilize masses:

• Most members of Congress were Journalists, as a result of which Powerful newspapers emerged during these years.
• These were the Hindu and Swadesamitran under the editorship of G. Subramaniya Iyer, Kesari and Mahratta under B.G. Tilak, Bengalee under Surendranath Banerjea, Amrita Bazar Patrika under Sisir Kumar Ghosh and Motilal Ghosh.
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak, through his newspapers, was among the first to advocate bringing the lower middle classes, the peasants, artisans and workers into the Congress fold.
• In these newspapers, government Acts and policies were put to critical scrutiny. They acted as an institution of opposition to the government. The press made people aware about the colonial exploitation.
• Almost every act and every policy of the Government was subjected to sharp criticism, in many cases with great care and vast learning backing it up.
• The newspapers also helped in spreading awareness about the extreme measures taken by the colonial government which further incited protests and revolutionary acts against the British.
• The Role of the press was significant as it acted as a breeding ground for discontent voices of India, which saw prevailing narrative of Colonial authorities as false and wanted to register their protest.
• Nationalist Leaders such as Tilak and Gandhi through their newspapers and editorials took advantage to reach to the readers of the remotest parts of India.
• Thus, generating a nationalistic feeling and mobilizing the masses to fight for freedom of a “Nation” – an imagination which already had grasped minds of masses in urban and rural areas alike.

Conclusion

The country has witnessed up & down of numerous journals & newspapers during the fight for independence and most of them have acted as an effective weapon for social & political renaissance. Journalism has been the backbone of the freedom struggle through formation & propagation of the nationalist ideology and building up of strong national sentiment & consciousness among the masses.