ABSTRACT
Beginning in the 1850s and 1860s, “large-scale restructuring” in the world economy had resulted in an “influx of foreign capital” into India thereby threatening the fledgling Indian capitalists, a situation worsened by the colonial state’s intervention on the former’s behalf. The catalyst for the first “nationalist” wave was Viceroy Curzon’s partition of Bengal in 1905 into Hindu and Muslim provinces. While considerations largely intrinsic to the Muslim community had so far prevented it from joining the Congress, “extremist” politics helped to estrange it because of its overt appeal to Hindu communal sentiment. Growing Bengali Hindu “nationalist” sentiment had also inspired many intellectuals to question the legitimacy of British rule and its advantage, to India. While popular support for the Congress was vital for the success of the national struggle, it was the emergence of class conflict and subaltern class opposition to the party that helped to “democratize” its agenda.
