The Modern Period
Part IV
Soon after the visit of Svami Dayanand Sarasvati to Nagpur, in 1884, the Goraksana Sabha was formed in the city. Within a year it had as many as 49 branches in the Madhya Pradesh. The Sabha shortly assumed an all-India form with Lokmanya Tilak, Malaviya and Pettit as its prominent members.
The Seventh Session of the All-India National Congress was held in Nagpur in 1891. Out of the 3,812 degree 480 were from Berar. P. Ananda Charlu presided and the venue chosen was the Lal Bag. Among the Chief topics taken for discussion were the Second Afghan War and Forest Laws. The latter were irksome to the people as they had deprived the villagers of their privileges, such as the common pasturage. The Nagpur session gave new impetus to the national movement in the surrounding area.
In 1893, a public meeting in Nagpur held at the Neill City High School appealed to the Secretary of State that the Central Provinces should be allowed to send one member under the Council Act of 1892. In 1896, Gangadharrav Citnavis of Nagpur was the member recommended to the Viceroy.
When the outbreak of plague towards the end of the last century resulted in the murder of Rand and Lt. Ayerst in Poona, Tilak was sentenced to eighteen months rigorous imprisonment. Nagpur was agitated at this news. In the year 1897 when the Congress session was held at Amravati. Dadasaheb Khaparde referred to the famine and plague which ravaged the country.
Towards 1907, Tilak came to the forefront as the leader of the exremist group in the Congress. From Nagpur province Dadasaheb Khaparde and Munje represented the Tilakite school whereas mudholkar and Gangadharrav Citnavis backed the moderates. In 1907 the Congress was to meet in Nagpur. The extremists wanted it to be presided over by Tilak. After a meting which was held in the Town Hall. The students took out a procession with the photographs of Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Arabindu Ghos and Bipin Chandra Pal, singing Vandemataram. The students in the Morris college (now Nagpur Mahavidyalaya) greeted their European professors in the class with Vandemataram. Situation in Nagpur grew quite tense. The Congress, however, was held at Surat which marked a turning point in its history.
The group of extremists in Nagpur were encouraged by the lectures of Bapu Arabindu Ghos in the city in 1908. He urged the people to adopt the cult of Svadeshi. Acyutrav Kolhatkar was sentenced to eighteen months rigourous imprisonment for publishing the speeches of Arabindu in his journal Desasevak.
The rastriya Mandal was established in Nagpur when the Terrorist Movement was seriously disturbing the Government. Nilkanthrav Udhoji was the President of the Mandal and Munje, Acyutrav Kolharkar, Paranjape, Madhavrav Sapre. Ramnarayan Rathi, Barrister Cakravarti and Gadre its principal members.
During the Industrial Exhibition held on the Kasturcand Park in Nagpur in 1908, the statue of Queen Victoria in the Maharaj Bag was defaced with coal-tar. One Narayan Paranjpe was arrested fro this act and later released.
The news of Tilak's deportation to Mandaley for six years created sensation in Nagpur. The students left their classes and took out a procession. The Principal of Morris College was pelted with stones. A mammoth meeting held at the Citnavis Park was dispersed by the police. In the second meeting held on 19th August 1908, in front of the Venkates threatre a resolution was passed demanding the release of Tilak, and as a protest against injustice it called upon the people to completely boycott British Goods.
The repressive measures which followed this agitation deprived Nagpur press of its freedom. Acyurtav Kolhatkar was arrested on the Nagpur station on his arrival by Calcutta mail. In 1913, Viceroy Hardinge came to Nagpur to lay the foundation stone of the Central Provinces legislative Council. Out of its 26th members, 3 were from the Congress.