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Road To Freedom

Europeans Take To The Street!

Indians educated in English were fearless in expressing their views through petitions. Whenever they wanted to protest against something they considered unjust or when they wanted to make a demand, they would reach for pen and paper. The farthest they would go to make a point was to call a meeting of a few friends, pass a resolution and forward it to the authorities. They did not know the art of taking out processions, holding placards and raising slogans. They did not know how to make a din loud enough to reach the ears of those in power.
The first mass agitation which compelled the government to revise its stand was organized by Europeans who were protesting against the Ilbert Bill introduced in 1883.
Sir Courtenay Ilbert was the Law Member of the Viceroy's Council. The bill he introduced sought to take away a privilege Europeans enjoyed, trial by a judge of their own race. The bill allowed Indian magistrates or sessions judges to hold trial even when Europeans were involved in the case. Many Europeans did not like the idea of a black judge sitting in judgement on whites. They organised a Defence Association with branches all over the country and raised a fund of a lakh and a half rupees to carry on an agitation. The agitation against the Ilbert Bill was headed by planters who, as one writer put it, did not want a black judge to stop them "beating their own niggers."
The planters were a law unto themselves, so their opposition to the Ilbert Bill was understandable. What shocked educated Indians of those times was that the bill was also opposed by white lawyers, judges and officials at all levels.
A letter circulated among the whites and signed 'Brittannias' read : "The only people who have any right to India are the British. The so-called Indians have no right whatsoever."
At a meeting of Europeans in Calcutta, members of the bar used foul language against Indians while condemning the bill. The viceroy Lord Ripon also came in for a scathing attack.
The European community, almost to a man, boycotted the entertainments at Government House. Some hot-heads even plotted to kidnap the viceroy and deport him to England.

Writes Henry Cotton : "Lord Ripon was harassed and hampered by the bigotry and race feeling of his own fellow countrymen. He was paralysed by want of support".
Ultimately, Lord Ripon was compelled to settle for a watered-down version of the Ilbert Bill. The modification allowed a white person facing trial to have a bench of jury, half of which was composed of whites.
Surendranath Banerji in Bengal, Pherozeshah Mehta, Badruddin Tyabji and Kashinath Telang in Bombay organised their own campaign in support of the Ilbert Bill. But leaders in other parts of the country did not take any interest in the matter and the campaign fizzled out. A.C. Mazumdar, an eminent political leader noted : "The Ilbert Bill agitation thus went a great way towards impressing Indians, that in the political world, success did not depend so much upon men as on organised efforts and so paved the way to united and concerted action".
The European-led agitation against the Ilbert Bill also served as an eye-opener to westernised Indians who now realised that the whites would never accept them as equals even though they dressed and talked and behaved like them.
"The Anglo-Indian agitation against Lord Ripon's government, the protests which asserted that 'the only people who have any right to India are the British', the whole attitude of Englishmen in regard to Indian interests", concludes Henry Cotton, "have only succeeded in advancing the cause of Indian unity�."

Road To Freedom

Europeans Take To The Street!

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