THE ROLE OF NEWSPAPERIN

INDIAN FREEDOM STRUGGLE

Presentation by;Amaljith N.K2nd MA Mass

communicationPondicherry

University

▪ The Indian language press has played a historic and memorable role in the struggle for independent movement.

▪ Newspapers made Indian public aware of cruelties of British empire.

▪ Patriotic poems, songs and article published in newspaper made British government restless.

▪ Through newspapers Indian people kept themselves informed of all the activities going on in the country. Literature published in various newspapers was a challenge for British govt. So much of the literature was banned by British.

▪ It is rightly said that pen is mightier than sword.

▪ The introduction of printing press in India was an event of revolutionary significance in the life of Indian people.

▪ The awakening and growth of national consciousness among them gave rise to the nationalist press.

▪ Indian press began to spread its roots in the 1870s. During 1870 to 1918 powerful newspapers emerged during these years under distinguished and fearless journalists.

▪ James Augustus Hickey made the history by starting the Bengal Gazette on Calcutta General Advisor.

▪ The first newspaper was published in India on Jan 29, 1780.

▪ Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the founder of the nationalist press in India.

▪ His Sambad- Kaumudi in Bengali published in 1821, and Mirat- Ul- Akbar in Persian published in 1822, were the first publication in India with a distinct nationalist and democratic progressive orientation.

▪ The Press was the chief instrument for carrying out the main political tasks, political propaganda, education, and formation and propagation of nationalist ideology to arouse, train, mobilize and consolidate nationalist public opinion.

▪ Both the English and Vernacular press started by prominent Indian leaders acted as catalysts to the freedom struggle.

▪ With the enactment of the Indian Council Act of 1861, both Indian and non-Indian Press expanded.

▪ The Times of India which supported the policy of the British Government in India was founded in Bombay in 1861.

▪ The Pioneer which supported the landowning and mercantile interests was in Allahabad in 1865.

▪ The Madras Mail which represented the interests of the European commercial community was founded in 1868.

▪ The Statesman which criticized the government as well as the Indian nationalist groups was founded in Calcutta in 1875.

▪ The Civil and Military Gazette which was distinctly an organ of British conservative opinion was founded in Lahore in 1878.

▪ Since the Press was a powerful weapon of the nationalist struggles, the Indian nationalists staunchly fought for its freedom throughout the Indian nationalist movement.

▪ In fact, many of the tallest leaders of the freedom movement themselves turned journalists too, and used the press to propagate their ideas to the masses.

▪ Punjabi, The People- Lala Lajpat Rai.

▪ Rast goftar- Dadabhai Naoroji  (1854)

▪ Kesari and Mahratta- Bal Gangadhar Tilak  (1881)

▪ Hindustan times- Madan Mohan Malaviya  (1924)

▪ Young India, Navajeevan and Harijan- Mahatma Gandhi

▪ National Herald- Jawaharlal Nehru  (1938)

▪ Bombay Chronicle- Firoz Shah Mehta  (1910)

▪ Bande Mataram- Aurobindo Ghosh  (1905)

▪ Al-Hilal- Abul Kalam Azad  (1912)

▪ The Hindu- G.Subramania Aiyer  (1878)

▪ The Vernacular Press Act of 1878, against Indian language newspapers, was passed at a single sitting of the Imperial Legislative Council.

▪ The Act ordered the confiscation of the printing press, paper and other materials of a newspaper if the government believed that it was publishing instigative materials and had flouted any warning from the government.

▪ Nationalist public bodies and the Press campaigned against this Act. Eventually, it had to be repealed in 1881 by Lord Ripon.

▪ Till 1908, the Indian Press enjoyed considerable freedom.

▪ However, due to the phenomenal growth of the nationalist movement , the Newspaper Act was passed in 1908 and the Indian Press Act in 1910

▪ The Indian Press enjoyed relative freedom till 1930. However, the Press Law of 1932 and Foreign Relations Act of 1932 diminished the freedom of the Indian Press.

▪ The Press was an effective weapons in the hands of social reform groups to expose social evils such as caste fetters, child marriage, ban on remarriage of widows, social, legal and other inequalities from which women suffered and others.

▪ It also helped them to organize propaganda against such inhuman institutions as untouchability.

▪ It became a weapon in their hands to proclaim to the masses, principles, programmes, and methods of democratic reconstruction of the Indian society.

▪ Such was the role of the Press in the building up of an increasingly strong national sentiment and consciousness among the Indian people.

▪ In the development and consolidation of their growing nationalist movement, in the creation of national and provincial literatures and cultures, and in the forging of bonds of fraternity with other progressive peoples and classes in the outer worlds they sacrificed themselves.

THANK YOU…