4 - Tilak, Gokhale and the Indian National Congress, 1907 to 1915

Summary

As soon as the delegates began to disperse from the Calcutta Congress in December 1906, Indian politicians began to plan their strategy for the coming year. Both sides realised that the next twelve months would be crucial. On the one hand, the Congress leadership had to reassert its hold over the organisation. On the other hand, Tilak and his allies were aware that they had been given an unprecedented opportunity to try to wrest the Congress from the hands of Gokhale and the Bombay Presidency Association clique.

On his way back to Poona from Calcutta, Tilak visited his daughter in Allahabad and made speeches there similar to his ‘Tenets of the New Party’ address. He aimed at making the United Provinces ‘as much a portion of his dominions as Satara and Belgaum’. But the local politicians, apart from some expatriate Bengalis and some students, were unimpressed by his oratory. Nevertheless, the Bombay moderates had to secure their allies in northern India. With Bengal so unstable, and the Punjab such a dubious ally, Gokhale and Mehta realised that the best hope for checking Tilak's campaign lay in close association with the leaders of the United Provinces. Malaviya in particular had proved a pillar of strength at the Calcutta Congress and his support for the Bombay group was soon to be endorsed by his local rival, Motilal Nehru.